Bricklaying on a sloping site
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Most times building sites are not level, so in order to build a house on this sites we have to start with a stepped foundation. This photo beside here shows you a typical stepped foundation, note the concrete steps in the foundation should be set in such a way that they are as high as one course or several courses of bricks, or blocks or whatever it is going to be laid on the foundation if possible.
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This photo here shows you a low brick base being built for a long and narrow house. As we all know houses can come in various sizes and shapes. Now, even though most of us would prefer a squarish or rectangular house on a lived site, most of us have to do our best to use the site that we have been able to buy, and the builders will build them anyhow according to what they are able to build.
Building a house brick base
D I Y brickwork if you like (hub 2)
Welcome to our hub, building a brick base for a house or
bricklaying on a sloping site
Dear readers, this is the continuation of our last hub, DIY
brickwork; now in order to show you how bricklaying is being done on this house
base, I believe that the best thing to do is to talk to you in a way that seems
as if we are really building this house brick base step by step, so let us do
it this way.
First of all, whenever one starts to build something, it is
necessary to have a plan, but in this case because the job is not real we don’t
have a real plan, therefore we have to assume certain aspects of the job that
is ahead of us, as if there is a real plan; so let us say that we are building
this house base, which is about 8 meters wide and 12 meters long, it happens to
be built on o sloping site; the foundations have already been laid by the
concreters and there are several steps in it so we need to pay particular
attention about the levels when we start laying bricks, because the steps in
the concrete foundation may not be the same gauge of the brickwork that we are
going to lay.
As we have already explained in our previous hub 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. Just to make
things easy let us start just 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 foundation, he is building a corner four bricks high at
the lowest corner of the house, he has chosen to make the corner only 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.
Let me explain a bit more here, in bricklaying it is important
that the entire building is set in stretcher bond from the start, even if there
are also 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
build at the start.
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How we proceed
to build a brick base
Now in order 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 even
higher than these two corner, as I am going to explain to you later on, as we
keep building this brick base. 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 and
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.
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 without cutting any bricks by
increasing or decreasing the perpendicular joints between the bricks, if he
cannot achieve that, then one brick has got to be cut a bit shorter; smaller
pieces are to be avoided as they are unsightly and they weaken to 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 50mm. 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 of all the bricklayer stretches the external line and a
level tight line above the eastern wall, from these two lines he can check all
the outside alignment and the levels, then he checks and lays his first bricks
on the foundation as required near the first concrete step, as he has a four
brick high corner he might lay one to four brick always next to the concrete
steps. I have to say here that it is very hard to explain just by writing a
text to show exactly how everything is done, but in building everything is
plain common sense and one has to use his own 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 in order 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 just 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 just a
couple more courses on the walls that have been already 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 would be easier for him and
everybody else to work on level ground.
But before he does that now is the time to start checking what
other things need 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 dampcourse to be laid at the opening level, this
dampcourse 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
dampcourse is a thin layer of material that stops the dampness passing through
from one level to another; it works both ways depending on the way it is laid.
In the specifications
says that this 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 bricks high, this is the level where the first opening occurs and
it is also the level of the damp course. Here we need to note so that it is
easier to understand what is happening that 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 dampcourse 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.
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Bricklaying is a
gang work
On the above written explanation we have assumed as if there was
only one bricklayer on the job, but in reality to build a brick base a small
gang of bricklayers and labour/s are needed, say two or three bricklayers and a
labour. 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 very 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, as
there are a lot more things to be done before we set the whole brick base and
then build it to the height required.
Now that the first part of the base has been started, the
bricklayers have still to 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, in order to make sure that everything is level and set at
the right alignment and above all that there is no pig in the brickwork,
perhaps to make a hundred per cent sure, it could and would be helpful to bring
all the walls at this level and then proceed to build everything to the finish
height required.
I believe that this hub has become long enough, because of the
explanations that are required, and the amount of data that must be kept in
mind from our readers, if they are really trying to learn how this brickwork
needs to be done, so it might be better if we write another hub and talk about
what could be going-on on the work site, while we are building this house brick
base, also explain what is meant by a pig in the brickwork.
To make it easy for you to follow our article, our next hub link
is pasted here for you to continue whenever you are ready, House brick base continues
See you soon.
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