A beautifully executed brick wall is not only pleasing to the eye, but is also strong, reliable and durable. The technology of masonry work itself is very simple, but it requires a certain theoretical preparation, extensive experience and appropriate skill. The matter must be approached with all seriousness, as well as follow all the recommendations developed by masons over many years of work.
First we need a tool. To perform masonry work, we will need: a bricklayer’s trowel (trowel), jointing for joints, a plaster (whitewash) brush, a bricklayer’s hammer, a sledgehammer, a rail-rule, a trough for mixing the mortar, a meter (tape measure), a level, a plumb line, a string, a shovel shovel, broom, broom and bucket. In addition, you will need material: sand for masonry (alluvial), cement (or cement and lime), bricks (possibly shaped), water and acetic acid.
There are different types of masonry, which bricklayer decides for himself, based on his taste, experience and specific conditions. If all stages of work are performed correctly and competently, then the brick wall will serve you for many years without requiring special care.
Where do you need to start? Consider the sequence of work:
- install and align the cast-offs at a right angle,
- preparation of masonry mortar,
- lays the first row of bricks around the entire perimeter of the building,
- we manufacture aids, lay out corners we lay bricks in the gaps between the corners, we arrange corner joints and junctions (when performing masonry with various dressing of seams),
- production of masonry using decorative ligation of seams,
- arrangement of the crowning part of the wall using mortar,
- clinker slabs, shaped bricks or concrete slabs, implementation of a number of measures to prevent the appearance of efflorescence and efflorescence,
- preparation and use of a special solution for jointing seams.
Let’s dwell on each of the stages in more detail.
Before starting masonry work, as well as before starting the foundation, you must first install a cast-off to accurately mark the boundaries of future walls. Two wooden pegs are needed for each of the corners. By pulling the thread, at the point of their mutual intersection, we will get the corners of the future walls. After that, be sure to check the squareness of the cast-off using a corner or a homemade triangle.
A homemade triangle can be made from improvised means. Take three wooden slats 100, 80 and 60 cm long. Connect them together. As a result, you will get a triangle with an aspect ratio of 3:4:5, one of the corners of which is guaranteed to be right. Universal masonry mortar is prepared from cement, slaked lime, sand and water. Pour sand, lime and cement into the trough in the required proportion, mix thoroughly until the structure is homogeneous, and then close with water and knead. The masonry mortar must have a uniform structure and sufficient viscosity (like good thick sour cream).
After that, we proceed to laying on the foundation of the first row. It must be performed with a spoon row. Do not apply a lot of mortar, make sure that the thickness of the bed (horizontal) seams is within 10 – 13 mm. When laying out the bricks of the first spoon row, a slight increase in the thickness of the seam is allowed to smooth out the irregularities present on the surface of the foundation wall. Between the bricks, the thickness of the butt (vertical) joints should be about 10 mm, so that the modular dimension (brick length plus vertical joint) is approximately 26 cm. Brick laying must be carried out along the marking cord, while removing excess mortar. The quality of the laying of the first row of bricks as a whole will depend on the quality of the entire laid out wall.
After we have completed the laying of the first row around the entire perimeter of the building, we begin to lay out the corners. They need to be raised about half the height. Starting from the corners, the bricks must be laid with bandaging of the seams. From the very beginning, the walls are laid alternately with a full brick, and then half a brick. When laying out adjacent walls to each other at right angles, we change the direction of the masonry, and this results in the simplest dressing of the seams. The so-called runaway corner shtraba (masonry from the corner in the form of a ladder descending along the adjacent wall) will be ideal if the vertical (butt) seams of each of the subsequent rows will be located in the middle of the previous ones. With this brick dressing scheme, the length of the overlaps will turn out to be half a brick or 12 cm. If you use another type of dressing, then in any case, the length of the overlap should not be less than 4.5 cm. , special attention must be paid to the accuracy of laying corners.
The accuracy of the angles must be controlled in several planes with the help of order and level, since the correct shape of the laid out room will depend on this. If you do not align the corners, then the masonry between adjacent walls may turn out to be not straight, skewed. When performing masonry with full filling of joints, part of the masonry mortar will inevitably protrude. It must be immediately removed with a trowel (trowel) and used for the next seam. Constantly control the density of the masonry mortar. If it starts to thicken, stir it in. If the solution begins to harden, do not use it, as it will not have sufficient strength, mix a new one. If you accidentally, when removing excess mortar, hooked and removed the brick, put it aside, remove all the cured mortar at the place of its laying, lay it again using a new fresh mortar. One of the important tools of a bricklayer is the ordering or control rail. It is a board or bar approximately 1.5 – 2 meters long with notches (divisions) applied every 77 mm, corresponding to the thickness of the standard brickwork (brick thickness (65 mm) + joint thickness (12 mm) \u003d 77 mm). When performing stepped laying of corners, constantly monitor the quality of your work with a meter, corner and level.
When performing serial masonry (ordering), pull the cord at the desired height, control the straightness of the work on it. Make sure that the stretched cord shows you the exact horizontal position of the row. It is necessary to pull the cord along the entire plane of the row, from corner to corner. You can fix the cord at the required height using special wooden blocks installed at the corners, or using ordinary nails inserted into the seam filled with mortar. Do not let the cord slack. Periodically check the horizontality and verticality of the intermediate masonry using a level and rail-rule. Consider the implementation of brickwork brick-thick. Walls of this thickness, if the dressing is performed correctly, may well serve as load-bearing walls. One of the simplest examples of correct “one-brick” masonry is masonry, in which adjacent rows have a mutual offset. Brickwork has a very beautiful aesthetic appearance, in which the longitudinal row of bricks alternates with the transverse one. At the same time, several issues are solved at the same time, the corners of the building are correctly formed, and the problem of adjoining internal walls (T-connection) is solved.
