How to Build a Block Wall Lay the Blocks

okay the first thing we're going to do today is we're gonna give you a layout on the tools that you're gonna need to do these projects number one is your wheelbarrow it doesn't have to be as big as this but this is what you're going to mix your mortar in so get something close and if you don't have one you don't want to pay the money for one go down and rent it second it's a flat point shovel like this get them in all the material yards just a flat point it's for scooping sand and mortar and everything etc round point will not work this is a masonry hoe and this is what you'll mix your mortar up with in that wheelbarrow but a regular garden hoe will work and then another tool is your mortar stand and this is right here is what's gonna hold the mortar on the board you put it out like so you get yourself a piece of half-inch to 5/8 plywood you can even be 3/4 and at least two foot square and this is what it'll look like put it on top of that this is what you're going to take your mortar out of the wheelbarrow and you would be putting it on here so let's start with my four foot level it's an american-made it's wood it's very expensive if you probably not want to go this way but it's very necessary in building and I'll show you what you can do if you don't want to go to the expense of like fifty dollars for a level you can go down to one of the hardware stores and get this little guy right here it's out of plastic it'll work just fine and take a four foot board or so and you can put your little level on it and you can use that as the level so therefore you've got four feet and next we'll start out with a good masonry trawl about 11 inches long about four and a half inches wide very necessary go down to the material yard find one that fits your hand that feel good with and that'll do you next is margin trawls there are small ones like this this is good for pointing tuk plane and another a little square one right here as we go through the jobs you'll see how necessary they are right here we have a concave jointer this is very necessary and what we'll use this for is joining after we've laid the blocks in the brick and etc use it for joining us called a concave jointer and this one right here is a rake jointer and you just use it to rake the joints out I'm sure you've seen that later on we'll show you how to do it and we have a brick hammer this is really necessary it's about like so we're down there find one it fits your hand pick it out because you're gonna need it when you start doing your masonry work and a little sledgehammer like this it's a three pounder for putting in Stakes and etc maybe breaking some stone works good and then a chisel a four inch chisel this is necessary and then there's also an inch and a half and a two inch but I like these two right here go with a nice little square like this fits in a bucket it's very necessary when you want to make a square on something if you wanted to square off with a pencil next we're going to go with a carpenter's pencil they're about eight inches long and they're flat they have a lot of lead in them so this is a very very important tool to have and crayons you can get them in different colors blue yellow red etc for making marks and stuff like that especially on block this works good and get yourself a nice little knife for sharpening that pencil cutting lines etc next thing we're going to need is a masonry brush about like so you can go down to the hardware store they have them down there and a good pair of wire cutters you have to have wire you have to tie some steel and your block work and stuff it's always good to have a pair of good wire cutters and lime nylon line this is about a thousand feet one of our newer colors really bright and I always like to take a stick and take about 200 feet out and put it on the stick and then I can put the line away in my bag and go with this this will last for a long time but it's it's good it stretches and he can take a lot of strength and these right here are adjustable little brackets that you use like line blocks and they fit right over the block itself and they're adjustable they can use it on an 8 inch block a 6 inch block a 12 inch block and they adjust up and down and a little while I'll be showing you how to use those and also a good pair of cotton gloves a couple different kinds a couple of dollars prayer very necessary with block cos blocker really sharp and a set of line blocks would get him at the material yard in a little while I'm going to show you how to use them and this little guy was hiding it's a little sublevel this is necessary when you're building leads and when you're building leads you want it for plumbing and leveling small stuff and now we're going to make a batch of mortar we're going to start out with 12 shovels of sand three shovels of cement and two shovels of fire clay and if you don't like fire clay which I do you can use lime so here we go make all shovels even one to eleven and twelve and next step we're going to put in three shovels of cement two three right there next step two shovels of fire clay one and two and like I said you don't use fire clay you can use lime that the mixture is always the same with a wheelbarrow of this size the first thing I'm going to do is take the hoe and move all the material forward and then I'm going to come around and move it around go to the left side and bring all the material back to that side get it ready for the water for this side but the idea is to mix all the sand the clay and the cement all together okay here we go we're gonna start mixing this up right bring it all forward taking it right down to the bottom get the sand and the cement clay all mixed up really good okay now we'll bring it back this way Center it up nice and smooth here your smoothie you make this and when you're mixing it with the water it'll be a lot easier and it won't lump up too bad for you you can see how now we're gonna start adding the water so I'm gonna go back to that end of the wheelbarrow always use this end of the wheelbarrow okay now what we're going to do is we've got a five-gallon bucket of water and what we're gonna do is put about two gallons in this guy right now I like that we can always add more later and here we go with our mix just a little bit at a time going all the way to the bottom that way it kind of creates a toe just like this it's starting to tighten up it's probably the hardest part of the mix it's like we're ready to add just a little more water remember now just a little bit of water at a time now on like it's gonna work out just right probably use about three gallons of water they're getting all the lumps out of it good almost there [Music] I think we have it [Music] when soon as you're through mixing with the HOH you put it in a bucket of water and you clean it up like that and you don't have to worry about any mortar building up on it a shovel and you wet it down because you never want to put a dry shovel into that otherwise it'll all