Bricklaying on your own

[23vc]

Been doing the brickwork myself on my extension now for a few months, now up at second floor height on the scaffolding. Just wanted to run how I'm doing it by anyone who's interested to see if anyone's got any pointers on how to do it better or any tips

Knock up the mix in my belle mixer half bag of cement and 10 shovels of sand, with small splash of plasticiser
Tip it into 3 gorilla tubs
Hose the mixer down or totally clean it if I'm only doing 1 mix
Hump it all up the scaffold and crack on, slapping it onto the spot board as I go.
I'm doing this a lot in the light evenings (1 mix) I lay about 50 bricks and it takes me about 2 hours end to end (don't laugh)
Anyway it's just a general question would really appreciate any comments as there's still a lot to go
Cheers
John

 

[stuart45]

Keep up the good work. 50 bricks in 2 hours in really good going for DIY. Years ago someone stopped and spoke to me as I was building a garden wall who was a keen DIY bricklayer and was quite proud that on a good day he could lay up to 20 bricks an hour.

 

[^woody^]

It is what it is. Fair play for DIYing this around other things.

I know it's a right pain mixing and doing long runs on your own. But other than "work faster", there's probably no other advice, unless there's anything specific troubling you.

Perhaps one thing that DIYers tend to do, is mess about a lot tapping and re-tapping and moving bricks. Just try and lay the brick, position it and leave it. On to the next.

 

[John D v2.0]

Agreed with woody, I fell foul of that when laying block paving edges, took an age. It is all perfect, but the pros do it in minutes and it's straight enough!
I actually tried lime mortar for some repointing and it's a lot easier to work with (for me at least) and it seems you can use it as a plasticiser with cement mortar too.
I'm going to build a shed/garage/cave in future so I'm watching with interest!

 

[garyo]

Perhaps one thing that DIYers tend to do, is mess about a lot tapping and re-tapping and moving bricks. Just try and lay the brick, position it and leave it. On to the next

Yes, it does punish lack of confidence in that respect. If your eye is reasonably good to start with then if you lay them quickly enough then the suction doesn't take hold too badly and you can knock them straight with a 6 foot level every now and then.

Fair play though 23cv, I can't put down a full mixer load in the time I have between getting kids to bed and darkness. Maybe it's because I'm doing blocks and have lots of openings.

 

[23vc]

Thanks all those words of encouragement help a lot!
Yes I tap them a bit, I think cos the mix should be wetter so it's too stiff to push it down to the line without a bit of a tap, I'll work on that.
Only other issue really is the mix going a bit dead on me especially when it's hot and windy, got a bottle of water to fix that.
Not looking forward to the scaffolding going up to a higher lift!

 

[tomfe]

The mix is key. Should be nice and creamy.
Thing is with only doing a bit at a time is you spend just as long tiding up.

You should by now know how much mortar you need to put down for your bed if not practice this as you go along then put down a longish bed and you'll lay quicker.

Have a look at the brick work on your original house and take a spirit level to it this will show you the accuracy, or lack of it, that a bricky might work to.

 

[Ian H]

This thread is useless without pictures

 

[23vc]

Pics attached. In general I am happy, any feedback always welcome though. I'm aiming to get the gable end and higher up facework as good as I can as it's the most visible from the street

 

[Ian H]

To me, that looks a professional job

 

[^woody^]

Thanks all those words of encouragement help a lot!
Yes I tap them a bit, I think cos the mix should be wetter so it's too stiff to push it down to the line without a bit of a tap, I'll work on that.
Only other issue really is the mix going a bit dead on me especially when it's hot and windy, got a bottle of water to fix that.
Not looking forward to the scaffolding going up to a higher lift!

You may well be using a plasticiser to get a nice creamy mix, but perhaps you should try a retarder instead?

Or, only get one tub out of the mixer and use that. This will keep the rest of the mix shaded and less prone to drying out as fast. Plus, you can give it a bit of a knock up when you get the next tub.

When you spread the bed, make a furrow so that the brick presses down easily - the bed on the front face should be kept vertical and when squeezed this will be cut off with the towel for your joint of the next brick. But on the back, angle the bed inwards so that none or little gets squeezed out.

But, it's important not to make such a deep furrow so that once compressed, there are voids to hold water.

An alternative, would be to flatten and compact the bed with the towel leaving it just high enough to allow the brick to be pressed gently and then left - 15 or 20mm depending on how stiff the mortar is. Get this right and all you would need would be a slight forward and backward push and the brick will be aligned OK as the bed is already flat.

But see what works for you.

 

[23vc]

Thanks woody
Good point about trying to avoid squeeze out at the back, I have been scraping it all flush on the cavity side, as I understand it when using full fill dry therm a bit of squeeze out isn't the end of the world ? I know with the rigid boards it's a complete no no

 

[noseall]

In the summer and with porous bricks, it helps to chuck a bucket of water on the bricks before laying.

 

[^woody^]

In the summer and with porous bricks, it helps to chuck a bucket of water on the bricks before laying.

Hoseall !

 

[23vc]

In the summer and with porous bricks, it helps to chuck a bucket of water on the bricks before laying.

Theyre sand faced Carlton heathers. They seem pretty pourous to me but I haven't got a great deal of experience in these things!
I might try soaking them if I do another hot spell. I find they need jointing pretty quick!