How to mortar bricks together?

[PizzaIdiot]

Okay - stupid questions are easy to answer - right? So here it goes...
When attempting to mortar bricks together, does one...
A) position the bricks first and then put the mortar between the bricks,
B) put the mortar on the bricks and tap the bricks into position (with a mallet or other suitable tool) squeezing the mortar out to get the right spacing
C) A and B - it depends, or
D) I do something else (please explain).

I ask this because the homebrew doesn't work well for me to do B)
The Heatstop50 works well for A and B, but it is soooo expensive.

Thanks for all your help. I need it as I restart my dome on Saturday.

Jeff

[Tscarborough]

Dry fit the cut brick, then apply mortar and press into place. You are doing something wrong if it requires a mallet to adjust it.

[rodeair]

I used the homebrew for my dome and it worked well for me. I mortared during the summer heat, so moisture content was critical for getting the mortar to work. I cut and fit the bricks by row, soaked the bricks as I went along for about 10 minutes or so, sprayed water on the area where the brick would be mortared, buttered the brick, set it, pushed mortar into each joint with gloved fingers, and by then it was set. I think the moisture content of the mortar, or bricks too wet or too dry might be your issue. I used the 3:1:1:1 recipe (fine sand, portland, lime, fireclay). Hope this helps, good luck.
Leigh

[Les]

PI,

There is a little bit of an art to applying the mortar and setting the brick without making a mess of things. I think the easiest approach is to trowel some mortar on the bottom brick and set it into place. After you place the row, go back using a grout bag to fill the voids. Without the mortar squishing out all over the place, it allows you see your lines a whole lot clearer. (I know all the masons on the planet are screaming right now but it will get the job done).

[wotavidone]

There's a bloke on this forum whose user name is brickieinoz, who has somewhere posted a link to his bricklaying website. Recommended viewing.
Regards,
Mick
P.S. most bricklayers I have observed seem to be able to "butter" a brick with mortar, place it, and tap it down with the handle of the trowel all in about 20 secs.

[TropicalCoasting]

This will give you an idea
He didnt tap with his trowel because it was inline with the string
the cocktail of brick laying - YouTube

[brickie in oz]

This old bloke is good at laying he some how looks familiar.....

All the bricks are stacked face up within reach and........no tapping......

[Lburou]

Originally Posted by brickie in oz

This old bloke is good at laying he some how looks familiar.....

All the bricks are stacked face up within reach and........no tapping......

Its not just the string, I think he has one of those 'calibrated eye balls'!

[Neil2]

There are many techniques all of which work. The only thing to guard against is having voids in the mortar.

[GianniFocaccia]

There are numerous posts here by experienced masons who recommend not soaking your bricks. Because of this warning, I stopped soaking my bricks and merely sprayed the surfaces with a fine mist. Adjusting the (homebrew) mortar (wetter) made the biggest difference to me and through a little practice I learned to butter my brick so that there was no void, and almost no mortar squishing out between bricks. I ended up using a mortar that was much wetter than when I first started, but the brick absorbed this moisture beautifully leaving a very quickly-set brick.
John