Is it easy to build a brick wall?

[Randomposter]

Say 5ft high 12ft long ( & we're not bricklayers/builders obviously ) just enthusiastic diy'ers.

Thank you.

[lalalonglegs]

No, it's really difficult without training - hence why bricklayers are in such demand. However, I have known a couple of people who have done short bricklaying courses at their local colleges and been adequately equipped to build garden walls - probably about the same sort of size that you require.

[Randomposter]

Thanks lala

[Greengager]

The longer it is the trickier. You will need pillars to support it every 6th feet. It is a skilled job.

[amarmai]

i built a square brick BBQ . Not sure why pps are saying it;s difficult.

[Palomb]

I would imagine building a house or a tall long wall is slightly more challenging that building a BBQ.

[amarmai]

so you post a put down of what i built , but say nothing about what you have built!

[SnuffleGruntSnorter]

I suppose that depends on how straight this wall needs to be...

[MrsMushrooms]

Nobody's putting down your BBQ Armardai, but a self-supporting small square fixture and a long wall are a bit bloody different, that's all! It needs foundations and supports and all sorts of skill to build a garden wall

[ApocalypseSlough]

amarmai think about Lego. Your barbecue is half the height, at least three times the thickness and a third the length. What the OP describes would be much much less stable and potentially dangerous if not built correctly.

[amarmai]

still not reading what you all have built.

[Palomb]

🎖

[SoupDragon]

amarmai why so defensive? All people are saying is that there is a big difference between a BBQ and a 12ft long wall. Which there is!

I could build a BBQ but I would not attempt to build a long wall even though I know the principles.

[evrybuddy]

I've built lots of things.

Recently though, I've had builders building red brick cavity walls to approx your dimensions.

One was a skilled bricklayer - the other an experienced builder - and a labourer using a cement mixer to keep them going with mortar.

On the basis of what they did for me, it would take a skilled bricklayer and a full-time labourer maybe two full days to build a 12 x 5 wall.

Without the cement mixer and labourer - ages!!!

A 12 x 5 wall is more than big enough to catch the wind and blow over in one piece - as you see every year in winter storms news reports when it lands on a car/person etc.

If it's on public view you will probably be worried about appearance.

My builders stopped when they got about half way up to allow the mortar to dry for the next day - otherwise the weight may compress and distort the construction.

On a personal note I've always found getting the correct mortar mix very difficult: soft enough to be malleable, not so soft that it runs off the brick.

Getting the mix consistent so that the same break doesn't compress the mortar differently along the length of the wall.

If it was just a barbecue, I'd do it but a high wall on public view - nah.

Without a cement mixer you will kill yourself too. That's a lot of sand and many, many bags of cement.

Good luck .... perhaps some photos afterwards

[OneEpisode]

I couldn't build a bbq. I did brick pave a path. That has a fairly low risk of toppling over in the wind. I researched how deep the path foundations should be. It was v deep. My neighbour was convinced I was building a two storey extension.
My path didn't involve cement. Your wall does which adds to the skill as the cement can mark the bricks. A pro would also have a mixer that you'd have to rent or improvise around...,

[DooblieDooo]

The thing about building a wall is you don't just build one layer and then the next. They build each to form a triangle to get the level from one end of the wall to another.

Yes I would build a BBQ as it is self supporting (you can get ready mixed mortar in a bucket) and yes we have mixed our own concrete to lay a small area to support a water butt. But I wouldn't attempt to build a wall. Buttering up bricks is hard. Personally I have tiled bathrooms and kitchens and have installed complete bathrooms, laid a marble hearth stone but I wouldn't plaster a wall nor lay a brick wall of those dimensions.

I did watch my builder build my extension and they make it look easy, but it isn't. I don't know where you live but my builder had 20+ years experience and charges £120 a day. His experience labourer ie one that can predict what is coming next was £80 a day. They hand dug the footings for a retaining wall in my back garden, laid a foundation layer, then above ground level.

[amarmai]

What are you adding to the op if you are not a diy and only posting put downs and jibes?
otherwise - of course i know a wall is harder, but i have done so many diys that i wd attempt it before i paid someone to do it for me.

[Palomb]

I don't think anyone has posted any put down or jibes have they? You're the one who has continued to be defensive. Congratulation on being able to build a bbq, you are obviously very proud and rightly so, but building a Bbq is not the same as building a wall, the use of bricks and cement is the only similarity. I've built lots of things but none of them relevant to the op.

I'd have a go at building a wall Op. What's the worst that could happen? 😂

[averylongtimeago]

DS is a bricklayer, he has done an apprenticeship, DH is a builder. For that length and height of wall you are looking at foundations, brick pilers and expansion joints. Possibly reinforced if the site is sloping/it's acting as a retaining wall.
Bricklaying looks easy- it isn't.

[averylongtimeago]

Palomb: the worst that can happen is that the wall falls over and kills whoever is underneath.

[GreenMarkerPen]

it's easy - in theory
in practice it's very skillfull, especially with that hight. you wouldn't want that to collapse on anyone!

[lalalonglegs]

I think Palomb was being sarcastic

[limesoda]

I built up a door opening in our house to make a window IYSWIM. Our builder complemented the work, and I'm very proud of it, but I genuinely wouldn't for a 12ft wall. Getting the mortar right is SO hard (although builder's yards might be able to help you source large quantities of the pre-mixed stuff, a lot of builders seem to use this for small jobs).

I say this as somebody who fitted all the heating, plumbing, tiling, windows, units, in our recent kitchen renovation.

[amarmai]

so as you have nothing to offer to the op, you are reading to find a target for your sarcasm and insults? NICE !

[Palomb]

[SoupDragon]

You seem unnecessarily aggressive, amarmai.