One for the D.I.Y.ers

[billytheghillie]

Anyone used the brickie tool for building walls? Any good? www.brickytool.com

[lumpy]

website just comes up with home page !

[billytheghillie]

click on u.k. then enter site

[Fatcatsplat]

I know the one you mean - Makes it all look dead easy that even an idiot could do it.

 

Mind you, so did the Lovers Guide.............got my money back on that one.....

[Diceman]

Basic DIY bricklaying isn't difficult to learn. The skill of the pro is in doing it quickly and neatly enough to earn a living at it. If you are a DIY-er you can afford to take the time to get your muck right and learn how to trowel it on the proper way. I've seen a few people start a job with one of these things and none of them were using it the end, too much faffing about.

[Big Marty]

Lot of Brickies round here that are tools you need to narrow it down a bit. Lol. Naw seen them but always managed with out. Think if you take your time you'll be grand.

[gixer1]

a spot of fairy liquid in the mixer does the trick - it helps the mortar mix become more workable...

 

I was shown how to lay bricks by my father in law a few houses ago and admitedly you can see where he stopped showing me and i carried on but it wasn't bad and i was apparently working with bricks which are a nightmare as the mortar can mark/stain them (fifestone buff or something they are called)

 

I found it quite theraputic mixing the mortar and kaying the line then making the trough bit in the middle and tapping the brick down...great fun playing bob the builder!

 

The result was the below, you can see he did the start of the left and i did the right and the cope! -

[Catweazle]

I've used one, it was good. It starts you off laying bricks neatly, and as you go on you find you need it less and less, so it's a good teaching tool.

[Diceman]

a spot of fairy liquid in the mixer does the trick - it helps the mortar mix become more workable...

 

 

It will also weaken the mortar and reduce it's useful life considerably! Use a proper plasticiser instead.

[gixer1]

It will also weaken the mortar and reduce it's useful life considerably! Use a proper plasticiser instead.

 

10 years on that patio and planters are still standing .... Guess it doesn't weaken it that much...

[Sharpshooter.123]

I was shown from a silly young age how to lay bricks/blocks and it's so easy when you get that first corse down I'm going back to carpentry soon.

[Robin128]

Proper job, Gixer1!

 

[Gimlet]

I was shown from a silly young age how to lay bricks/blocks and it's so easy when you get that first corse down I'm going back to carpentry soon.

 

Laying to the line is easy. Its day one lesson one. Free hand work and setting out is where bricklaying proper starts. Try setting out and building a Gothic arch or a tumbled in chimney breast, sigmoidal curves, a cambered Welsh arch or, my favourite, a gauged niche.

Sadly a lot of this stuff doesn't get built any more, particularly fine gauged work with rubbers. Too expensive and too few craft brickies about. And too few decent architects.

I like old ornate chimney rebuilds best. The bigger and fancier the better, though I'm getting a bit old for all that ladder work.

 

Next time you DIY brickies build a garden wall or some flower beds, stick in a panel of diagonal interlacing, a dentil course and some dog's toothing under the crease. It makes all the difference.

[vampire]

As said above,DO NOT PUT WASHING UP LIQUID IN THE MIX,been in the game a long while and it will weaken the mix,especialy if you are in an exposed weather area,mind you its lovely to work with

Pity you are not closer,i could teach you how to set out a build a wall and what to and not to do,why dont you get someone in to do it for you who would let you have a go and dont take it up as a living

[cushion94]

Don't use fairy liquid! Get a proper plasticiser there made for the job and not expensive. Fairy brings out salt and end up with efflorescence all over the joints and stops the bricks sticking together properly.

Edited April 24, 2012 by cushion94

[gixer1]

As said above - still standing after 10 years!

[Gimlet]

Don't use fairy liquid! Get a proper plasticiser there made for the job and not expensive. Fairy brings out salt and end up with efflorescence all over the joints and stops the bricks sticking together properly.

 

+1 Seem to remember the dreaded fairy liquid question coming up before. Try and get Febmix plus, cherry red stuff. Best entrainer there is.

[gixer1]

Ok, if you're building a replica of the tower of London - don't use fairy, if you're building a garden wall/BBQ ect - pretty sure it will still be standing after you have gone regardless of the fairy or plastisiser - pretty sure the old mortar used to build castles managed without plastisiser or fairy so go figure!

