Bricklaying for the Do-It-Yourselfer

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For the real thing, use a wheelbarrow as a mixing vessel. Put six well-rounded shovels of sand and two well-rounded shovels of masonry cement in the barrow and dry mix very thoroughly With a hoe. Pull this mass to one end and pour about 2 gallons of water into the other end of the barrow. Slowly pull and mix the dry mass into the water with the hoe. The exact amount of water required will vary slightly, and it may take two or three batches to get the perfect consistency. if the mortar is too dry, it will be unspreadable; if too wet, it will run and not hold its shape well on the trowel.

Now it is time to learn how to spread mortar and make a brick bed (mortar spread out and prepared to receive brick). Grasp the trowel by its handle keeping your thumb on top, and work it through the mortar.

Develop a feel for the trowel and mortar by trying to pick up the mortar with the side of the blade and the heel. A bricklaying trowel is like an extension of a mason's arm and is seldom put down when he is working. When laying brick, lie will pick up a brick With one hand and a trowel full of mortar with the other hand, Get a good bit of mortar (masons often refer to it as "mud") on the full side of the blade (left side if you are right handed and right side if you are left handed).

If you are right handed, approach the left end of the work (vice versa if YOU are left handed), lower the trowel to about 4" above the target, rotate your wrist slightly and apply the mortar by snapping it off the left side of Your trowel in two to three movements, moving ahead with each snap and lightly overlapping each snap of mud. When you become proficient doing this, you will be able to throw down about 16" to 20" of mortar bed from one trowel full of mud.

As you take mortar from the mortar pan with your trowel, tap the bottom of the trowel firmly against the pan. This will make the mud settle and stay on the trowel as you prepare to make the bed.

When properly shaped, a bed will be about about 5/8" to 3/4" thick when wet, and will compress to about 3/8" thick when dry. Spread the mortar by gliding the trowel from left to right a few times to ensure a uniform thickness. A skilled mason does this fluidly and automatically, but it will feel awkward to a novice. You may want to invest a couple of hours practicing bed preparation before advancing to laying the bricks themselves.

Putting mortar on the head of the brick (making a "head joint") is the last step to learn before laying. The mortar should retain the same thickness listed above, should be applied neatly without smearing the face, and should be smooth and compact enough so that the mortar joint doesn't fall off. Note in figure 12 how the mason is holding the brick: thumb on face and palm over the top. You will use the toe and a little of the blade to hold enough mud for this operation. Use four movements to apply the mortar.

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