THE BRICKLAYER.
THE BRICKLAYER.
THE BRICKLAYER.
The Bricklayer has so much to do with the erection of buildings that the Master Bricklayer is generally a Builder; that is, he understands not only brickwork and the building of walls, but also the other trades necessary for completing a house, and can superintend the Mason’s, Carpenters’, and Plumbers’ work.
Of course, the first consideration in building a house isthe preparation of the foundations, which are formed in various ways, according to the nature of the soil on which they are laid; unless the ground itself is firm enough to receive the walls, sometimes thick layers of concrete (a sort of mortar) is used, sometimes layers of planking are put down, or even cross beams of timber, and in some cases, where the earth is very loose and damp, timber piles are driven into it on which to lay the foundation. The foundation once laid, the vaults or cellars are built either in the ordinary way, or in a series of arches of various forms; then follow the abutments, the wing-walls, the main-walls, with iron “Bressumers” for supporting those parts of the walls which are above large openings like great doors or shop fronts. The partitions, or interior walls, may be either solid brick or stone, or may be constructed entirely of timber, or they may be frames of timber filled in with masonry or brickwork. Then come the floors, the roofs and roof-coverings, and finally the ceilings and the doors and windows. The materials used in building are principally timber, stone, slate, bricks, tiles, mortar, lime, cement, iron, glass, lead, zinc, colours and varnishes. Those with which the working bricklayer has most to do are bricks, slates, tiles, stonework, cement, and mortar, for these are principally used in making walls and roofs, which is the greater part of his trade. The stone and slate come from the quarries, and we have already seen how bricks are made. Mortar is made in the following way.
1st. The soft chalky stone known as limestone, is calcined or burnt, by exposure to strong heat in a lime kiln; the heat drives off a gas which is contained in it (called carbonic acid gas), and leaves it in a state in which it is known as quick-lime.
2d. The quick-lime is “slaked,” by pouring water upon it, when it swells and becomes very hot, afterwards falling into a fine powder.
3d. This powder is mixed into a rather stiff paste, more water is added, and when a certain quantity of sand is added becomesmortar, and may be used for cementing bricks together.
Concrete is made by mixing gravel, sand, and ground unslaked lime together with water; it is used for foundations, and filling in apertures requiring strength and firmness.
Iron is used by the builder in two different states, as cast iron and wrought iron; thegirdersfor supporting roofs and walls are mostly cast in moulds (see Iron Founder), though both these and other parts of the ironwork used in building, are frequently of iron wrought by hand.
Lead is used by the mason for securing and coating the iron clamps which hold the blocks of stone together; it is also used in the plumbers’ work of a house (see Plumber).
Zinc is used in the manufacture of gutters, pipes, and portions of roofs.
Trowel.
Trowel.
The excavator having dug out the space where the foundation of the house is to be laid, the work of the bricklayer begins, and his tools are thetrowel, to take up and spread the mortar, and cut bricks by a sharp blow to the requisite length; then there are thebrick axeor hammer, for shaping the bricks to a level; thetin sawfor making an incision on bricks to be cut with theaxe; the rubbing stone on which to rub the bricks smooth in the parts where they have been cut, and themortar rake and shovel, for mixing the mortar and cement.
Mortar Rake. Crowbar. Shovel. Brick Hammer. Pickaxe.
Mortar Rake. Crowbar. Shovel. Brick Hammer. Pickaxe.
The crowbar and pick-axe are the tools used for demolishing old brickwork or clearing out rubbish; the sieve (see large cut) for sifting the lime of which the mortar is made,and the rammer for hardening the ground to render the foundation firm. Therakeris used for raking out the mortar from the joints of old brickwork which requires re-pointing, or the joints refilled with mortar.
To “set out” the work, which means to measure the spaces, and to keep the lines, curves, and angles, straight and true, the bricklayer uses thesquare, thelevel, theplumb-rule; the square shows whether the proper angle has been preserved; the plumb-rule is an upright rule, with a string at one end, to which is attached a leaden ball. If the work is straight on its perpendicular lines, and the plumb-rule be applied to it, this leaden ball will hang exactly in the centre, and swing through a hole in the rule, while, if the work be crooked, it will swing to one side. The level is a rule on the same principle, but for testing horizontal lines, such as a cornice on the top of a wall. The good bricklayer will frequently test his work by these tools, and will also use a line stretched to two pins, to guide him as he builds up his courses of bricks.
The bricks and mortar are supplied to him by a labourer, who carries them in ahod. The labourer also makes the mortar, and builds up and takes down thescaffolding(see large cut). The scaffolding, or that frame of poles and planks erected in front of the building as it is in progress, is constructed ofstandards,ledgers, andputlogs.
The standards are poles made of fir trees, from forty to fifty feet long, and six or seven inches thick at the butt ends, which are firmly fixed in the ground. When one pole is not long enough, two are lashed together, the rope lashings being tightened by wedges driven in between the coils in a peculiar way. The ledgers are horizontal poles placed parallel to the walls and lashed to the standards; thesesupport the putlogs, or cross pieces, which are about six feet long, one end of them resting in the wall, the other on theledgers. On these putlogs are fastened the scaffold boards, which are stout boards with pieces of iron hoop placed round the ends, to keep them from splitting.
Level. Cutting Chisel. Square. Line and Plumb. Hod.
Level. Cutting Chisel. Square. Line and Plumb. Hod.
A bricklayer and his labourer will lay about a thousand bricks, or two cubic yards of brickwork, in a day.
The tools used fortiling, or placing the tiles on a roof, are the lathing hammer, the iron lathing staff to clinch the nails, the trowel, which is longer and narrower than that used for brickwork, thebosse, for holding mortar and tiles, with an iron hook to hang it to the laths or to a ladder, and thestrikera piece of lath about ten inches long for clearing off the superfluous mortar at the feet of the tiles.