What is the best way to bulid an an outside corner on a brick wall?
Question:I'm building a wall in my front yard with those huge bricks form home depot and i'm tring to build an ouside corner and every way i try it, it doesn't work? HELP
Answers:
To lay outside corners of brick or blocks, begin with level ground, and lay a course of bricks from one corner to a second corner. If you have to cut your bricks to fit your dimensions, lay the cut bricks into this first course somewhere in the middle, away form the corners. It makes a better looking wall if you trim several bricks to get your wall dimension; just one short brick might be obvious, and besides it will throw off your pattern.
Back at the first brick you laid, begin the adjacent side of the first course by laying the first brick of the adjacent side at right angles to the first brick laid.
For the second course, begin at the corner and lay a full brick over the gap between the first course bricks. Then lay the second brick of the second course at right angles to the first second course brick. The idea is to lay the bricks so that the gaps between bricks of the first course are covered by the second course of bricks. The third course is like the first course, and so on. The wall then has no places where there are vertical seams in adjacent courses.
I am assuming you know to mark the top outer edge of each course with a string line, so your courses are level and straight.
If the nominal length of the brick is different than twice the width of the brick, it is difficult to get a running bond corner without cutting the brick. I would suspect that is your problem. Same as if you would try to lay 6 inch wide by 16 inch long concrete block bonding at middle of lower block. It is easy with a standard 8 inch by 16 inch long block. Works the same way with odd sized brick. Some of the masonry trade books may have some solutions for bonding at corners for odd sizes that may be helpful.
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