stick to the shovel and it won't slide off and go on the mud board now we're going to go to break and as soon as we get back we'll get ready to start laying some block now we're gonna put some mortar on the board and get started land block notice how I picked the shovel up like this right here so you use the muscles under your arm if you lift like this it's a big suction and it's really hard on you so if you go like this you can lift twice as much okay back in the water now for everybody that's learning you take a little bit of mortar and put it on your trawl about like so and this is this is watch this right here because this is the way I'm going to spread it on the block or first inch or so are they of the trawl you take and turn it up and that's the way you're going to spread it and this is the way you can practice you can spend hours doing the same thing and when you get it right you'd be ready for your block now we'll start laying some blocks okay now [Music] [Music] okay I'm gonna lay that our first block here we go [Music] now I've drawn a chalk line along here so that way I can line it up I know exactly where the expansion joint right here I'm starting so I've got my chalk line there I got to move it right in the line next thing I do I'll take this little level I'll put it on there and see what we got a little bit high on this end so I'll now we're gonna put a little mortar on here for the half block on the lead there we go then take my trawl about the first three and a half inches or so of the trawl and just cut some water off have anything on the foundation or pick it up you'll be using it running a level here [Music] pretty good there little bit this way right there plum this is called plumbing you want to make sure it's getting nice and straight there we go your plum two corners just like that that lead is ready to go now we're going to go down to this corner right here this end and we're going to put a little lead just like this right there this wall is gonna be five feet six feet long this wall is exactly the kind of wall that I learned how to lay block on when I was in school so there you go okay now that this is uh we're gonna take and lay this out I'm gonna make sure I'm gonna measure this with my measuring tape make sure it's right on eighty inches it's right on it's good that little lead going okay there we go right on the line now we'll check it with the level Burpee check it this way perfect we're good to go on that one now we'll put a little more mortar on the top for you ready for that half that guy right in place just like that notice when I take the mortar off of there I do a little snap that way it stays on the draw back to the level the lead always has to be perfect the leads perfect the rest of the wall will be perfect take your time do a good job on your lead now it's level check the plumb perfect and check this corner side look see what we got perfect there you go now that the lead is in we're gonna stretch a line and lay these blocks in in the center I'm going to show you how to use that line and those blocks okay here we go what we're gonna do is we're gonna set the block here so and the line so what we do is we put the line in the block about like so and probably bring it around twice and then lock it up just like that so tidy you pull it longer this and I'll lay it on the first course just like so and then I take the block and we'll go to the other end okay now we're at the other end here we'll just put that block on the same way just like so it's just enough tension we'll wrap it around twice and you come up inside there and if one isn't enough we'll wrap it twice right there now what we want to do is the line to follow the top of this particular block okay now we're going to spread some mortar and lay these blocks in on a block there's two sides that's the bottom that's the rough side that's the side you don't want to pick up that goes through the bottom this right here has a little flange on it where you can pick it up just like this like a grip so when you're starting out since this block weighs 36 pounds you'll want to just take and set it up like this and because you did your practice here you'll be fine just put a block and just put a little bit of mortar just feel like that and a little bit of mortar here just like this I always lay them like this [Music] [Music] [Music] their last block going in or a brick it's called an enclosure so plenty of mortar on it here this is the one I like to put up on the corner of the mud board a little bit of a tuck there and she goes lay that right this is perfect you lay it right to the line and the line does not lie it's always perfectly straight there we'll set the line on this half block away that's course in now once we lay those in be perfectly straight this mortar is getting just a little bit stiff so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna get that can water and I'm gonna mix it up a little bit coffee can little water next year especially on a hot day work that water into the mortar work it around like this this end let's move this way yeah now let's start weighing this side that little snap on the trawl [Music] there let's put a little bit of mortar on the ends here you can move a little faster if you have a little extra mortar on those webs and voila and now we're ready to fill it in lay some block when you're first learning just set your block down you don't want to go wearing yourself out call the head joint just like so much easier to pick up a block this way pick them up like this and you'll last all day there's one now we'll start cutting the mortar off of them first three inches of your trawl and once you pick the mortar off of it snap right on the face you don't have to worry about the back too much see when I was in school you laid the block by picking it up on the web and this is an awful strain on a guy with a little wine guy just go like crazy and he'd do this just like this anyway they're good Mason [Music] following the line enclosure [Music] now we'll get ready for the employers and we'll put this guy right into place there on an enclosure a lot of times you'll loose a head joint so you're just going there like this and put it right back just like that now we're ready to start our lead all over again okay now this course right here is that it's a 2-foot section this course is the third block and every third block is a steel block and you put it's called a bond beam and this is what I'm going to put in right now is a bond beam and latest steel out a little more mortar on this guy right here this is a bond beam course what happened was when I came to the job and the material was delivered they didn't deliver me but six bomb beams and I need 12 for this wall so what we're going to do thy hammered out a couple right here when I get to that end I'm going to show you how to break it out with a hammer [Music] there we go [Music] okay check to the level see what we got almost perfect right about there and an we'll check this way Murphy now