This tutorial will help you building your first wall and understand the basic principals of bricklaying. Make sure you have all the necessary tools at your work site. First of all place some mortar on your spot board. Then take your trowel and roll the mortar onto the trowel. This makes it easier to spread the mortar on your wall.
Once your mortar is on the wall. You need to ‘key’ your bed joint by using the tip of your trowel and basically push down, not to deep, and spread out your mortar to cover up the bricks. And then you use the inside of the blade to scrape forward, to catch any mortar that’s hanging off the wall. Now you do the same on the back and then you’re ready to lay your first brick. As you’re laying the brick scrape the mortar forward, so the mortar doesn’t fall onto the floor. Then butter the side of your brick with mortar for your perp, which is the joint between the two bricks.
After laying down your first two bricks, make sure they’re leveled with each other. You can do this by using your spirit level. Once your bricks are leveled horizontal, the next thing you need to check is that your spirit level is plumb vertical. Place your level vertical on the wall and adjust if necessary by tapping on the bricks with your trowel. You’ll need to repeat this process for the front side of the wall as well. Working straight is very important, so make sure to check your level constantly.
Once you’ve laid down your second layer of bricks and leveled them, it’s time to gauge your bricks. Gauge means to regulate the bed joints. So if you’re building a corner on both sides of the wall, they’re going up at the same height. For the cornerstone you can use a half brick for a straight wall, or a full brick sideways to go around the corner.
Good luck building your first wall and enjoy the bricklaying!