bricklayer - Construction

AKA brickie, builders or labourers, brick layer

A bricklayer is a tradesman who lays bricks to on brickwork. The term also refers to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. In British and Australian English, a bricklayer is colloquially known as a brickie.

The training of a trade in European cultures has been a formal tradition for many centuries. A tradesman typically begins as an apprentice, working for and learning from a Master craftsman, and after a number of years is released from his master's service to become a Journeyman. After a Journeyman has proven himself to his trade's guild (most guilds are now known by different names), he may settle down as a Master craftsman and work for himself, eventually taking on his own apprentices.

Bricks are laid to expose their ends (Header bricks), or sides (Stretcher bricks). As the work progresses, the bricks are laid in rows called courses. The manner in which the bricks overlap as they are laid up is called the bond. Types of bond include English bond, Flemish bond, and Herringbone bond, but the most common type of brickwork seen these days is the simple stretcher bond, showing only the long side-surface of the brick.

Brickwork, like unreinforced concrete, has little tensile strength, and works by everything being kept in compression.

Brickwork arches can span great distances, and carry considerable loads.

Types of bond
Stretcher bond

Stretcher bond (also known as running bond or monotonous stretcher bond) is the most common bond in modern times, as it is easy to lay, with little waste. Entirely comprised of stretcher bricks, set in rows (or "courses") that are offset by half a brick.
English bond

This bond is made up of alternating courses of stretchers and headers. This produces a solid wall that is a full brick in depth. English bond is fairly easy to lay and is the strongest bond for a one-brick-thick wall. If only one face of an English bond wall is exposed, one quarter of the bricks are not visible, and hence may be of low visual quality.

Flemish bond

Flemish Bond, also known as Dutch Bond, has historically always been considered the most decorative bond,
Garden wall bond

These bonds are variations on normal bonds. They use a high proportion of stretchers, and hence require fewer facing bricks than normal bonds.
Herringbone bond

When bricks are laid on alternating angles, it is called a Herringbone. This is primarily a decorative style, more often used for paving or fireplace reflectors than for walls.
Basket bond

This decorative pattern imitates the weave of a basket.
American bond

American common bond is made by laying the courses of headers where they are separated by approximately five to seven courses of stretchers.
Chinese bond

As in flemish bond, but all the bricks are laid on edge.

Terminology
Stretcher
Brick (or other masonry block) laid horizontally in the wall with the long, narrow side of the brick exposed. Commonly used for English bond and Flemish bond pattern, alternating with header bricks.
Header
Brick is laid in a wall, usually connecting two rows of a double wythe wall. The smallest end of the brick is horizontal, aligned with the surface of the wall and exposed to the weather.
Rowlock or Brick on edge (UK)
Course of brick laid on its side, with the shortest end of the brick exposed and vertical. Commomly used on the top course as a coping for garden walls.
Soldier
Often complete course of brick laid on end vertically, with the narrow side exposed in the face of the wall.
Standing soldier is the most common way of setting the soldier brick on end that is flush with the wall. A "walking soldier" is a soldier course laid so the bottom edge of the brick is sticking out to about an inch. Usually alternating every other brick with a standing soldier, but other variations exist.
Sailor
Brick laid vertically on its end with the largest, broad face exposed.
Shiner
Brick laid on edge like a sailor, but the broad face is set horizontally.
Quoin, "coin"
(or "coin" - are groups of brick that project slightly from the face of a wall at the corner of a building. The pattern often alternates with several courses projecting bricks, and several courses aligned with a wall. The pattern of projecting quions often alternates with brickwork on the other side of the corner.

Tuckpointing

pointed with a flush mortar joint that approximates the color of the masonry units and a mortar of contrasting color that is shaped into a thin strip.

http://www.fmb.org.uk/ The Federation of Master Builders : protect interests of small and medium-sized building firms

http://www.bacweb.org/ International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers

builders contractors - construction builders - construction companies - building contractors - construction projects - bricklaying jobs - bricklaying trowels -
bricklaying tool - bricklaying tools