Setting out

Lay out your bricks at both ends of your wall at the point where the piers will start. Use your brick line to make a straight line, at brick height, in-between the two outside bricks.

Mixing the Cement

For the average brick wall, a ratio of 5 parts sand to 1 part cement will be adequate. Start by taking 5 shovels full of sand and place them on an old board or other flat, clean surface. Add 1 shovel of cement and mix together, turning with your shovel. When the mix is a consistent colour, make a ‘volcano’ like hollow in the middle. Pour some water into the hollow and mix everything together. Add the water a little at a time so you don’t add too much until you have a smooth, creamy texture.

The First Course

Lay down a bed of mortar 1-2cm thick, along the string line. Starting at one end, place a brick onto the mortar and tap it down slightly to ‘bed it in’. With the next brick, ‘butter up’ one end of the brick and place it end to end with the first one. Repeat this a few times, using the string line as a guide. When you have a few laid, check they are level on the top and sides.

The Pillars

At the point that you want your pillars to start, place a brick side by side to the end one. As you build up the wall, each consecutive course of bricks on the pillars must be placed the opposite way.

Making Cuts

When building pillars there will come a point where you have to cut a brick in half. The easiest way to do this is with a hammer and bolster. Take the bolster and place it on the brick at the point you want it to split. Strike it firmly with your hammer and it should split first time.

Building up the Wall

Always keep at least a course higher on the pillars as this will give you something to hold the string line. Keep moving your string line up as you go, bedding it into the mortar in-between the joints. The vertical joints should be 10mm thick and there should be 75mm from the top of one brick to the top of the one underneath. The end of each brick that you lay must be over the middle of the brick underneath. You may want to ‘joint up’ as you go depending on the bricks used as some bricks soak up moisture faster than others.

Capping off the Pillars

When you reach the top of the pillars you may want to add a coping stone but you can finish off with a brick on edge. Turn your bricks over so that the side edge is bedded into the mortar. This can create a nice finish at no extra cost.

The Soldier Course

When you have your pillars built up at least 4 bricks from the main part of the wall, you might want to add a ‘soldier course’. Turn your bricks lengthways so that they are vertical and place along the length of the wall. Double up your string line or grab another one as you will need 2 when doing this to keep your bricks in line.

Jointing

When you have finished building your wall you will need to use your brick jointer to clean up the mortar on the joints. Put some mortar on your trowel and use the rounded edge of the jointer to scrape mortar into the joints. Do the horizontal joints first followed by the vertical. This way you will remove a lot of the excess mortar that will build up when jointing.