 

As a note - apparently the old auf weidersehen per era brickies all threw up around 2000 bricks per day for Ze Germans and according to a brickie friend thier "muck" all contained "squeeze"

 

Regards,

Gixer

[Sharpshooter.123]

Just before my old chap passed away we built a house together with a few others and it was all done with old style brick work, that house is worth a bloody mint and I WILL one day own that house, just got to find £475,000

[Mungler]

I have no knowledge or interest in brick laying, but I love a band wagon... so.... I too would like to reprimand Gixer for his use of fairy liquid in his mix. I mean really, what was he thinking of? Amateurs

 

Fat Cat Splat, I lol'd.

[ME]

I too would like to reprimand Gixer for his use of fairy liquid in his mix. I mean really, what was he thinking of? Amateurs

 

 

I am a modern metro sexual man, so I use Nivea For Men in my mix. I find it makes the muck easier to work with and keeps my hands soft at the same time

[Gimlet]

Ok, if you're building a replica of the tower of London - don't use fairy, if you're building a garden wall/BBQ ect - pretty sure it will still be standing after you have gone regardless of the fairy or plastisiser - pretty sure the old mortar used to build castles managed without plastisiser or fairy so go figure!

 

As a note - apparently the old auf weidersehen per era brickies all threw up around 2000 bricks per day for Ze Germans and according to a brickie friend thier "muck" all contained "squeeze"

 

Regards,

Gixer

 

Old muck used to build castles was lime putty which contains no cement and sets on exposure to air by a process of carbonation, which takes months. It is a completely different material. Below ground they would have used hydraulic lime which like cement sets on contact with water, but much more slowly. The lime itself is its own entrainer as it retains water and traps air, creating a set mortar that has excellent weather resistance and slight molecular flexibility, which is why old buildings shift and lean without suffering structural failure.

The official line from the BDA, the Brick Developement Association which is the leading authority on bricklaying and masonry and which publishes most of the training material used by college students and apprentices is as follows:

 

"Never use domestic or commercial detergents as they

contain harmful chemicals. Unlike proprietary plasticisers

they generate uncontrolled quantities of large air bubbles

producing weaker, less durable mortar."

 

I'll bet the mix you used was fairly strong and contained no hydrated lime. If you'd used an 8:2:1 mix it might not have set at all.

 

You've done a nice job and so far got away with it, but the stone you've used looks like impermeable cast concrete which puts much less weather stress on mortar than absorbant clay, which channels large amounts of water and pollutants through the mortar joints.

For a general purpose, strong mix for garden sctrucures I'd use 6:1:1, (6 sand, 1 hydrated lime, 1 cement) with Febmix Plus plasticiser. Very strong but not brittle and excellent weather restistance. I also use it on chimneys. Very durable.

Just thought I'd mention it.

Edited April 25, 2012 by Gimlet

[Big Marty]

My Dah would have cut your lad off if he had saw using squeeze. He used to refuse to use the Mortar if it was in it. He was old school all my uncles were the same, have to say though I think on a small home project wouldn't really do a pile of harm..... P.S, Don't tell my father I said that he would disown me lol...

[linny]

Old muck used to build castles was lime putty which contains no cement and sets on exposure to air by a process of carbonation, which takes months. It is a completely different material. Below ground they would have used hydraulic lime which like cement sets on contact with water, but much more slowly. The lime itself is its own entrainer as it retains water and traps air, creating a set mortar that has excellent weather resistance and slight molecular flexibility, which is why old buildings shift and lean without suffering structural failure.

The official line from the BDA, the Brick Developement Association which is the leading authority on bricklaying and masonry and which publishes most of the training material used by college students and apprentices is as follows:

 

"Never use domestic or commercial detergents as they

contain harmful chemicals. Unlike proprietary plasticisers

they generate uncontrolled quantities of large air bubbles

producing weaker, less durable mortar."

 

I'll bet the mix you used was fairly strong and contained no hydrated lime. If you'd used an 8:2:1 mix it might not have set at all.

 

You've done a nice job and so far got away with it, but the stone you've used looks like impermeable cast concrete which puts much less weather stress on mortar than absorbant clay, which channels large amounts of water and pollutants through the mortar joints.

For a general purpose, strong mix for garden sctrucures I'd use 6:1:1, (6 sand, 1 hydrated lime, 1 cement) with Febmix Plus plasticiser. Very strong but not brittle and excellent weather restistance. I also use it on chimneys. Very durable.

Just thought I'd mention it.

with a cherry on hes right

[Mungler]

I've just got into work and told everyone about Gixer using "squeeze" in his mucking up. Everyone here is up in arms and I think there's a stiff letter on its way to Gixer's local MP. Disgraceful carry on.