Building a home extention
When you lay bricks for the first time it's a good idea to practice first with a soft mixture of sand and water which can act as mortar, or alternatively you can build a wall dry.
A DIAGRAM THAT EXPLAINS THE TECHNIQUE AND STYLE
Also don't forget you'll need a foundation strip for your wall before you actually start to build it.
- First lay a foundation strip before building the wall.
- Fasten string lines on pegs and stretch the string line across the foundation strip.
- Dry-lay the brick to give you an idea of what the brick wall will look like.
- Start by laying the first corner brick. Either lay the shorter end of the brick (header) or length of the brick (stretcher) facing you.
- Next, place the queen closer (a brick cut lengthwise) right next to the corner brick.
- Leave a 1cm (3/8in) gap between the two bricks.
- Finish dry-laying the first course of bricks.
- When you're sure of this first course, relay the bricks.
- This time, fill in the gaps between the bricks with 1cm (3/8 in) mortar joints.
- Check if the course is level with a spirit level.
- For the second course of brickwork, lay the brickwork at the header end if your first course was a stretcher course, and vice versa.
- To complete the wall, alternate the headers and stretcher courses.
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