Bricklaying for the Do-It-Yourselfer

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When a quantity of mortar is made, it is called a "batch." A 70-pound bag of masonry cement (by volume I cubic foot) requires 3 cubic feet of sand (16 rounded shovelfuls) and depending on the dampness of the sand, 4 1/2 to 6 gallons of water.

If you are using a mechanical mixer, put the water in first, then half the sand, then all of the masonry cement, and finally the other half of the sand (and additional water if needed). If the mixture is too wet, add additional amounts of dry ingredients in the proper ratio (3:1). If the mixture is too dry, simply add more water. Completing the recipe above for a 70-pound bag of cement will yield one "bag batch" (4 cubic feet of mortar). One bag batch is enough to lay 135 standard-sized bricks. A bag of premixed mortar is about I cubic foot and will lay about 34 bricks.

To determine how much mortar ingredients to order for a large project, use the following steps.

1) Divide the number of brick needed by 135. This will tell you how many bags of cement you will need.

2) Multiply the number of bags needed by three. The product equals how many cubic feet of sand the project will require.

3) Divide the product in step two by 27 (the number of cubic feet in one cubic yard). This figure will indicate the number of cubic yards of sand. Fine masonry sand is usually sold by the cubic yard. if the sand supplier sells it by the ton, he will make die conversion for you.

4) 4 1/2 to 6 gallons of water per hatch will be needed to mix the mortar.

For smaller projects, and if you plan to use premixed mortar, use the first three steps indicated above. (In step one, use 34, the number of standard-sized brick that can be laid with one bag of premixed mortar.)

A brick wall is usually built in front of another wall. it is properly referred to as a "brick veneer" wall. The space between the two walls is called a cavity and is usually anywhere from 1" to 2". Special job circumstances could make these dimensions vary. Because a brick veneer wall is not very wide (standard sized brick vary in width from 3 1/4" to 4"), it is necessary to use some form of brick cavity tie to secure the two walls together. There are several different gadgets available to do this and the one that I have selected is known as a corrugated wall tie. It is a galvanized, corrugated piece of thin metal about 8" long, 1" wide and about as thick as a greeting card. If the backup wall already exists, such as the exterior of a house or even one or more of the interior walls of a house, you should fasten the wall ties to the backup wall every 16" horizontally and every 16" vertically. This would be about one corrugated wall tie for every two square feet of wall space to be brick veneered.

Wall ties are inexpensive, costing about $6.50 for a box of 100. For the exterior walls of a house, you should cover the inner wall surface with a waterproof tar felt paper fast. Then snap chalk lines every 16" in height and then mark each 16" horizontally with a piece of bright colored chalk.

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