Brick work

 The main thing is to build the wall uprightm in the right place and with all the layers or courses of brick or block horizontal with staggered vertical joints.

The key to success is in mixing of the mortar, which ideally should have the consistency of stiff mashed potatoes; if it is too dry the bricks will not readily bond to it. However, if it is too wet, the bricks will slide about. If possible watch a brick layer at work and try to emulate his mortar. Be careful not to add too much water at the end of the mixing process as if the mix becomes too wet the only way to stiffen it up is to add more sand and cement, which can easily result in the over filling of the mixer.

Trial and error is the only way to learn, however once you have got it right once it is easy to do the same thing again, a bit like riding a bicycle.

Use a string line to show where the bricks should be laid by wrapping the string around a brick, pulling the line over another and pulling the ends apart until the line is straight. Do a dry run without any mortar just touching ( or kissing ) the line with the bricks without moving the line.

Allow for a 15 mm bed of mortar below the bottom brick and carefully reset the line so that the top edge of the brick will kiss the line.

Remove the bricks and lay down the mortar so that the entire bottom of the brick is on mortar. Place each brick frog uppermost on the mortar and bed it down until it is in the correct position. Place some mortar on the ends of each brick before placing it so that you will have a 10 mm joint between each brick. If a birck is too low, lift it from the mortar bed, add fresh mortar and re-bed it.

Do not hurry the early process, it will rapidly become easier. Once laid a brick should not be touched again as that movement will break the seal between the brick and the mortar; if this happens the brick must be removed and the mortar and the brick replaced. So be careful not to knock any new brickwork. Do not begin laying the next brick until you are completely satisfied that the last one is correctly positioned.

When a row of bricks is complete, remove the excess mortar by slicing it off with the trowel.
The pattern of the brickwork is called the bond and it is this decorative arrangement of bricks that gives a wall its strength; it is important that the vertical joints do not occur near each other, as it weakens the wall and looks unsightly.