Bricks upside down in Fireplace

[Ambergreen45]

I have made my fireplace recess bigger by taking several bricks off in order to be able to accomodate a woodburner. I have noticed that some bricks are laid upside down without mortar inside the bricks or not much mortar around those bricks. I am more concerned around the top horizontal area of the recess where the flue starts where I am thinking of putting mortar between the bricks to make it stronger (the flue itself is ok). I will then need to put a lintel at the front. Is there a particular reason why it was built that way?

Thank you.

 

[pred]

The correct way of laying bricks is with the "frog" uppermost, however you use less muck and it's quicker putting them upside down and if you're on price work every little helps.

 

[^woody^]

The bricks can be laid either way. The "correct" way of laying a brick is determined by the face profile, which is laid to cast off rain, or by any camber in the brick, not by the frog. But used internally it makes no difference.

A top row of exposed bricks would be laid frog down

 

[pred]

The face profile is only on bricks cut with a wire before being fired, they usually have three holes, but as you say must be laid so as to let the rain drips off them, commons with a frog is laid with the frog up, unless you're on a housing estate and they are thrown up, the majority of my work was on commercial buildings, office blocks and hospitals etc. where the gaffer comes round every couple of hours and if you're doing it wrong then you either were booted off the site or had to knock it down and redo it, I've seen brickies kicked off site for putting the ties in upside down, on housing sites you can even get away with building a pig in the wall.

 

[pred]

http://www.ibstock.com/pdfs/technical-support/TIS-25-Laying-frogged-bricks.pdf

 

[^woody^]

There is no requirement to lay bricks frog up as standard

And in the OP's context, it's a fire recess not some victorian viaduct

From the LBC technical guide
"Bricks must be laid frog up with all joints filled when maximum
strength or weight is required for the brickwork. When neither is the prime requirement, the bricks may be laid frog down"

 

[LastMagicBean]

I've seen brickies kicked off site for putting the ties in upside down,

Galvanized or stainless steel????

 

[^woody^]

Don't you start. Lol