Brickwork training
Most bricklaying contractors will learn their skills through an apprenticeship which provides a balance of some college learning with more on site practical skills development. Anyone can set themselves up as a bricklaying contractor and there are no recognised institutes for brickwork other than the very well respected Federation of Master builders which encompasses many other trade skills as well. So, if you’re on the hunt for a good bricklaying contractor then recommendation, testimonials, photography and websites will all be essential elements in helping you to make your selection and appointment.
What all bricklayers should know
A competent and qualified bricklayer should be able to undertake and/or have a full appreciation for all of the following, and you should be able to rely on their training and skills for these basic tasks. In early discussion, if they appear unfamiliar with these elements then you should automatically move on to other contractors.
- Setting out. At the start of a contract, the drawings should be assessed and window and door positions carefully measured and calculated for positioning on site. The brick bond should be agreed with the vast majority being stretcher half brick, and a discussion made about how to accommodate specific window and door reveal locations into the bond. This may involve breaking the bond with a regulating brick above and below openings or reversing the bond with a brick reduction either side of the aperture. Gauging and storey rods should be used to ‘keep the gauge’ both horizontally and vertically.
- Brick batch mixing. Bricks should never be used exclusively from one batch only and, instead, three or four brick batches should be raided for each section of work to ensure that the bricks are all mixed up. Otherwise, the very fine differences in a clay brick’s colour could make your wall appear patchy in an irritating and semi-uniform way.
- Mortar consistency. Similarly, there must be a strict consistent approach to the mortar mix with buckets (or very accurate shovels) being used to carefully regulate the quantity of sand, cement and lime being used. Getting this wrong will spoil a brick façade as each separate day’s progress will be visible with differing shades of mortar once it has all dried. Only clean water should be used for the mortar to reduce the possibility of resultant brickwork efflorescence (salt staining on the clay brick surface).
- Bed and perp joints. Excessive furrowing of mortar will leave potential voids in the brickwork bed joints and buttering only the corners of the brick ends will leave voids in the vertical perpendicular joints, otherwise known as perp ends. Good practice is for fully filled perp and bed joints in order to rely upon full loadbearing capacity and external weathering.
- Cavity treatment and barriers. Cavities are designed to be free of mortar and conversely, bridging cavities is often the cause of damp ingress problems, especially in exposed locations. Where a brick cladding is being used outside of a prefabricated system, like timber frame or SIPS, this is especially important. With system build, firestopping is also essential in cavities and competent bricklayers should be aware of these requirements. Similarly, trays over window and door heads (and lintels) must be incorporated together with any small drainage outlets.
- DPCs & wall ties. DPC detailing at ground level needs to be carefully positioned plus any vertical DPCs at abutments with timber components. Wall ties should be spaced appropriately both vertically and horizontally using the correct type for the wall specification.
- Adding insulation. Most traditional wall construction using blocks, bricks and stone will rely on insulation being added to the cavities. In certain situations, these cavities can be fully filled but only using mineral wool rather than PIR which can react badly to wet cementitious products. PIR is instead held on the face of the blockwork tightly and evenly with clips fixed to the wall ties leaving a clear guaranteed cavity between the insulation and the facing brick skin.
- Pointing options. You should be able to select your own preferred pointing option. The default is usually a rubbed mortar joint which is finally smoothed with a ‘bucket handle’ style pointing trowel but there are numerous other options including sharply struck joints or recessed joints to name but a few. However, there should never be the need for mortar to mask the surface or edges of the brick with good pointing always leaving the surface of the brick well defined and clean.
- Weep holes and air bricks. Air bricks will be needed to vent sub-floor cavities and weep holes should be left below the bottom DPC to ensure that the cavity can be drained if need be. Weep holes are usually created by inserted a vertical plastic vent into a perp end at appropriate centres.
- Window cills, reveals and weathering. Cill details will be completed after the windows have been installed and, once again, there are numerous options for you to discuss with your bricklayer. However, it’s crucial that the brickwork and window interface is discussed so that there is no chance for water ingress through the side reveal of cill detailing.
- Temperature and the effects of rain and frost. In wet weather all freshly laid brickwork should be protected at the end of the day to keep the brickwork as dry as possible, and this includes the stack of bricks left on site so that they do not become saturated. In colder weather the brickwork must be wrapped in hessian to stop the mortar from freezing overnight. In the summer, bricks may need to be kept moist to help prolong the drying period for the mortar and to allow the cement to complete its hardening reaction.
- Garden walls. Competent bricklayers should be able to advise you on foundation requirements for garden walls and the above ground wall thickness and frequency of any piers relative to its height and length.
Advanced brickwork skills
However, more advanced skills may be needed for your contract and here, the selection of appropriately skilled contractors will have a massive bearing on the final quality of your work.
- Arched lintels. Soft arched brickwork, often required where you might be adding a new extension to a period building, have to be completed sympathetically with the right thickness of mortar between the bricks on edge or the brick soldiers.
- Brick bonding. You might want to replicate bonding used for solid wall construction, like the Flemish or English bond. With Flemish you might want to introduce a contrasting header brick and, to make it even more authentic, you might want to use imperial sized bricks which are usually slightly longer and sometimes not so high.
- Lime mortars. If you are refurbishing a period building with solid brickwork then lime mortar should always be used. Bricklayers unfamiliar with period building might think that this means adding a few shovels of hydrated lime into the mix when instead it means the complete substitution of cement in favour of a natural hydraulic lime. Getting the right mix here is crucial.
- Brick bands and corbelling. Fine brickwork pattens are a common feature on Victorian and Edwardian properties but rarely seen on new housing. The use of a projecting brick band with a dentil course below, perhaps to separate a rendered or tile hung application from ground floor brickwork or in a verge position, could make a huge difference to the sophistication of your building’s elevations.
- Modern chimneys are usually pretty boring whereas, and with a bit of thought and some quality materials, these structures can be turned into much more attractive building features.
- Integrating stone and flint. Using complementary natural stones can sometimes help new houses blend more comfortably into the vernacular. Maintaining cavity discipline will be important and an appreciation for what is trying to be achieved requires a different contractor mindset.
- Retaining walls. Here your contractor will need an appreciation for both engineering and waterproofing. For serious ground retention you should have an engineer’s design and your contractor will need to follow this carefully ensuring reinforcement is placed exactly as specified. The importance of tanking details for cellars/basements and drainage details for garden retaining walls must be discussed and understood before any work commences.
Costs with quality over speed
The National Careers Service suggests that an experience bricklayer should expect a salary of circa £35,000. For a self-employed contractor this might equate to a daywork rate of circa £170 per day. In practice the spread across the country is likely to range from £160 to £220. Usually bricklayers will work as a gang of three, with two skilled bricklayers and one labourer who will keep them fed with bricks and mortar throughout the day. Where volume work is involved, this can be efficient and means that the average triple gang might cost £450 to £600 per day. On larger sites, bricklayers may be paid to some extent based upon output, with some bricklayers claiming that they can lay up to 600 to 800 bricks in a day. Blockwork is obviously much faster than brickwork but output will be heavily influenced by the block width, specification and weight.
Speed should not be of the essence on your project and instead you should be looking for attention to detail and quality. Exceptional brickwork will make all the difference to your house and you would be wise to work with contractors who are interested in your project rather than the quickest route to completion.
Written and published in February 2020
