archKIDecture
Building with BRICKS
Bricks are
usually built in rows.
Row by Row, level by level, a mason assembles the wall.
slop on the mortar, place down a brick and then another in a row, . place down another row of bricks, slop on more mortar. etc. etc. etc. (See the authentic process below...)
here is a silly song about brick building for a chuckle..
There are a variety of patterns that a mason might build, based on the designs of the architect.
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Click on the words below to see
some great brick patterns:
BRICKPATTERNSBRICK
PATTERNSBRICKPATTERNS
BRICKPATTERNSBRICKPATT
PATTERNSBRICKPATTERNS
BRICKPATTERNSBRICK
PATTERNSBRICKPATTERNS
BRICKPATTERNSBRICK
PATTERNSBRICKPATTERNS
BRICKPATTERNSBRICK
PATTERNSBRICKPATTERNS
BRICKPATTERNSBRICK
Real Bricklaying:
REAL Bricklaying
You might want to first gather
your materials and try building
the wall with
brick and instead
of real mortar, use some sand
and water as pretend mortar.
Real mortar is permanent
(more or less) so practice first.
Mortar Recipe:
ONE part cement
FIVE parts clean sand
A BIT of something called
plasticiser (The plasticiser
creates the right
texture and
makes the mortar more sticky.)
Mortar only lasts about 1.5 hours,
so only
make a small bit that you
will use within that time. Make it
goopy but
not runny or it will
slide out between the bricks.
Once it dries it cannot
be used
and must be thrown away. So
DON"T make too much.
YOUR PATTERN (also called BOND)
When you look at a brick wall,
the brick seams (the vertical
lines of mortar)
do not match
up. That would make the wall
weak. So you have to stagger
the seams.
Foundations
A foundation is the cement base
that can bear the weight of the
HEAVY bricks.
It must be perfectly
level or your wall will not be built
straight. It
usually needs to be
about 1 foot deep into the ground.
FINALLY...Lay those BRICKS
Once your foundation is laid,
pile up some bricks near you
and mix the mortar....just
enough.
Place some mortar on a mortar
board. Lay
a course of bricks
dry first to see the work fits
in the given space.
Start at the corner. Lay some
mortar on
the foundation. Place
a brick on the mortar. Run a
string from the to of
the first
brick all the way to the last brick
on that first row. Lay a
brick in
the middle of the wall and make
sure that the string touches the
top of the brick, which means
that the row is being laid LEVEL.
(This means
that the top of the
bricks on that row are all on the
same horizontal plane.)
Each
row is called a COURSE of bricks.
You need to make sure that the
bricks are
all Level and the bricks
on each course are straight up
vertically,
on the front and back
of the wall.
KEEP on Laying!
Make all of your courses.
CLEAN 'ER UP
Make sure to clean up your tools.
If you leave mortar on your board
or your trowel it will not work so
well
next time.