Brick Laying

[Jogeephus]

I've done a lot of things but I've never layed brick and was wondering how difficult it is to do for a novice. I have a small project in mind and have talked to a brick mason and he said he would gladly do it but it seems he keeps putting me off for the larger jobs which I can fully understand. My little project is just going to be a wood fired oven and maybe an outdoor fireplace. Its got some arches and stuff in it but I think I can build some wooden jigs to hold things in place while I lay the bricks. I know I'll have to use a special heat resistant mortar mix for some of the build but I'm just wondering about laying the bricks themselves. I can't see how it can be that hard. Any thoughts?

 

[M5farm]

I have helped lay block on a church addition a few years ago and it was not hard. The things that I found important were the consistency of the mortar and keeping your string level. I bricked in a back porch after that by myself and it was just as easy. I have not done any arches though.

 

[dun]

With your skill and ability I don;t see why it wouldn;t be pretty easy for you. Not a pice of cake but not really all that difficult. Slow compared to the pros but I'll wager that no-one would be able to tell the diffrence once it's done.

 

[Jogeephus]

Thanks. I think I may just start working on it myself. Its not that big of a job really but it will take some time due to the cure times on certain steps. As for the arch and the dome I even thought of getting some river sand and moistening it and forming it into an igloo shape like the interior will be. I could use this sand castle as a support for the brick and when the brick is set I can just hose the sand out.

My daughter really likes stone cooked bread and pizza. I made a wood fired oven with steel and it does a fair job but steel just doesn't hold the heat like masonry will and you really need the dome to finish the top of the pizza in that high heat.

 

[Anonymous]

Laying pipe is more fun

 

[Jogeephus]

I do that from the seat of the tractor. Only problem I've had with that is having too much to drink and missing the ground when I stepped off the tractor.

 

[Anonymous]

That last piece of pipe can be problematic. Especially when trying to mate it to 2 others.

Back on the subject though, firebrick isn't needed, mortar does need to be consistent with more sand than you'd think, and keep the lines straight. It's not that difficult though

 

[dun]

Thanks. I think I may just start working on it myself. Its not that big of a job really but it will take some time due to the cure times on certain steps. As for the arch and the dome I even thought of getting some river sand and moistening it and forming it into an igloo shape like the interior will be. I could use this sand castle as a support for the brick and when the brick is set I can just hose the sand out.

My daughter really likes stone cooked bread and pizza. I made a wood fired oven with steel and it does a fair job but steel just doesn't hold the heat like masonry will and you really need the dome to finish the top of the pizza in that high heat.

Reminds me of the Pizzacato in Naples!

 

[xbred]

check your PM... would love to help you.. been a mason for over 40 years...

 

[ChrisB]

I'll tell you what I'll do Jo - I'll let you come up to my place and build a practice one so when you build it at your place you will have all the kinks worked out.

 

[snake67]

I've done a lot of things but I've never layed brick and was wondering how difficult it is to do for a novice. I have a small project in mind and have talked to a brick mason and he said he would gladly do it but it seems he keeps putting me off for the larger jobs which I can fully understand. My little project is just going to be a wood fired oven and maybe an outdoor fireplace. Its got some arches and stuff in it but I think I can build some wooden jigs to hold things in place while I lay the bricks. I know I'll have to use a special heat resistant mortar mix for some of the build but I'm just wondering about laying the bricks themselves. I can't see how it can be that hard. Any thoughts?

Nothing like bread, pizza and meats cooked in a wood fired oven.

Heck I am a dumb guy and I am planning to build one soon. Just be sure to put lots of salt in the sand you use as filler on the top of the oven and make the floor at lease 6 inches think - that is what my Italian buddy told me when he built one outside my camp in Kabul

Had lots of decent meals from it.

Cheers

 

[jedstivers]

I've done a lot of things but I've never layed brick and was wondering how difficult it is to do for a novice. I have a small project in mind and have talked to a brick mason and he said he would gladly do it but it seems he keeps putting me off for the larger jobs which I can fully understand. My little project is just going to be a wood fired oven and maybe an outdoor fireplace. Its got some arches and stuff in it but I think I can build some wooden jigs to hold things in place while I lay the bricks. I know I'll have to use a special heat resistant mortar mix for some of the build but I'm just wondering about laying the bricks themselves. I can't see how it can be that hard. Any thoughts?

Nothing like bread, pizza and meats cooked in a wood fired oven.

Heck I am a dumb guy and I am planning to build one soon. Just be sure to put lots of salt in the sand you use as filler on the top of the oven and make the floor at lease 6 inches think - that is what my Italian buddy told me when he built one outside my camp in Kabul

Had lots of decent meals from it.

Cheers

Does that make those Camel Toes any better?

 

[skyhightree1]

LOL.
I also have never layed brick I wanted to make a grill out on a portion of my property where the hunt club im in has lil parties and make a cinderblock grill but never did cause i have no idea how to mix the mortar correctly and what consistence it should be as I have no masons I know around my way.

 

[Kingfisher]

I don't feel so bad knowing my rock smoke house is taking so long now......

 

[TexasBred]

Watching a skilled brick mason work is down right relaxing. So smooth and easy looking....no wasted motion...no hurry...just on and on and on.....Pick up that trowel and a brick and it becomes nothing but 100% frustration for me. :nod:

 

[Craig Miller]

I built a pump house at moms a few years ago..block not brick... the hardest part was getting a good consistant mortar. I dont think i ever got it right either. It wouldnt stick to the blocks. It took me all day to build a 5x5x4. Lol

 

[Jogeephus]

I started on it today and you are right, getting the mortar right took some experimenting. After some time I began to judge the right mix by the looks and feel of it. I also learned something else about surplus bricks that have been laying around a while. These things are the perfect habitat for scorpions. How they can hide between stacked bricks is beyond me but I learned several painful lessons today.

 

[Jogeephus]

I've been working on the oven for about a week now. What I've got done so far doesn't look like much. I now know why the brick mason didn't jump on the job because its just a bunch of small steps with lots of waiting in between the steps and it would be hardly worth his time.

I researched the physics of this thing pretty hard and am using four differet types of mortars. Plain mortar will fail on parts of it cause it will cook out and the oven will eventually fail. In these sensitive areas I used a fire clay mortar. This can tolerate heat but not moisture so other things had to be done to protect this. None of it was hard just a change over in what you are doing and mixing.

Since the physics of heat transfer is all about mass and the firebricks ability to absorb and store the heat I layed the brick thick which will give it more mass to store the heat. In theory, once I fire the oven for an hour or so it should be able to cook for 8-10 hours. I used to work in a kitchen that had stone ovens and after we did our baking we would turn the heat off and stick a roast in the oven and take it out the next morning and it would be cooked perfectly.

Anyhow, this is what I've done so far. Just need to install the chimney and another arch and do the finish work and then it will be ready to be fired up. So far I have about $300 in materials so it hasn't been that bad just time consuming. Oh and its almost square and the walls are almost straight but I did "intentionally" make some of the walls a little crooked for aesthetic appeal. ;-)

I had hoped to finish this for my daughter's birthday next week but I don't think that will happen.

 

[ga.prime]

Looks easy.

 

[Anonymous]

That's a lot more square and level than my brick project from a. Few years back. Looks good!