In order for the masonry pattern not to be disturbed, the dressing must, if possible, be performed around the corner, i.e. in the adjacent wall. The T-shaped abutment is carried out in such a way that the dressing does not violate the through masonry. The T-shaped connection will give special strength to the wall, which will have a dressing with a through wall in every second row. Particular attention must be paid to the dressing of the seam in the facing masonry. This masonry is not subject to plastering, it must not only be durable and reliable, but also have an attractive appearance. We will consider the traditional version of decorative dressing of seams.
Naturally, when doing masonry work, you will want to implement your own ideas, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, the beauty of decorative masonry lies in the uniformity of repeating structures and straight lines. To ensure sufficient reliability of the masonry, it must be connected to adjacent rows, while paying attention that in no case the seam of one of the rows is located above the other. Try to ensure that even and odd rows have the same mutual offset across the surface of the entire wall. The maximum allowable overlap length (mutual overlap) should not be less than 4.5 cm (40% of the brick width). For the uniformity of the masonry, it is necessary to correctly calculate and form the corners, as well as perform the serial masonry properly.
Before starting masonry, especially for facing, it is necessary to calculate the masonry scheme based on the modular size (12.5 cm). One of the simplest types of masonry is the construction of a wall in ½ brick (12 cm), i.e., in a spoon way, when only the longitudinal side of the brick is visible. Decorative masonry in most cases is performed “in brick” (25 cm). This masonry can be considered as two parallel masonry of ½ bricks, while connected (tied) together by transverse bonded bricks. At the same time, a pattern is formed on the wall from alternating spoon and bond sides of the brick. Among masons, the most popular are the cross and single-row dressings. When using a single-row type of dressings, all vertical seams of spoon bricks are one under the other, and with a cross type of masonry – with their mutual displacement.
Many use other types of dressings, but they are essentially just different varieties of the types discussed above. At the final stage of masonry, it is necessary to provide masonry protection from atmospheric action in order to prevent the accumulation of water on its surface, penetration into the interior of the masonry and its destruction. This is more true if you have built a brick fence, laid out flower beds or other decorative structures that will not be protected from above by a roof or canopy.
One of the methods of protection against the accumulation of moisture is to create a slight slope, no matter what material is used as a coating. As a horizontal surface cover, you can use a smooth cement screed, which is made about 3 cm thick. Stone or concrete slabs have proven themselves well. If the wall is made of decorative brick, then clinker brick is ideal as a shelter material. It can be laid out with a poke row (on the edge), which will quite reliably protect the wall from rain. Pay special attention to the accuracy of the horizontal seams.
After all the walls are laid out, the masonry is protected, it is necessary to perform the jointing. No matter how well you perform the front masonry, but without a neat and beautifully executed jointing, it will not have the proper appearance. Seams that are completely filled with mortar are considered one of the most durable. In this case, the jointing can be done during the masonry process, by running a special jointing or an ordinary piece of a watering hose along the seam of the mortar that has not yet hardened. If you are grouting the joints after the completion of the masonry, say, for this purpose you use a colored mortar, then from the beginning it is necessary to remove the masonry mortar in the joint to a depth of 15 mm. After that, it is necessary to carefully clean the seam from dust with a brush, moisten with water.
Those places of the brick on which there are firmly dried blots of mortar must be cleaned with a brush dipped in a 6% solution of acetic acid. After cleaning, the entire surface of the wall must be thoroughly rinsed with running water. Washing the wall from acetic acid must be done in the most thorough way to prevent even the slightest residue of it, as it can cause the brick to fade. The mortar for grouting must be prepared from fine sand (grains no more than 2 mm) and cement in a proportion of 5: 1. It is recommended to add a small amount of finely ground trass (volcanic rock) to this solution, which helps to compact the solution and gives it excellent moisture-resistant properties. In this case, the ratio of sand, cement and track should be as follows – 5:1:1.
Currently, ready-made dry mixes for jointing are widely represented on sale, in which many manufacturers include tracks that have, among other things, different colors. The use of jointing of dark colors can perfectly emphasize the beauty and expressiveness of a wall made of red or white brick. To reliably protect the wall from fading and the formation of efflorescence, it is recommended immediately after completion of construction work to treat the wall with special water repellents, solutions that protect the brick wall from moisture and the formation of salts on its surface.
At the end of the article, I would like to pay special attention to some points:
- almost any brick perfectly absorbs moisture, so the brickwork must be separated from the concrete plinth or foundation with waterproofing,
- it is important during the laying process to observe the verticality of the corners, the straightness and horizontality of each row. Particular attention must be paid to the horizontal laying out of the first row, as it will become the basis for the entire wall,
- proper bandaging of the seams contributes to an even distribution of the load in the wall and on the foundation, which directly depends on the durability and strength of the masonry.
We hope that our small recommendations will help you not only master the basic brickwork techniques, but also allow you to perform the necessary masonry work in a quality, reliable and beautiful way. Successful construction!