the home surf guide to building a brick wall whether you want to build a small wall at the end of your patio or a six-foot wall around your house you'll need to learn the ancient art of brick laying building a wall is a tricky job and it will take you all day but home server here to show you how it's done don't forget however if you're planning to build a retaining or load-bearing wall then you'll need to call in a structural engineer before you start and if it's over 2 metres tall you'll need to check your council's building regulations step 1 you will need cement sand and lime for your mortar but if you're building in cold weather substitute the line for plasticizer which will keep your mortar fluid plus bricks a bucket and a bricklayers trowel step 2 getting ready the quality of your finished wall will depend on the quality of your footings see how to lay foundations to get this bit right then you'll need to buy your bricks a quick rule of thumb is that you'll need sixty five of them for every square meter of wall but remember if your wall is over seven hundred and twenty-five millimeters high you should be building it double thickness so you'll need double the bricks step three mix mortar once you've got your bricks you'll need to mix the mortar to hold your bricks together see how to mix mortar to see how it's done don't forget that once you've got to mix together you need to use it within two hours step four bricklaying start at the ends of your wall and work in place a brick at each end and stretch a string between them to give you a line to work to then scoop up a load of mortar onto your trowel and spread along the footing place your brick on top with the indented side or frog facing up then get the next brick spread a load of mortar on the end and stick it next to the first one remove any excess mortar from the sides of the bricks and check them with a spirit level to make sure they're straight and true if they're not just give them a tap with the end of your trowel to sort them out step 5 the bond the bond refers to the pattern of the bricks all bricks are offset to avoid one long mortar joint which could be a weak point when you are building a wall to bricks thick you'll need to place bricks laterally to keep it strong there are two ways you can do this to keep the whole wall strong the Flemish bond which looks like this and the English bond that looks like this there you go sort it and if you've got lots more brickwork to be done why not call home serve and let us do the job for you