How to lay bricks for beginners
A step-by-step beginner's guide to laying bricks to a line from bricklayer Stu Crompton, whose how-to-lay-bricks video has over five million views. Mortar mix, gauging, laying to a line, perps and bonding, explained simply.
Laying bricks looks simple when it’s done well, and that’s the whole trick. In the video above, watched more than five million times, I walk you through laying to a line, step by step. Here’s the same method written out so you can follow along.
What you’ll need
A brick trowel, a stringline and pins (or profiles), a spirit level, a gauge rod or tape, and your mortar. Nothing fancy. Good technique matters far more than expensive kit when you’re starting out.
The method, step by step
1. Get your mortar right
I’m using a 4-to-1 mix with a bit of concentrated plasticiser in. Don’t panic if your mortar looks different to someone else’s. Sand grade changes from region to region, so the colour and feel will vary. You want it workable and buttery, not sloppy and not stiff. Getting the mix right is half the job.
2. Set out and gauge
Work to your gauge marks (I’m gauging at 150mm) and keep checking your levels as you go. Getting the first course level and true is what everything above it relies on. Take your time here.
3. Lay to the line, but never touch it
This is the bit beginners get wrong. Keep the brick a paper-width off the line. Close, but not touching. If bricks touch the line, you nudge it out a fraction every time and you won’t even notice until your wall’s drifting. Give the line a little twang now and again so you always get a true reading between one brick and the next. That gap is the difference between a straight wall and a banana.
4. Keep a loose trowel action
Let the trowel hang loose in your hand, almost waving around. If you grip it rigid you’ll catch the edges of the bricks. Push each brick down to the line, then scrape the excess mortar back onto your board, or collect it with the tip of the trowel so you’re not catching that line.
5. Keep your perps and faces aligned
Always look below what you’re laying, keeping the perps (the vertical joints) in line. The top of each brick goes to the line, and the bottom of the brick goes to the top of the brick below it. Do that and you’ll get a nice flat, straight face rather than bricks sitting proud or back of each other.
6. Bond it properly
Work to brick lengths and stagger your bond. Don’t lay brick straight on top of brick. A proper bond isn’t just for looks; it’s what makes the wall strong. Set your work out in brick lengths from the start and it’ll make your life much easier.
The honest truth
Nobody lays a perfect wall on day one. It looks easy because a good bricklayer has done it ten thousand times. Get a bag of bricks, mix a bit of muck and practise. You’ll feel it click.
If the job is bigger than a Saturday and you’d rather hand it to a pro, post it free and get quotes from bricklayers near you whose work is rated by other bricklayers.