It will take you a long time, work on 50 bricks/hour (all in). Costs, cement mixer £200, 2m level £40, 9" level £5, get a small/medium trowel (not a 16" one, say 13/12"), a couple of buckets and most importently some 9mm thick beading by say 20mm, cut it up into 20 odd 6" lengths. Select your sand, you need soft sand, get a nice colour cos' there will be a lot of mortar courses!!, get a couple of clear plastic measuring jugs, one litre squat and 1 litre tall. I buy my sand in bags, because you can use a whole bag of sand, 3 1/2 litres of cement toss then in the mixer with the gaged amount of water and plasticiser. Go away and sort some bricks out/have a cup of tea. .. then your mortar will be ready.
To go. . ..
String up the whole line at a distance of 6mm from the front face of the wall. This so if you hit the string you will have to fiddle about at the ends to get it right again., lay your bricks out over the length, using the 9mm bits of wood to get your vertical spacing, work out where your cut bricks and piers are. Set a corner brick up on some 9mm spacers, go along with your long level and set another brick up on spacers at 2mm distance work this way down the length to make sure that the foundations are not running out. use thick mortar/packing on first course to get the top of the first course level.
Start laying mortar for the second brick, using the "spacered" bricks as your reference, use the short level to make sure that your bricks are good front to back. Don't worry about sorting the pointing until you have finished a course, its easier if the pointing has gone off a bit. As you proceed you will be establishing you horizontal reference. If you search around for a 6mm striking tool, then putting a little mortar on you trowel, smooth it into a flat lump about 10mm thick and with your striking tool you can tart up your perpendicular joints. Once you have done the wall, go back and finish of the end bricks using the existing bricks as your reference.
The wetness of the mortar is difficult to describe. It should be like soft margarine (I think), some brickies use a much drier mix, which means you can proceed faster.
As soon as you have used the last of your mortar from the mixer (about two bucketfuls), put half a bucket of water in it and some large pebbles and switch it on to clean it. When the noise drives you crazy, tip the lot out and leave inverted for it to drip dry.
A wall this size is quite a task for a noob, but if you don't rush it the results should be OK.
Frank
