From DIYinfo.org
[edit] Materials
Always buy a few more bricks than you need: some may get damaged in transit and others are certain to be spoilt when cutting them. As well as bricks, you need the materials which go to make up mortar (soft sand and cement) plus a square of blockboard or similar material, to carry the finished mix.
[edit] Setting Out
It is essential to make sure that the main wall in any project runs in a straight line and remains level throughout. You can do this by constructing a marker line, to indicate the edge of the proposed wall. First, tie a length of twine, at least 1m longer than your proposed wall, around a brick. Place the brick on site at one end of the line of the wall: put two others on the top to weight it, then stretch the twine out in the direction of the wall. Finally, tie the twine to another brick, weight it and pull the line taut.
When you come to mark your first course (each layer of bricks is called a 'course') your marker bricks will be laid to one side of the line, as close to it as possible without touching it.
[edit] Mixing The Mortar
You can mix the mortar on any clean, hard surface near the site. Start by thoroughly mixing five shovelfuls of sand with a shovelful of cement. Turn the mixture over with the shovel until it is thoroughly mixed.
Next, mix up some clean water with the recommended quantity of a proprietary mortar plasticiser. This helps to entrain air in the mixture and makes it easier to work. Form a crater in the mortar mix, then add a little of the water. Turn the mix over carefully, adding more water as you go, until the mortar is shiny wet, but not so soft that it slumps (flops out of shape) when you pick up a small piece on the trowel. Finally, transfer the fresh mortar to your spotboard ready for use.
[edit] Simple Bonding
In order to create a rigid structure and to spread the load on any one point, bricks are laid so that they overlap one another or are bonded. The simplest and most common bond is the half bond, stretcher bond or running bond (fig. 17).
With this arrangement, the bricks in any one course overlap those above and below by half a brick's length.
Always work to a pre-drawn bonding pattern: if you try to work the pattern out as you go along, you are certain to become confused.
[edit] Gauging
How successful a brick structure is depends a great deal on the continuity of its size or gauge. This not only applies to the bricks themselves, but also to the mortar joints between them. The ideal width of a joint is 10mm. Although you may not be able to achieve this on your first course, great care should be taken on subsequent courses to get as close to this as possible.
On the first, bedding, course you will have to vary the thickness of the mortar slightly to take up variations in the level of your foundations.
[edit] Cutting Bricks
In order to achieve a proper bonding pattern, you will inevitably be faced with the task of cutting bricks. Bricklayers simply judge by eye the length they need, then whack the brick with the laying trowel until it severs. To begin with, though, it is easier to mark the length required in pencil, allowing 10mm for the mortar joint. Then, using the hammer and bolster, tap the brick firmly on its top, both edges and bottom at the point where you want the break to be. A final, hard whack across the top will sever it.
To speed up the measuring and marking process, bricklayers use a marking plate, three pieces of wood, stuck together as shown in (fig. 2) to give rebates of quarter, half and three-quarter brick sizes. If you have a lot of bricks to cut, it is well worth making up a plate and cutting all the bricks before you begin laying.
[edit] Using The Trowel
If possible, practise the knack of handling the trowel for at least 15 minutes before you start laying any bricks, it will save a lot of mess later on and greatly speed up the bricklaying process.
Arrange the mortar into a neat pile on one side of the spotboard. If you are right handed, the left hand edge of your trowel as seen from above will be a straight edge. Use this to cut a section of mortar from the pile (fig. 4 below), keeping the blade of the trowel angled slightly towards you.
Roll the mortar down the spotboard towards you, smoothing it to form a sausage shape with tapering ends (fig.5 below). This section of mortar is known as a pear. To pick it up, slide the straight edge of the trowel under it and then up again in a sweeping movement (fig.6 below). Practise doing this until you can pick up the whole of the pear in one sweep.
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[edit] Trade Tips
Q Every time I do a bricklaying job I find myself having to point up the joints afterwards. This is slow and messy. What am I doing wrong?
A Probably your mortar is too dry. It should be wet enough to squeeze out between the bricks with just light taps of the trowel handle. This lets you make a well filled flush joint just by lifting off the surplus with the edge of the trowel, and saves re-pointing later.
Q My mortar starts drying too quickly, making it almost impossible to tap the bricks accurately into line. What causes this?
A Dry bricks will always suck water from the mortar. Try damping the bricks, either by hosing down the whole pile, or by dunking them all in a bucket of water before you start laying. As you gain experience and speed, you will find this step unnecessary. But it is always a good idea to add a commercial plasticizer to the mortar to improve its adhesion.