http://www.bricklayersonline.org/

Bricklayers Online, Belfast (2025)

16/08/2025

🧱 A Look Back: Bricklayers in 1980s Britain – A Time of Revival

Back in the 1980s, when the cranes started rising over London’s Docklands and old warehouses echoed with the sound of rebuilding, bricklaying wasn’t just a trade – it was a revival of a true craft.

Whole districts, once written off as relics of Britain’s industrial past, were being reborn. And at the heart of it all were the bricklayers – lads and old hands alike – carefully cleaning soot-stained Victorian bricks, restoring facades by hand, and taking real pride in every stretcher and header.

There were no shortcuts. Mortar was mixed with care, walls were plumbed to perfection, and brick bonds weren’t just functional – they were beautiful. You didn’t hear talk about “smashing jobs out” – you heard about getting it right.

It was a time when brickies knew their work would stand for generations.
And now? It’s time we brought that quality back.

At Bricklayers Online, we believe in reviving the pride, precision, and passion that once defined our trade. Not just doing the job – but doing it properly. Like they did in the '80s, with skill, respect, and pride in the craft.

Because if we don’t set the standard – who will?

15/08/2025

🧱 Q: Why is this blockwork starting at knee height with a mortar bed thicker than a sandwich?

A) They ran out of blocks but not mortar.
B) It’s a “speed build” – one block per day.
C) Setting world record for tallest mortar joint.
D) Bricklayer’s level was set to “optimistic.”
E) Groundworker said, “Just build it up to here, mate.”

15/08/2025

👊 Mortar Combat: Who’s Your Favourite Money Maker? ゚

14/08/2025

🧱 BIG boost! Link in comments ⬇️

13/08/2025

🧱 Massive shout out to the lads who put in this wheelchair ramp for my grandad! Said it would be “top quality” and I can see why – skipped the handrails so nothing gets in the way. Only £9,500 and worth every penny, we’d recommend them to anyone!

13/08/2025

🧱 From Ashes to Empire 1966 – How the Great Fire Forged a New Era for Bricklayers

In September 1666, London burned for four days. When the smoke cleared, more than 13,000 homes and nearly 90 churches lay in ruins. The heart of the city was a blackened shell — and the future of building would never be the same.

The Rebuilding Act of 1667 decreed a bold new rule: no more timber-framed houses. From now on, London would be built of brick and stone.

Overnight, the demand for bricklayers exploded.
The Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers — once the sole gatekeeper of the trade in the city — couldn’t possibly supply the manpower. The monopoly shattered as thousands of non-guild masons and bricklayers flooded in from the countryside and across the sea. The streets became a forge of noise, dust, and opportunity.

Pay rose. Skills spread. Apprenticeships multiplied. And the sheer volume of work turned bricklaying into a trade recognised not just for its craft, but for its power to shape entire cities.

But the ripple didn’t stop in London.
British bricklayers and stonemasons carried their skills abroad — to the growing colonial cities of America, the Caribbean, India, and beyond. They built forts, harbours, grand civic buildings, and rows of brick houses that still stand today. The Great Fire’s aftermath didn’t just rebuild a city; it lit the fuse on a worldwide explosion of masonry construction.

From London’s orderly Georgian terraces to Boston’s red-brick streets, from the walled towns of the Caribbean to the facades of Sydney, the signature of the post-1666 bricklayer is etched in clay and stone across the globe.

What began as a disaster became a turning point — when the humble trowel became an instrument of empire, and bricklayers helped rebuild not just a city, but a world.

12/08/2025

Straight as a Banana 🍌 – What happened!
And what's it say on them bricks? 🤔🤦‍♂️👀

06/08/2025

🔶 The Brickwork Design at Merrow Farmhouse: A Masterclass in Detail

The brickwork at Merrow Farmhouse is more than construction — it's architectural artistry.

🧱 Design Detail

Every brick is hand-moulded using rubber-range clay, giving a rich, warm texture and deep variation in tone that no machine-made brick can replicate.

Bricks are laid with precision bonding — likely Flemish or English — which not only strengthens the structure but creates a rhythmic visual pattern.

The entire surface is rubbed and gauged, a technique that gives the mortar joints an incredibly sharp, clean appearance.

Around windows, doors, or corners, special bricks are used — arch bricks, plinth bricks, and radial cuts — showing off advanced geometry and symmetry.

🔍 The Level of Detail

No two bricks are the same — the texture, edges, and coloration create a living, breathing wall.

