How to Lay Bricks Like a Mason
The secret to laying bricks like a mason is like that for a musician to get to Carnegie Hall: practice, practice, practice. Brick-laying looks simple -- you put some mortar on bricks and lay them on top of each other in some pattern. Looks are deceiving. Brick-laying takes patience, manual dexterity for handling the trowels and other tools of the trade and skill in mixing mortar, applying it properly, keeping lines straight and level and finishing joints between bricks. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Stakes
- Mason's twine
- Line level
- Shovel
- Gravel
- Concrete (optional)
- Mortar
- Mason's trowel
- Pointing tool
Instructions
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Begin with a small project, a low garden wall or a planter box, where a slightly crooked brick or wide joint will not be so obvious or so critical.
Learn the types of brick. Standard bricks are nominally 2-by-4-by-8 inches, although specific sizes will vary slightly among styles and manufacturers. The nominal dimension allows for mortar joints. Some bricks are solid, used for paving or facing on a house. Construction bricks have holes in the center, to reduce weight and add extra space for solidifying mortar. Bricks have rough or smooth or other surfaces or faces, depending on the look desired.
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Start all brick-laying with a firm foundation.
For a wall, planter or similar task, dig a footing trench and fill it with compacted gravel; the width and depth will vary with the height and width of the wall. Install brick facing on a house or build a higher and wider wall with a base of concrete; this ledge is poured on a new house as part of the foundation, but must be added to older houses or for free-standing walls or other projects.
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Drive wood stakes at each end of the brick project, slightly taller than the intended height of the first course or layer of brick.
Stretch mason's twine between the stakes and level it with a line level, which slips over the string. Make sure the line is straight along the route for the brick.
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Mix mortar according to recommendations on the package.
It must be fluid but not runny, thin enough to spread easily with a trowel, but firm enough to hold onto the brick and stay moist until it has set into brick faces on both sides. Good mortar is key to good brick work. Thick mortar will dry too quickly and make an unstable wall; thin mortar will flow out of the joint and weaken it.
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Lay the first brick by spreading mortar with a trowel on the bottom and one side.
Put it on the base, mortar sides down and toward the next brick. Mortar ("butter") a second brick and put it beside the first one. Continue this until you reach the end of the line. Check the bricks with a level to make sure they are level and aligned. Lay a second course, with bricks overlapping so mortar joints don't line up. Check a brick pattern guide to decide on a pattern; there are many styles of brick-laying for different looks.
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Finish brick joints with a pointing tool, a metal tool which pushes the mortar into a specified shape.
The best style for exterior work is concave, a sort of semi-circle of mortar between bricks so any water that hits the joint will flow out the bottom. Next best is V-shape, similar to the concave but with the mortar shaped into a triangle. Form these with a combination tool, which has one convex end to form the concave joint and a triangular end to make the V.
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