Garden Fence Walls, inside Green Shadow (Bricklaying DIY)

Garden walls give a pleasant sense of enclosure, trapping sun, excluding wind and guaranteeing privacy. They look best when in harmony with the house materials and style.

Walls are perfect backgrounds for plants that like shelter, or which drape easily or climb. Painted white walls provide backdrops for dramatic plant silhouettes such as those of agapanthus or palms. The majority of walls are quite solid and are made of brick, stone or concrete block.

Bricklaying

Successful bricklaying requires a careful, methodical approach and the confidence gained from experience. If you are laying bricks for the first time, it’s wise to start on a small project.

Bricklaying seems to be the one trade held in awe by the inexperienced and many will not even attempt bricklaying. Granted, it’s not easy, but if you are willing to start slowly and take time to check that individual bricks are properly aligned and, most importantly, select the best mortar for the job, there is no reason why you shouldn’t have a go!

BRICKS

The first thing to firmly understand is that bricks, and the resulting brickwork, are quite heavy. Bricks weigh on average around 4 kg each and, if wet, can be more. Because of this, it’s important that the bricks are placed on a properly designed footing.

Bricks are made to a standard metric size. Most bricks should be within one or two millimetres of the standard size. In every square metre of single- thickness brickwork, there are around 50 bricks. This takes into account a standard mortar joint of 10 mm. If ordering bricks, it may be wise to order about 5 per cent more than is needed, in case of wastage or the odd faulty brick.

Dry-pressed bricks are solid, and usually have an indentadon, called a ‘frog’, on the top of the brick. Extruded bricks have a number of holes through the brick due to the extrusion process. Concrete and sand- lime, or calcium silicate bricks are also available depending on the look you want.

All the bricks needed for a particular job should be bought at the same time. This allows bricks to be taken randomly from each stack as work progresses, to ensure that a good colour mix results.

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