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Today's bricklaying video im showing you how i make my mortar in a mixer.
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Thanks for watching!
My dad told me never to put a spade in the mixer too, normally while he was putting a spade in the mixer.
My old gaffer did when he was a kid now he cant use his thumb. Lovely hobo tho so I here
Gobbo*
@@nataliecarvell5494 It happens, at least he's got the other hand to hold a brew. Mate of mine lost a thumb too, still a bloody good brickie
There is a fine art to removing gobbo from a moving mixer with a shovel.
I do it all the time, I don’t recommend doing it but needs must sometimes 😂
You're a legend Stu! I'm just a DIYer but I love learning stuff like this off your channel. Cheers!
Hi Stu, these videos of yours have been a huge help. I have never laid a block in my life but always ready for a challenge if I know I have good resources to learn and follow. I am building a 10,000 litre raised koi pond in our garden. I have a good friend who is a builder who has shown me the basics each step of the way and I ask too many questions lol and I copy and then I get on with it and he picks up the phone and checks and so on. Your vidoes have been so clear, no ego nonsense, just genuine and taking time to show those without a clue every detail. Refreshing content and full of value. If you ever get time or maybe you have done a video already but I feel like I have watched all your content, could you show how to set up 4 corners as if you were going to build a rectangle? A bit like building a raised koi pond. It took me ages to get the right angles across the four corners and then lined up with each other in all the different ways. I reckon there are a few other begiiners out there who would want that as more people are building ponds. Anyway really appreciate the videos.. you mak eit look too easy! Best and stay safe.
Great work guys. Fellow masons at it. Just here to mention to your crowd that mortar plasticisers are a great way to adjust your mortar workability without disrupting your water / cement ratio and thus requiring too much water. Also if you live and work in warmer climates, as I do, plasticisers can do miracles SINCE they are not absorbed by cement as fast as water allowing you greater working time and slower setting time. This might not be so obvious in colder countries but when working under 35 degrees its a "lifechanging" difference. Lastly, a mortar plasticiser can also add some wateproofing properties to your mortar.
Loop 0⁰
Lots of valid information in a easy to follow video,great job mate keep up the good work 👍
Always informative and very well made tutorials man. A pleasure to watch 👍🏻
That block wall looks amazing.
Always a pleasure watching you show Stu.
FINALLY!!! Someone else who adds the Feb to the water while in the mixer turning not to a bucket of water. Mixes well better this way and end up with butter cream
Snap mate!! Best way 👌👌
exactly pal. far better way to add it
Thanks for the mortar tips. I used the exact same mixer a while back. Handy tips for using it on my next job so mixes don't get stuck on the back.
Nice simple clear video. I like the look of the hose tap. Thanks for sharing
That is a water tap from the mains.
That was very informative mate. I've always been a bit dumb when it comes to this but now I know, thank you for your help 😉
Great to see you using gauge buckets. to many people think that a shovel of sand is the same as a shovel of cement
My dad always gauged his mix with shovels and I do same,not once have I ever had to different colour mixes,just add i lilttle more cement each time as like you say heaps of sand are bigger
cheers stu! as a spread / joiner i figured id give this nocking down my garage and re building it a go , have to say i have a greater appreciation for brickys now probably chose the wrong week to start it as its boiling and on a 9m x 3m ive managed to lay 2 courses per day so far, its not so bad now im up to a good hight but those footings and the lower bricks dont half kill your back off! thankfuly i cant go over 2.5 m otherwise i may of gave you a call! haha
I use this method and platiciser makes it so much more workable.
Nice vid Stu I work down south and nice sand is super rare nowadays it’s mostly like sharp sand gritty and no body to it, add lime and it’s still crap like it’s been dried out and put through a siv
Одлични видео прилози! Одлична школа!
Stu,.....I always use the mister setting on the nozzle to keep the cement/dust way down immediately. Great Job!
I'm just getting used to the colour of the sand up here. Bought some bags at a merchant in Birkdale, nice red sand. Where I used to live, south of the Thames, it was a more yellow, golden coloured sand. When Wickes first opened up in the south, they brought in red sand. You couldn't use it for exposed work, it stuck out like a sore thumb. They soon changed it. When I worked on site many years ago, I used to watch the hod carriers knocking up pug and putting the shovel in the mixer. How they never broke their wrist's. Occasionally the shovel would get caught on the drum paddles. They used the fut, fut, crank start diesel mixer, which usually got a good beating with a scaffold pole at the end of the day to clean it. P.S. Been here six months and love it here. People actually talk to you here. Wish I'd done it years ago.
