How to Build a Half Brick Wall Using a Stretcher Bond

In this video you will learn how to build a half brick wall using the Stretcher Bond.

The tools that you will need are:

Trowel

Mortar pan

Jointer

String

Spirit Level

Straight Edge

and Mason’s Square

The materials that you will use are:

Bricks

and Mortar

Don’t forget to use Personal Protective Equipment, including:

Safety Gloves

Reflective Jacket

Safety Helmet

Safety Shoes

and Dust Mask

Ensure that you follow all instructions specified in the mix design and method statement.

Before you begin building, set up profiles on either ends of the wall, run a string along its outer boundary and lay a dry bond.

Ensure that you follow all instructions specified in the mix design and method statement.

The arrangement of bricks in a Stretcher Bond of Half Brick’s Thickness consists of single rows of Stretchers. Every alternate course starts and ends with a half bat so that consecutive perpends are offset. A course where one wall joins another wall uses half of the Quoin that it shares with the second wall instead of a half bat. The wall that the Quoin Stretcher extends into keeps alternating in every successive course.

Bear in mind the count and arrangement of bricks before removing the dry bond.

Set up the profiles guiding the first course of the two walls.

Lay a mortar bed wide enough to accommodate the length of a half brick.

Place the Quoin Brick. The Quoin will serve as a full brick stretcher for the first wall and as a half bat for the second wall.

Continue laying Stretchers till the end of the course.

Using a trowel, apply mortar on top of the course and insert it into the gaps to fill the joints. Ensure that perpends are leveled with mortar.

Use the Straightedge to check the alignment of the course.

Lay the mortar bed for the first course of the second wall.

Place a Stretcher with it’s width against the Quoin Brick. Continue laying a series of Stretchers till the end of the course.

Ensure that perpends on all the surfaces are leveled with mortar.

You may now remove the profiles guiding the first course.

Setup the profile on the second course of the first wall using a half bat and a Stretcher at the outer end of the wall and a Quoin that Stretches into the second wall at the corner where the two walls meet. Lay a Stretcher with its width against the Quoin. Continue laying a series of Stretchers till the end of the course.

Apply mortar on top of the course and insert it into the gaps to fill the joints. Ensure that perpends are leveled with mortar.

You may now transfer the profile to the second course of the second wall.

Lay the mortar bed for the next course. Fill the space between the profiles with a series of Stretchers.

Using a trowel, apply mortar on top of the course and insert it into the gaps to fill the joints. Ensure that perpends are leveled with mortar.

Keep repeating these steps until you reach the desired height.

Once all the courses have been laid, use the Brick Jointer to scrape off the extra bits of mortar sticking out from the sides to provide definition to the bond.

Lastly, clean up the area around the wall.

You have now learned to build a wall of half a brick’s thickness using the Stretcher Bond.