Mortarfied

most people think building is easy...seen so many people try to build a house by themselves and ending up bankrupt due to bodging it and to not realising that real skills are required ........

The secret is in an even bed of cement and plenty of plasticiser in the mix. You can get a special tool that lays an even cement bed. eg

Sticking brickwork, at least for simple jobs, seems to an acceptable approach in the US: I've seen online references to "construction adhesive" which I assume is on the same lines at the sticks-all type stuff available here.

I'm under no illusions as to the skills required for good bricklaying!

I like the look of that and if I were planning to do much more, I'd get one. But I rather suspect that the core secret is in getting the right mix of mortar in the first place, something I always find difficult for some reason.

A few months ago I happened across an archive film on one of the more obscure freesat channels, it was from 1950-ish, and on how to build a brick wall. The general brick lining-up and mortar trowelling was so elegantly done it was a joy to behold.

#Paul

I've got one of those and it is pretty good. However I soon managed to work well enough without. I went from struggling to neatly replace three or four bricks with even joints to laying 125 blocks and around 950 bricks for my conservatory in no time!

I've just come in from laying a few bricks for a new step as it happens.

SteveW

I would probably make something similar from wood if it was a one off and not a lot of bricklaying to do.

I remember the generation game decades ago had a demonstration by a bricklayer using plasticiser and the contestants were obviously given none so they would make a bigger hash of it ....

and the right amount of washing up liquid ....

Would you add plasticiser (or washing up liquid) to shed-bought ready-mixed mortar? That's what I used on this latest effort, but with nothing added.

yes. All you have bought is premixed sand and cement.

Then that probably contributed to my failure, though it was surely not the only factor, sadly. Thanks.

not necessarily. Eg the widely available Blue Circle "Quality Assured Mortar Mix" is a traditional 6:1:1 sand/cement/lime mortar and lime is a time-served plasticiser.

I have one of those little decorative garden walls. One with sort of hollow larger than brick things and a thin concrete trim on top. I don't know what to call it. One of the trims was insecure so I blasted some silicone under it. Mr Know It All next door thought this was hilarious. 11 years later the trim is still there and still secure.

This seems the right point to say that you can easily add too much washing up liquid.

A 'professional' builder did this when building a barbecue for a friend. The result was a mortar so crumbly it could be brushed out of the joints. The builder admitted the cause and rebuilt the barbecue.

For more than a brick or two, I'd go for the purpose-designed products where there is some indication of how much to add.

Have you worked out the costs of a suitable adhesive? ;-)

No, but compared to the unequal, endless, depressing struggle that is me versus bricks-laid-with-mortar I suspect it's well worth it, whatever it is.

CT1

A soldier course of paving blocks around my drive were dodgily bedded in/on cement by whoever installed them, they started to give way after a few months of driving the car on/off the drive and the remaining blocks were free to "walk" sideways, has been fine for about 3 years since "gluing" them back in place with CT1.

In 10 years time when the wall is demolished it will be harder to recycle the mix of glue and brick.

Did you wet the bricks and wall before cementing?

Did you use small amounts of readymix from B&Q, travis etc?