I saw an ad for this on a cable channel the other day (see
Thanks, Tom
They are useless for repair unless your existing thickness of mortar is exactly the thickness of the bricky one.
make one from two pieces of wood the required thickness braced with a batten across it at one end and plenty of screws to hold firm.
Mine was two pieces of architrave and a bit of floorboard.
I've got one. Started using it for my extension, then changed to normal bricklaying techniques, mainly due to pointing issues. It has its uses, but the traditional methods are much more flexible. And a wall repair is an ideal chance to learn the techniques. There has been a few threads about these tools before, search the archives using Google Groups. Simon.
I made a 6mm one to avoid thick, wibbly courses when laying damp membrane. The video cheats a bit in that the bricks are wet so don't have much suction, the line is fitted afterward so you don't see if it gets in the way and you have to wonder if there is any cement in the mortar:-)
regards
Well I may do that for my DPC layer - its a good idea. Just to lay a thin layer below the DPC. I know lots just lay them on dry, but that seems bad practice. Nowt wrong with using wet bricks though. The main reason for the trad dry bricks and sloppy mortar is that its easy to bed in the sloppy, but it dries a bit from suction to support other courses above. Very little bedding is required with the bricky tool (2mm if I remember correctly). Surprisingly, this seems to be enough. From using the bricky and watching the video though, I have to say, he is an "expert in using the bricky" ! Simon.
It is bad practice, as is laying it on a full, flat bed, however thin - the building simply slides off over the years, given that there is no bond here and if it is completely flat, it's got no key.
on top of the course of brick below the DPC, IE where the DPC is to be bedded, you need an uneven mortar bed. The easiest way to do this is to put a little at the front and back edges of the brick and none on the middle, so that the DPC is 'cupped', or the opposite way, IE a thin line down the centre of the brick so that the DPC is arched, but the best way is a mixture of both, say a few feet of one method then a few feet of the other. Once the DPC is bedded on, normal beds can be used, and don't lay the DPC one day and start building the next - you need to lay it at the time of building or you won't get the first (and subsequent) courses down.
HTH
Interesting. I asked about this ages ago, and the concensus was that the DPC had a texture on it to help with friction, and that the weight from above would be enough to stop the building sliding off, despite there being very little bond. Arching the DPC seems a sensible extra measure. Why have I never seen this documented anywhere ? Simon.
In message , sm_jamieson writes
My criticism was aimed at being able to lay out a 12mm thick mortar bed along the full length of his wall and not having to worry about suction from the course below while he buttered and laid the new bricks. I also had doubts about using the buttering tool with the line in place.
Right:-)
regards
Yep, his approach was to wet the bricks, lay them without the line and very quickly using the templates, before the mortar dried out. Then put on the line for very minor adjustments. I did not have the confidence to just trust the tool, and was having problems with the bed drying out due to not working fast enough. Anyway I'm glad I'm ending up learning the traditional skills. I must admit I've been using the block template for buttering the side of blocks though.
Simon.
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