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Anyhow, you can see our entire articles at this addresses, DIY brickwork
and, http://diybrickwork.com,
Houses can be built with different materials, most times a house can be part bricks and part timber, like the one here, a brick base and a timber house above. Anyhow, in this blog we want to start the house building a brick base.
Dear readers, in our last article, we wanted to tell you how to build a brick base, on a sloping site. I believe that the best thing to do is to talk in a way, as if we are building this house brick base step by step, so, let us start building it.
When we want to build a house, it is necessary to have a plan,
but because we don’t have a plan, let us say that we are building a rectangular
house base, which is about 8 meters wide and 12 meters long, it happens to be
built on a sloping site.
Now, the foundations have been laid, and there
are several concrete steps in it, because, of the slope in the land. So, the
bricklayers need to pay more attention to the foundation levels. They cannot
lay bricks and follow the foundations, set by the concrete workers, because they may
not be level. In building every tradesman is responsible about his own work,
so, it is wise to be careful that you don’t make mistakes, and if the trade
before you have made a mistake try to adjust it, without making too much fuss
if you can.
In the case of a stepped foundation, it is hard for concrete layers to set the concrete steps of the foundations at the right level, for the
bricklayers to lay bricks on them without checking the levels, one of the
reasons is that the steps in the concrete foundation may not be the same gauge
of the brickwork that we are going to lay.
As we have explained in our previous article about levels, we
have already marked the level on the profiles and stretched a tight line above
the southern brick wall; from this level line we can check the levels on the
southern brick wall.
Now, to make things easy let us start with one working
bricklayer, and let us assume that the bricklayer has marked the outside
boundary corners and has started to lay a few bricks on the lowest corner of the foundation; he is
building a corner four bricks high. He has
chosen to make the corner four brick high, because from his measurement he
knows that there is a difference of three bricks in the foundation, therefore,
his fourth brick on the corner that he is building now, is going to be level
with the first brick on the opposite corner, having built his corner four
bricks high and having laid his firs brick on the other corner, now he can
stretch his brickies line between these two points and start working his
stretcher bond from his lowest corner, making sure that the bricks he lays are
laid in line and level.
Let me explain, in bricklaying it is important that the entire
building is set in stretcher bond from the start, even if there are other types
of bonds that are going to be used in the brickwork, because the stretcher bond
is always the main bond, as this bond will continue throughout the building;
therefore, the bricklayer cannot build the other corner until he runs a full
course in stretcher bond from the first corner that he has built at the start,
once that is done he can proceed to build both corners.
A bricklayer working on a brick wall. As we have said, bricklaying is a hard job, but the hardest part is to start the brickwork the right way. As we will explain in the following descriptions,
--------------------------------
How we proceed
to build the brick base
Now, to give an easier description let us say that the lowest
corner of the house is the South East corner, the South West corner is three
bricks higher than the South East corner and the other corners are higher than
these two corners. Now as I have said the bricklayer has built this corner four
bricks high and laid one brick at the west corner as marked, so, he is ready to
lay brick, but before he does that he double check everything with his gauge
rod, he checks from his line level that he has set above, or with the water
level that his fourth brick in the corner is level with his first brick on the
west corner, let us assume that they are level and they are the same course of
bricks.
Now he can start laying brick in stretcher bond, from the South
East corner working his way to the west corner, he sets his brickies line as he
sees fit making sure that the levels and the alignment are right, when he
reaches the fourth course, which is the first full course in this wall he tries
to work out if he can start this whole wall in stretcher bond, without cutting
any bricks by increasing or decreasing the perpendicular joints between the
bricks, if he cannot achieve that, then one brick must be cut a bit shorter;
small pieces are to be avoided as they are unsightly and they weaken the wall.
While doing this job, one has to keep in mind that in a face brick wall the
perpendicular joints become unsightly if they are bigger than the bed joint,
therefore, it is better to keep the perpendicular joints smaller than the bed
joint.
Now that the first course of bricks in stretcher bond has been
laid from corner to corner, the bricklayer will lay bricks in the inside of
this brickwork, if it is just a one brick thick wall he will lay the bricks
right against the bricks he has already laid, but if it is a cavity wall then
he has to set his inside wall as specified, most time this space between the
walls is about 50,mm. Now that the lowest wall has been set, he moves to work on
the eastern wall, since this is the second lowest wall in this brick base.