Mortar joints are consistent to the millimeter, rubbed by hand to ensure smooth, crisp lines across the whole structure.

Brickwork of this level takes planning, layout drawing, shaping, cutting, and hours of hand-tooling — a full display of what expert bricklayers can achieve.

💎 Masonry: A Trade That Lasts a Lifetime

Brickwork like this is built to stand for generations — literally hundreds of years with proper care. That’s the beauty of masonry: it’s built to outlast trends, materials, and even lifetimes.

🔨 Why It Lasts

Fired clay bricks are one of the most durable building materials in history.

Proper bonding and gauging techniques ensure bricks lock tightly and resist weather.

Lime or traditional mortars allow structures to breathe and shift naturally, avoiding cracking.

This is why places built centuries ago — from farmhouses to castles — still stand strong today. The work lasts.

🚀 Why Masonry is a Top Trade for Apprentices in 2025

As we move deeper into a digital world, the value of hands-on trades is only rising — and bricklaying is leading the charge.

🔧 Top Reasons Apprentices Should Choose Masonry

Job security: There’s constant demand — from housebuilding to heritage restoration to custom architectural projects.

Skill pride: You’re not just building walls. You’re shaping skylines and creating legacy work that people admire and photograph.

Earnings: With even a few years of experience, skilled masons can earn excellent money — especially those trained in advanced techniques like gauged brickwork.

Creative outlet: Bricklaying allows for expression through patterns, bonds, textures, and designs.

Global opportunities: Masons are needed worldwide. Good bricklayers travel, work on prestigious sites, and gain respect everywhere.

🧱 Final Message for Apprentices

> “Brick by brick, you’re not just building structures — you’re building your future. Learn it well, and masonry will never let you down.”

05/08/2025

🧱 Precision. Pride. Perfection.
These mitre cuts aren’t just brickwork — they’re a masterclass in craftsmanship.
This is what happens when skill meets dedication.

04/08/2025

🧱 The Weight of the Wall": A Hod Carrier’s Tale from 1905

In the cold spring of 1905, in the heart of Birmingham’s industrial sprawl, a 17-year-old lad named George Mallin started his first day as a hod carrier.

He’d lied about his age to get the job. Said he was 19. The foreman didn’t care — he just looked George up and down, spat on the ground, and pointed at the hod leaning against the scaffold:
“If you can lift it, you can stay.”

A hod back then was a heavy wooden box mounted on a splintery pole, designed to carry bricks up to the bricklayers working on the scaffold above. It held ten to twelve bricks per trip — more if you were desperate for coin, less if you were weak. George had to carry it on his left shoulder, head tilted, neck twisted, one arm wrapped around the pole to stop it tipping.

The first lift nearly broke him.

The bricks dug into his collarbone. His knees buckled. His boots slipped in the muck. But he didn’t stop. He climbed the narrow ladder with no harness, no guard rails, and no help, bricks swaying above his head, breath shallow from the dust.

He made over 100 trips a day. That was normal.

There were no cement mixers — George had to shovel sand and lime into a pit, mix it by hand with a paddle, and carry that up too. Rain or frost made the job even worse. The wooden scaffold would get slick, and many a lad fell trying to prove himself. Some never came back.

His hands bled. His shoulder swelled up like a melon by the second week. But every Friday, when he collected his few shillings, he’d nod to the bricklayers and say nothing. Because in those days, a good hod carrier was a man who kept going, no matter what.

By the time George turned 25, his spine was curved from the weight. He’d carried bricks through snow, strikes, and scaffolds that should’ve collapsed. But he was proud.
“Every wall in this city owes something to the hod boys,” he used to say.

And he wasn’t wrong.

Today, we lift with machines, we mix with motors, and we build with pride. But men like George?
They built it with their bodies.
゚

01/08/2025

🧱 The Secret Anti-Aging Cream? Mortar Dust.

31/07/2025

🧱 THE WALL THAT TIME (AND STANDARDS) FORGOT"

1. “Is that a lintel or a leftover Jenga piece?”
It’s so wonky, even gravity’s confused.

2. “Them queen closures look like they were laid during a car chase.”
Nothing says ‘I give up’ like bricks shoved in on a 45° panic angle!

3. “This reveal’s got more gaps than a builder’s diary in December.”
It ain’t ‘brick bonding’ – it’s brick bailing.

4. “Was the bricklayer wearing oven mitts?”
Because every joint screams, “I did this with my elbows!

Bricklayers Online

16/08/2025

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