The most obvious component of a building is its brickwork. The size, color and texture of the bricks together with the mortar color and joint finish will combine to give a particular look. Decisions on brickwork will have to complement the building's style, roofing material and color, window and door frame color as well as the driveway and landscaping style. Most significant brick merchants have computer-generated color matching services that help individuals achieve the look they want.
The bricklayer's job is to study the plans and lay bricks to construct perpendicular walls from perfectly horizontal layers of bricks. Of course, all corners should be exactly square to each other (90 degrees) unless specified otherwise. Some builders prefer to set out a slab themselves with chalk lines to delineate the exact location of brick walls. This makes the bricklayer's task less complicated. Set out is usually best done prior to the delivery of bricks when the slab is clear of obstructions. When the bricklayers arrive on site they should have brides, brickies' sand, cement, wall ties, waterproofing additive, lintels, brickbond wire and reinforcing rods, flashing material, all door and window frames and their accessories (clips) accessible to them. Their job is to assemble all these inputs. Bricklayers commonly work in teams of between two and four. This part of the construction takes longest since it is pretty labor intensive. Having a large brickies team on site is not good practice since variation between finishes around the building is likely to happen. Furthermore, if the rate of construction is too rapid, particularly in cool, damp weather, it is possible for the weight of fresh brickwork to cause slumping of lower bedding joints. On the other hand, a larger team will mean reduced scaffold hire time.
The first job for the bricklayers would be to set out the building. They should not use the concreter's lines without checking they're correct. All setbacks must be double checked. They'll then proceed to brush down any sand that has accumulated on the footing and slab. A mortar mix with waterproof additive will probably be smeared about 5mm thick over the whole upright edge of the slab. The purpose of this would be to prevent moisture penetrating the slab. This is followed by the laying of the very first course of brickwork of the external walls. No mortar is placed on the perpendicular joint (perp) of each fourth brick. This creates openings called weep holes by way of which any water that may enter the cavity can escape again. Weep holes also allow air to circulate via the cavity and enable it to dry out. In wet climates it is useful to use vent bricks to aid air circulation inside the cavity and also to add a waterproofing additive to the mortar of the very first few courses of brickwork. A clear waterproofing mixought to of course be used if face bricks are involved.
When the building plans are drawn up, all wall lengths and openings will need to be in brick-course lengths. The bricklayer should not need to snip bricks and end up with a broken bond. This is especially vital at entry areas, which might be really prominent. Unfortunately, the length of bricks is not always what the manufacturer specifies. They may vary plus or minus 5mm in length which, over a long length of wall, will mean that the brickie has no choice but to snip bricks. Usually the bricklayer will know after the first course if he needs to open the perps or keep them tight to accommodate the for difference in brick size. If you're unlucky enough to have a delivery of bricks which included bricks from the end of one run along with the beginning of another when the casting dye has been renovated, then the variation between the batches of bricks will cause issues for the bricklayer.
Of course, the bricklayer needs to be given clear instructions as to the type of finish that's required. There's a large range of mortar joint types and each one will give a different appearance.