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Working on the
eastern brick wall
The eastern stepped concrete foundation is a longer foundation
and it has a difference in level of about 1.2 meter and this will be about 15
courses of bricks.
First, the bricklayer stretches the external line and a level
tight line above the eastern wall, from these two lines he can check the
outside alignment and the levels, then he checks and lays his first brick on
the foundation near the first concrete step, as he has a four brick high corner
he can lay one to four brick next to the concrete steps. I must say here that
it is hard to explain just by writing a text to show exactly how everything is
done, but in building everything is common sense, so, use your imagination to see
how things can be done.
Anyhow, let us assume that the bricklayer has set his bricks and
now he is running his stretcher bond, from the south eastern corner to the
north eastern corner of the house and the fourth course of bricks has been laid
and the inside brick has been laid. At this point of time the bricklayer needs
to build the south eastern corner higher to proceed with the works, unless
another bricklayer is doing that for him. You see, I am writing this article as
if there is a single bricklayer on the site at the beginning, but I am doing
that because that is the only way to show you how we can start this brick base
correctly.
Anyhow at this point of time the bricklayer wants to add a
couple more courses on the walls that he has started, so that his walls in this
corner are higher than the ground and the trench then can be back filled at
this corner of the house, so that it is easier for him and everybody else to
work on level ground.
But before he does that, he knows that he must check what else
needs to be done, he notes that there is an opening for a door after he lays
another two or three courses of bricks and that he needs to reinforce his
brickwork with some brick mesh reinforcement before the opening occurs, and
there is also a damp-course to be laid at the opening level, this damp-course is
only needed in this lower part of the base, because they are going to lay a
concrete floor and build a couple of rooms under the house. The damp-course is a
thin layer of material that stops the dampness passing from the ground up and
from one level to another; it works both ways depending on the way it is laid.
In the specifications
says that the reinforcement is needed every four courses and under and above
all openings. So, he lays his mesh reinforcement on the walls and builds
another corner three brick high, this is the level where the first opening
occurs, it is also the level of the damp course. Here we need to note that to
make it easier to understand what is happening, this south eastern corner is
now seven bricks high form the foundation, at this point of time it is better
that all the brickwork in the base is built to this level.
Once you have all the brickwork level, the damp-course is laid
according to the specification, and the first problem is solved in this lower
part of the brick base. So, now the bricklayer/s can start building higher
corners, as they did when he started, or if they want they can set bricklayer
profiles if they are available, since now the brick walls at this lower end of
the house are set at the right level and alignment.
----------------------
Bricklaying for
a house requires team work
On the above written explanation, we have assumed as if there
was only one bricklayer on the job, but to build a brick base a small gang of
bricklayers and labor/s are needed, say two or three bricklayers and a labor.
Sometimes there are no strict rules on the job, and they can help each other.
Mind you this can only work with small gangs, and the bricklayer foreman is
there to guide the team and help whoever needs help. On large team everyone has
his own job to do, and when the unions have a say, they want you to do only
your own job and nothing else, so, sometimes the unions are not helpful, but
then again they need to have their own rules otherwise they cannot exist.
Anyhow, let us go back to building this house brick base; now
that the first part of the base has been started, the bricklayers must be
careful to start the rest of the base correctly, so, they continue to lay brick
and check for levels and alignments’ as they have done before, by building one
wall at a time and a course at a time, until they bring all the brickwork level
with the first brick on the foundation on the highest corner of the house
foundation, here again everything must be checked and rechecked again, to make
sure that everything is level and set at the right alignment and above all that
there is no pig in the brickwork. To make sure there is no pig in it; all the
walls must be built at this level and checked, and then proceed to build
everything to the finish height required.
I believe that this article has become too long, because of the
explanations that are required, so, it is better if we write another article,
and talk about what is going-on on the work site, while we are building this
house brick base, and explain what is meant by a pig in the brickwork.
To make it easy for you to follow, this is the link to our
article, House brick base continues
See you soon.
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This blog-site is; old man-lifeworks
Blog, Building a house brick base
IS TO BE CONTINUED WITH
Our house brick base continues
See you soon.
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I believe that on the internet, it is helpful if we keep our personal links handy, so that we can visit our sites from anywhere we are. These links hereunder are some of my links, feel free to visit them.
https://sites.google.com/site/menfrancoreconciliation/
https://sites.google.com/site/prayersofreconciliation/
https://sites.google.com/site/godintheuniverse/
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