Bulging soldiers

karlosmaximos · 1 Mar 2009

Ive got a question,ive got some soldiers to build over lintols out of blues,but they keep leaning forward the further i get across the opening,any ideas to stop this?
ive tried angling the mortar bed and making it a bit stiffer,but noy joy
thanks

^woody^ · 1 Mar 2009

Have you propped the lintel?

karlosmaximos · 1 Mar 2009

the lintol is staying perfectly straight,ther first 9/10 stay nice and straight,after thay they start leaning out

(

^woody^ · 1 Mar 2009

If this is a steel lintel, then it need propping.

And blues need to be placed and left without no further tapping or messing with, untill the mortar has started to stiffen.

The more you tap them, then more they will tip outwards

And you should not have a big mortar bed - the back arris of the brick should be on the lintel and only the front edge has a bit of mortar to get the brick vertical

If you are having probelms, then you will have to put a piece of timber across as a straight edge, and build off this

stuart45 · 1 Mar 2009

I would definitely use a decent piece of timber when using blues for soldiers. You can also mark out the gauge on it if you are like me and lose your way sometimes.

karlosmaximos · 1 Mar 2009

thanks for the ideas,i'll give it a try

mikric · 1 Mar 2009

A trick I used to use is to cramp a straight piece of wood across the top of the arch off the already built sides (quick cramps are brill for this )especially on large openings and those crap plastic arch centers

mark your gauge out, then when you have got the last one in cut some wedges out of thermalite blocks and tap them in from the top every 6 bricks or so, then cut them flush with the top remove wood and job should be a good un ! The more you tap em about the worse it usually gets

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Bulging soldiers

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