How to Build Concrete Brick Walls

Concrete bricks have become a popular substitute for more expensive clay brick.

Concrete bricks have become a popular, economical substitute for traditional red clay brick. Building a concrete brick wall is similar in most ways to building a wall with clay bricks; the primary difference is that concrete bricks are cut with a masonry saw instead of split with a chisel. The process of building a wall with concrete bricks involves first pouring a level concrete footer, then laying your bricks in a staggered pattern, with layers of mortar in between to hold the bricks together. Check your level and plumb often and work slowly and methodically to achieve the best results.

Things You'll Need

• Concrete bricks
• Mortar
• Wheelbarrow
• Shovel
• Trowel
• 4-foot level
• Chalk line
• Masonry saw
• Tamper
• Steel reinforcement bars
• 2-by-4-inch board
• 1-inch boards as tall as the trench is deep

Instructions

Selecting a Spot and Pouring a Footer

1. Choose a good spot for your concrete wall. Look for solid, tightly packed soil. Also, position your brick wall away from trees whose roots may disturb the footer and integrity of your concrete brick wall.

2. Dig a trench that is twice the width of your wall and six inches deeper than the width of the wall. Use a flat-headed shovel to create sharp, square walls. Use a tamper to compact the soil and create a firm, stable base. If your soil is too loose to hold its form, line the sides with 1-inch thick boards wide enough to span the distance from the base of the trench to the soil surface. Hold the boards in place with steel reinforcement bars cut to length and positioned one third of the way up from the base of your trench.

3. Fill the trench with six inches of crushed rock or gravel. Tamp the gravel down with your tamper.

4. Mix your concrete in a wheelbarrow. Follow the concrete manufacturer's instructions regarding the ratio of water to concrete mix. If you have wooden forms in place, oil them with concrete release agent so that they can be easily removed after the concrete has been poured. Use a pointed shovel to mix the concrete and to transfer the mixed concrete from the wheelbarrow to the trench. Fill the trench with concrete. Bring the surface of the concrete level with the soil surface. Use your shovel to prod the concrete and fill any voids that may exist.

5. Use a wooden section of 2-by-4-inch board to screed the concrete level. Drag the board across the concrete and work the surface smooth. Check the concrete with a level laid gently on the surface of the setting concrete.

6. Cover the poured footer with plastic and allow the concrete to cure for three to four days.

Building the Concrete Brick Wall

1. Mix your mortar in a wheelbarrow. Follow the mortar manufacturer's instructions regarding the proper ratio of mortar mix to water and the correct consistency of the finished mortar mix.

2. Snap a chalk line along the length of the concrete footer and lay down a "dry run" of concrete bricks. Your first course will consist of two rows of concrete bricks laid side by side. Lay this course with the bricks positioned lengthwise and end to end along the footer. Space the bricks 1/2 inch apart and mark the location of the bricks with chalk. Extend the chalk marks beyond the width of the wall so they will be visible after you have put down your first mortar line.

3. Remove the concrete bricks and set them aside. Then throw your first line of mortar along the length of the concrete footer. Gather the mortar on your triangular mortar trowel and deposit the mortar along the length of the footer, following your chalk lines. The mortar bed should be one inch thick and the width of your wall with the two rows of bricks laid side by side. Throw three to four brick lengths of mortar at a time.

4. Wet your concrete bricks down regularly with water before you lay them so that they will not absorb all of the moisture out of the mortar mix.

5. Set your bricks in the mortar. Use the trowel to apply mortar to the ends of the bricks as you set them in the mortar bed. Check your level and plumb as you work by setting a 4-foot level along the top and face of your concrete brick wall. Scrape away excess mortar with the trowel and deposit it back in the wheelbarrow.

6. Throw another line of mortar over the top of your first brick course. On the second course, cut 1/2 of the width of a concrete brick off of the end of the two end bricks. For example, if your bricks are four inches wide, cut two inches off of the two bricks that will lie on each end of the wall. Use a masonry saw to cut the bricks to length.

7. Lay your end bricks in the mortar. Then lay the rest of the bricks in the row turned widthwise so that they span both rows of bricks beneath. This laying of the bricks widthwise over the course beneath is known as a header, and it serves to tie the two rows of bricks below together and give the finished wall more integrity and strength.

8. Throw another line of mortar over the second course and lay another course of concrete bricks similar to the first course, with the bricks laid end to end.

9. On the following course, cut the end blocks in half so that the joints between one course of concrete bricks and the course beneath it are staggered.

10. Continue this pattern of staggering the joints between brick courses. Every fifth course, run another header row, with the bricks laid widthwise, to provide the wall with the necessary integrity. You can also run a header along the top of the wall to tie it together and to give it a finished, decorative look.

Tips & Warnings

• For walls higher than three feet, it is necessary to run reinforced steel ties over the width of the two-brick courses that make up the wall.

References

• How to Build Patio Seating Walls and Posts on Soil
• Quikcrete: Basic Brick Construction
• Natural Handyman: How Do I Cut Concrete Bricks?
• Quikcrete: Footers for Brick Walls

Resources

• This Old House