Students' Work

1 November 2010

Jordan

Photo taken 12th Nov '10

Photo taken 17th Nov '10

Photo taken 27th Jan '11

2 October 2010

Charlie

Photo taken 15th Oct '10

This is an example of Polychromatic Brickwork
It is Flemish Bond, with the Headers in a contrasting colour

Brickwork designed by Charlie Nov '10

Photo taken 18th Nov '10

Photo taken 25th Nov '10

1 October 2010

Chris

Brickwork designed by Anne Nov '10

Photo taken 4th Nov '10

The first few courses were laid, taking particular care
with the length and the gauge

Photo taken 12th Nov '10

Blocks were used for the back of the panel
These were bonded into the brick pillars

Photo taken 14th Nov '10

Because the design is quite complicated, a full-scale template was drawn onto a piece of plywood.
My kitchen table was used as a work-bench ...

Photo taken 14th Nov '10

...but the cat kept getting in the way!

Photo taken 15th Nov '10

Each brick was then cut according to the template

Photo taken 17th Nov '10

String lines were set up for the diagonals and the arris of each brick was laid to these lines. An additional line was attached to check Face Plane Deviation

Photo taken 18th Nov '10

Chris is a Level 1 Student and has only been laying bricks for 3 months

A Brickwork Essay

I am really enjoying my brickwork course. At the moment, I am doing a decorative wall panel. It is very time-consuming and quite a challenge

To start with, Anne had to cut a lot of bricks into different shapes and sizes. While Anne was doing that, I got to work on my side walls. I think I put them up quite well considering I have very limited space to work with.

I also had to put up a support wall of concrete blocks at the back of my decorative wall. When I had finished with the support wall and side walls, the hard part started.

I had to put up three lines for guidance, which was hard in itself. Next to do was the cuts. It took time to do, but it is almost complete now

Looking at my work now, I think it looks quite good. I feel that I must have done okay, as lots of students have made positive comments about it, but I do know that I can do a lot better.

For one thing, it could have been a lot cleaner and I made one or maybe two big joints, which left a little problem on the right-hand side.

But in the coming months, I want to give it another go and I will improve as I want to be a professional bricklayer. If I was to mark my work so far, I would give myself 6 out of 10

Chris Meli
17. 12. 10

Unfortunately, this work was demolished before any more photos were taken

8 September 2010

DNA Ladder

Continues from Structure of DNA

Photo taken 18th Jan '11

Photo taken 20th Jan '11

Photo taken 28th Jan '11

Unfortunately, the structure collapsed and degenerated into a pile of rubble. 'Just one more course' Oh, hum...

Photo taken 28th Jan '11

As can be seen from Jake' work, using cement in the mix, might have provided that extra bit of strength. And, as Scott said, the Angle of Rotation was too big.

Otherwise, I am not sure how we could improve the design of this structure

7 September 2010

Tom Bramley

Photo taken 15th Oct '10

Design of Brickwork needs completing

Photo taken 2nd Dec '10

Photo taken 3rd Dec '10

Photo taken 9th Dec '10

Photo taken 10th Dec '10

6 September 2010

Jake

Photo taken 2nd Dec '10

Jake is now building a corbelled brick cone

Drawn by Anne 2nd Jan '11

1st Attempt
Photo taken 14th Jan '11

2nd Attempt
Photo taken 18th Jan '11

3rd Attempt
Photo taken 20th Jan '11

Three brickwork tutors say this is stucturally sound and correctly bonded

so it should work ...

Photo taken 21st Jan '11

And now for the Maths!

Drawn by Anne Jan '11

The drawing shows some corbelling. Note that only the left-side is properly bonded. The right-side would need ¾ cuts

The 1st course is one brick wide, or 215mm, which is the same as two headers, plus 10mm joint

The 2nd course is increased by a Queen Closer + 10mm

Look carefully at the drawing and you'll see there are two perp-joints in the 2nd course

So the 2nd course is two Headers, plus their 10mm joint and then a Queen Closer, plus its 10mm joint

As can be seen the Size of a Queen Closer is 46mm

Calculating length of 2nd Course

Header          102½
Perp Joint        10
Queen Closer 46
Perp Joint        10
Header          102

Total             271mm

Difference between 2nd course and 1st course

271 minus 215 = 56mm

so the corbelling on each side is 56 divided by 2 = 28mm

Drawn by Anne Jan '11

From the picture, you can see the 2nd course has gained a Queen Closer and a 10mm joint

46 + 10 = 56mm

The 3rd course is 1½ bricks or one stretcher with its joint, and one header

225 + 102½ = 327½

Double-Check

Difference between 3rd course and 2nd course

327½ minus 271 = 56½mm

Which is good enough for me!

Drawn by Anne Jan '11

As can be seen, the 4th course is 1¾ bricks

And the 5th course is 2 bricks

which is 440mm

1st Course = 215

2nd Course = 271

3rd Course = 327½

4th Course = ? ? ?
5th Course = 440

What is the size of the 4th Course?
It is in the middle of the 3rd and 5th course

440 - 327½ = 112½

112½ divided by 2 = 56¼

327½ + 56¼ = 383¾

Photo taken 27th Jan '11

4 September 2010

Martin

Brickwork panel designed by Anne. Oct '10

Shaded bricks indicate the cuts

The design was adapted
from Patterns in Islamic Art

Photo taken 5th Nov '10

Martin is building a decorative panel. The brickwork is
single-skin and constructed from one-third, two-thirds
and full-length bricks

Photo taken 12th Nov '10

The back of the panel is built up from blocks, which are bonded into the brick pillars. Because of its height, there is also an attached pillar of blockwork, to provide extra stability

With support from Emily, Martin wrote:

18th Nov '10

When I was given this task I felt like I couldn’t do it, it looked so difficult. Everyone thinks it’s easy but that’s not right

First you must read the plan properly, making sure everything’s right. Secondly is to make sure the area is right for the brickwork. It’s no good just starting to lay bricks as that will be wrong

Take your tape measure and check out the area, checking how high the wall is and making sure it will fit in. Next you must think about all the area around you as you will need plenty of space for bricks, blocks, spot board and some space for you to work in. If you have a small space and you can’t properly turn around, it’s not safe and could be dangerous – which would be a bad move

Photo taken 19th Nov '10

How to make wall stronger

Alright, I don’t mean putting glue in the cement or something, you can make the wall stronger with blockwork. The blockwork is built between the brick wall with block pillar bonding to make it strong, safe for you and people around you and to prevent it from falling over