Back in 77 I literally built hundreds of four -six feet brick sills on the old St Pauls field site in Hammersmith. I was an 18 year old apprentice. I worked for the General Contractor but all their brickwork was subbed out. The subbies didn't have too much time to teach you anything. Their was no money in the sills so they wanted nothing to do with them. I got lumbered with them. Luckily, the first one I was put on was well away from the general population. That was lucky for me, because the first sill must have collapsed on me four or five times. Near the end of the day some old boy came by to hide his tools. He saw may predicament and spent about half an hour with me showing me some tricks of the trade. How to cut the angle of the brick with the scutch hammer, which was basically a brick hammer with teeth. Lay the bed on a slight angle as well and let it set up while you prepare the next sill with Dpc. Also when laying also butter the angle at the back of the brick. the joint would connect to the inside block. Took me a few days of trial and error but I was soon pretty prolific at them. What was best was when one of the subbies would be put on them for a day. More often than not they had previously criticized my work. Now they were on my territory. Got a great kick out of how they would get a bollocking in the evening when the foreman would count their sills and complain to them that," even that bloody apprentice done more than you."
Well done Charlie sahn! as a 61 year old ex-brickie (did C.I.T.B. apprenticeship in late 70's,got city + guilds cert. then worked for sub-contractor for 5 years then was confident enough to go on my own) had on old bricky (Jack) taught me well to do all kinds of brickwork just like you do with your learners AND how to read drawings and set out work-thats why i'm saying WELL DONE MATE you remind me of Jack the way you teach your youngun's on the trowel! P.S-never heard of pick n mix way of laying bricks till i saw you doing it in one of your videos 3 years ago...before that i thought pick n mix was the sweets section in Woolworths-hahaha! (not blowin smoke out your arris mate) but your an excellent brickie,an excellent teacher and a top man,wish you + Amy all the best,take care and keep these interesting + informative videos coming,see ya Piers a.k.a. Chopper.👍🤝😀
Hey Charlie, you can use that rubber smudge eraser (you found in your competition winnings bag) to clean up the sill bricks after they dry a tad, makes the job look mint
Lay the first two as you did and then nail/screw/Dutch pin some lath the length of the run at underside of the cills. Gives something for the front of the cill to sit on and stops them from tipping
Nice to see you have patience with the young man, I’m a old plumber now and keep in touch with one of my older plumber that taught me, hopefully he will you. Keep up the good work.👍
another tidy job charlie , i always carried a roll of electricians isulating tape mainly for split fingure tips but handy to tape the line to the brick arris
Not a criticism or anything Charlie but you should measure the overhang from point A to B and if it looks out at the top of the slill then its down to the bricks and you can prove it ,Saying you put the starting points at the back of the bricks puts the blame on you as you are going off the facework
Tip of the day Charlie lad not meaning this in an insult in any way but to save you taping that sort of soldier course out below the window just go to the full bricks on the course below as it is all full bricks and 3 soldiers work a full brick that would have saved the time in taping out!! When I say the course below I mean the course below to the course you are laying on, gague your soldiers from that and it will work bro, that would have saved taping out 👍
Hey, I used to watch walls being built as a kid and teenager but I wasn't never allowed to do. I have some questions please. Why is there a gap between the red brick wall and those white blocks behind them? Do you fill that gap full of insulation or something? Thanks. This video is cool, you look like you know what you're doing =)
my backs hurting just watching this, still love it though lol. but man doing that over n over would drive me insane. as in just laying brick after brick one by 1 and having to be perfect with every brick you lay, defo not cut out for this type of work 😅
Hi as an apprentice I’m labouring quite a bit I haven’t laid much and starting fresh I mostly am labouring , have you any advice on how long I should be labouring for and what I should do to change that thanks
I had same problem not so long ago. Try get ahead as much as you can bro and bed out for them and lay when you can, you're gaffer will know when the time is right he won't want a decent trowel on the shovel. Hope that helps a bit bro best of luck with it
When you are all caught up with bricks and mortar start jointing the bricklayers will like that and you won't be the one they send to mix or ask them if they want you to spread the wall that's how I started it gives you a chance to get comfortable with a trowel in your hand before you start laying
Let your boss know you are interested in learning and always jump at the chance to install even a few bricks here and there. Once you get to the point where you are more valuable on the tools than the shovel it is only logical your boss will keep you on the tools.
Minor detail, which I'm sure you did Charlie, but for the apprentices just remind them to fill their pin holes up when the line comes off seeing as it was into previously finished work 👍🏻
