Brickwork Specification|Step By Step Process of Brickwork Construction.

Brickwork specification specifies the nature and the class of the work, materials to be used in the work, workmanship etc. It is very important for the execution of the work. The cost of the work depends much on the specification of work. So let us see the brief specification of Brickwork and how it is carried out step by step.

Materials required for the construction of Brickwork and its process.

Bricks :

All the Bricks shall be made from clean and good soil. The size of the brick should be 19*19*9 cm. The bricks should be well-burnt and should have proper reddish colour. The bricks should have plane rectangular faces with parallel sizes and right angle edges. The brick should not break when dropped from from height of minimum 1 meter. When the brick is immersed in water, it should not absorb water more than 20% of it’s dry weight. The brick should have minimum crushing strength of 105 kg/cm².

Sand :

It shall be natural sand and should be hard, strong and durable. The sand should be purely obtained from river bed and it should be clean and free from shells, alkali, salt, dust, silt etc. If the sand is not clean and not as per I.S specifications and contains more than 5% of clay, dust or silt then it should be properly washed off before using it for brickwork construction.

Cement :

It shall be fresh portland cement with standard specifications. The cement should have minimum compression strength of 175 kg/cm². The initial setting time of cement should not be less than 30 minutes and final setting time should not be more than 10 hours.

Water :

Water should be free from alkaline, salt and other acid matter.

Proportion :

Proportion of the cement sand mortar may be 1:3 to 1:6 or as specified. It means that one part of cement and three parts of sand or one part of cement and six parts of sand.

Mixing of Mortar for Construction of Brickwork :

In Brickwork construction the mixing of cement sand mortar is generally done by 2 methods :

• Hand Mixing
• Machine Mixing

But generally on site and mainly for small works of brickwork hand mixing method is mostly preferred. In this method sand and cement are mixed thoroughly in dry state on mortar platform or iron sheet tray. After mixing properly water is added to the material and then again it is uniformly mixed. The quantity of the prepared cement mortar can be used within 30 minutes of its preparation. Stale mortar shall never be used for brickwork construction. The quantity of water in the mortar at the time of mixing should not exceed 25 litres per bag of cement.

Laying of Bricks :

Bricks shall be laid in English bond, unless if mentioned. The frog of the brick should be laid upward except in case of top course where the frog is laid downward. Every course shall be truly horizontal and wall shall always be in plumb. No damaged bricks shall be used. The brickwork constructed in one day should not exceed the height greater than 1 meter. The joints in brickwork are racked in 12 mm and it should not exceed the thickness of 6 mm.

Curing :

Brickwork shall be well watered continuously for 10-14 days. After the end of days work the top of wall shall be flooded with water.

Scaffolding :

Necessary and suitable scaffolding should be provided for safety during the wall construction of brickwork. It should be built strong enough to withstand the load of labours and tools coming upon it.

Measurement :

The brickwork shall be measured in cu.m (cubic meter) and thickness of wall shall be taken as multiple of half brick 10 cm, 1 brick 20 cm,  1½ brick 30 cm and so on. The rate shall be for complete brickwork including scaffolding and tolls and plants.