[Illustration: 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 is the
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 becomes _mortar_, 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; the _girders_ for 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.
[Illustration: 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 the
_trowel_, to take up and spread the mortar, and cut bricks by a sharp
blow to the requisite length; then there are the _brick axe_ or hammer,
for shaping the bricks to a level; the _tin saw_ for making an incision
on bricks to be cut with the axe; the rubbing stone on which to rub the
bricks smooth in the parts where they have been cut, and the _mortar rake
and shovel_, for mixing the mortar and cement.
[Illustration: 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. The _raker_ is 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
the _square_, the _level_, the _plumb-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 a _hod_. The labourer also makes the mortar, and builds up and
takes down the _scaffolding_ (_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 of _standards_, _ledgers_, and _putlogs_.
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; these support the putlogs, or
cross pieces, which are about six feet long, one end of them resting in
the wall, the other on the ledgers. 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.
[Illustration: 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 for _tiling_, 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, the _bosse_,
for holding mortar and tiles, with an iron hook to hang it to the laths
or to a ladder, and the _striker_ a piece of lath about ten inches long
for clearing off the superfluous mortar at the feet of the tiles.
[Illustration]