I'm going to cut the mortar off and make sure this thing is plumb this level is 100 years old and only has a bubble on one side so that's fine years old I'll take my time there it is and we're gonna check this side right here see what we're at that's it now we're going to go to the other end and set one of these bond beams okay now we're gonna have to make a bond beam for this end right here I've already broken out the other bond beams and ready to go but I wanted to show you how to how to do a block you turn it upside down like so just a little bit at a time you'll break this out I'm gonna break it down about a half an inch or so just enough to where two pieces of half-inch steel can lay in along here take your time blocks really soft no big deal there just go to about a half an inch down okay that one's ready to go in okay now we'll lay that bond beam let's lay that guy in here we go there line it up on this side now we'll check the level there it is let's check across this way that's good cut the mortar out of the way now we'll check the plumb and then we'll check the plumb this way see what we got here oh that's looking good very nice looking good okay now we'll set our line on each end here Lyons getting a little bit loose so I think what we'll do is we'll tighten it up there it is just pull it in about a half an inch right there want to make sure that the line is snug enough okay there okay now we'll spread the mortar after a while you'll be able to spread it just like me take your time at first it'll come right there a little bit of mortar on the joints there help the block stand up on its own there and - okay here we go bond beam course this is the course that holds the steel right there is a little bit of a rock that's a problem just making the block cocked so I'm gonna pull it out put it on my knee sign the rock take it out and go right back there we are perfect now move a little quicker like me we won't even take the time to set it down you just spread the mortar let's go here we go perfect one and we'll cut it out for this guy there we are going for the enclosure we'll close it up get that last block in there that joint nice and full and she goes the enclosure for every enclosure you usually have to add a little bit of mortar in that joint okay when you're building the wall it doesn't really matter whether it's five six feet or it's 20 feet you always start with a bar steel on one end that's the first web and then you go 1 bar steel every other web say every other block like every block and you always have one on the end okay I've got two pieces of Steel cut and when we come back I'll show you how we're gonna place them in the wall okay I've cut these two bars of Steel and we're gonna put them in and just cutting that block down a half an inch to lay this steel in it's gonna work out great just like that two 1/2 inch bars side-by-side and then we have our vertical bar steel always starts at the end and then you got a bar of Steel every 16 inches by two feet square normally it comes out of the foundation where we didn't want to do it here since this is a classroom and we didn't want to drill any holes in the floor so I'm just basically showing you that the steel should be in the foundation and up 16 inches but anyway you drop your steel from every corner and then every block and it would be just like this every other web would have its own bar of Steel which would make it every 15 16 by 2 feet square and this one right here and it just so happens it's right close to the end so you have to leave this bar here and you always have another one at the very end always have a bar steel at the end you [Music] you you excellent okay now we'll put that last half block up there and that'll be a bond beam bond beam and another set of Steel okay verticals are every 16 inches okay back to the same thing we'll see how our level is then we'll check it this way and check the plumb and then we'll check it here perfect I like that well we're done with this side now we'll move a few things around we'll take a little break and move our mortar and over there now we're going to use these little brackets and the reason for these is so you can work on a wall and let's just say that the you had a corner here you couldn't stretch a line block through here so that's why they made these little brackets and we'll set our line on it and when we pull it it'll kind of choke it to one side that will put that right to the end and that's the way we'll use it bring it around and just choke it and that's what they're for now we'll lay these blocks [Music] you now that I have that wall in will lay in a our horizontal steel since the walls finished as high as we're going and drop the vertical bars starting right here at the end and on down now if the walls finish we're going to take this concave joiner and we're going to joint this wall up and I'll do all our verticals first that's the up and down then we'll go across the horizontals since this was the first course down below that'll be the hardest joint though we'll polish it like that like this like that a little bee hole there so we'll just take a little bit of mortar and put it right into place never use your finger because you only get ten of these guys so use your tools just fill it in with the joiner little bee hole right there we'll just take a little bit of mortar and we'll just fill it right in nice full joint okay last course now that we have this side finished we're going to let this set up for a little while so we can brush it when we don't want to smear anything it's nice and polished now we'll just move over to the other side let this sit for a couple of minutes and then we'll come back and brush it now what we're going to do take this brush and brush any little knobs off of it clean it up and make it look real nice and if you're really worried about little smears like this right here and everything you take a piece of burlap sack you just rub it on in there right there and clean it off this wall all in all is very clean but take a little time and let the mortar dry so you don't smear it but yet you can still brush it off and everything that's down below here you take your trawl and you're moving away from the wall and you clean everything up all the way around so that way you're not walking it everywhere you just take this cut it away this wall like this trying to keep everything as clean as possible one part of this job is keeping everything clean and I'm gonna go right on around we're finished well there you have it we're all cleaned up I hope you learned something here today I think you have at least you know how to lay block and set the steel is important and joiny keeping everything nice and clean I'm Steve Kelly see you next time

Channel: Handyman for Home

Views: 1,384,298

Keywords: Lay the Blocks, How to Build, Build a Block Wall, How to

Id: VqOo09NtGdU

Length: 40min 9sec (2409 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 24 2019

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