North=polite folk. We will even say please and thank you whilst we are robbing you. Lol.
Stu Compton , is the MAN. Good show chap...........
Your bricklaying is magnificent. 👍
learnt so much watching you
5&1 above 4&1 below or 3&1 below i was always taught 4&1 above is to strong the gobbo should never be stronger than the material your laying. any movement and you will get cracking through brick and not the joint. The batching plants send ready mix out at 5 & 1 above dpc. I worked with some fellow bricklayers not long back that kept getting cracking through there internal blockwork and after working with them found out they was mixing 4&1 And it was to strong. I love your vids mate not nit picking it's just a very common mistake lads make.
That's what my old college lecturer (Ken Dewing / NORCAT) taught us in the mid - late 80s.
Great video,keep up the good work👌
Really enjoying your content.
Good video stu, wallpaper in the back round! good stuff!! also just a tip never start a mixer with weight in it, it will stretch the belt, good stuff mate! Keep in coming.
Easy simple tips spot on bud
Thank you mate such good video😊🤚
i followed this advice and added fairy liquid and it was great. I built a little step into my back door.
Thanks Stu just the job.
Dude. That's really helpful stuff cheers. In some situations I was asked to add washing up liquid and or PVA to the mix. Didn't have a mixer just a plaster whisk thing and a old orange black and decker drill.
Perfect mix 👌
Good tutorials and nice music always.
5:15 he’s right, the concentrated feb is much better 💪💪💪
Something new to learn 👍🏻
Thanks great video just what I needed
great vid good instruction.
Thank you for the video
Interesting to see the difference in how counties prepair their mortar and what type of trowels that are common to use. UK are using the "old way" of prepairing mortar, While scandinavia are using premixed 25kg bags, just add 4 liter water pr.bag and its ready to go. I enjoy your videos alot Stu, keep up the good work and quality!
Don't think premixed bags would be too helpful since the ratios can change based on where the what bricks and where bricks are going etc. Some people buy their sand straight from the quarry and lots of people buy it loose which doesn't waste packaging.
I use optimix plasticiser it’s brilliant.
I always like to let it spin for another 5 minutes after it’s all mixed. I just think it helps the pug stay workable that bit longer once it’s on the boards.
Thanks for the video. I'm assuming the bag cement is more of a pure Portland cement and that is why you add the plasticizer. Here in the U.S. we use pre bagged masonry cement that includes Portland cement, air entraining ingredients, and plasticizers such as lime or ground clay already pre-mixed in the bag. Then we add sand to the mix and water. Three parts sand , two parts masonry cement and water. No plasticizers are necessary since they are already in the masonry cement. I Googled Hansen multicem , but did not pull up the data sheet, they are a major distributor in the UK, I think that's where you're located. Enjoy watching your videos, it's good to see how things differ from country to Country. Keep up the good work and the good attitude.
it depends. He is a commercial brickie so for him it is all about cost. You can certainly buy the same product you mention, "cement" including additives. One such brand is called "mastercrete" However it comes at a price premium which for those in the trade is unjustified when all you need do is add plasticiser yourself at a fraction of the cost. Like most in the trade, you'll note he ignores the actual specified mix ratio for the liquid plasticiser and added a "liberal" glug of it whilst openly commenting that it's too much! Time is money when it comes to precise measuring .
Excuse me sir, may I use your bathroom?
Just about to start a small wall and iv never laid bricks before. Just wondering if u have a video of how to knock down and replace double skin a driveway wall. Thanks
Love the new video. I’d love a video on clean laying ie keeping the face clean. keep up the great work. Rob
Waw great content, I was wondering yesterday how you get your mortar so smooth ! I'll tell my father how you do, he keeps buying " ready to use" mortar from the depot. This red sand looks awesome too ! Man a can look your videos all day long, it's hypnose for me haha... Im in tiles for the moment. Around 900 sq feet ... damn my back hurts.... I laughed so hard when you said "bend the knees" .... god we'll Sleep when we'll be dead... :p
Does the colour of the sand make any difference? in Birmingham the builders merchants use red but you can order yellow builders sand
I liked the video, and the bucket technique, it was safety glasses you needed really more than a dust mask as you can hold your breath for a few seconds and step back. And a bit of a guess with the Feb, there will be a ratio for that too as it weakens the mix
Love your show/tutorials! You commented " Just add more water till it's like soup" When adding water, isn't there a point whereby too much can weaken the strength of the mortar?
Do you wet those blocks down first? In that weather at least? Or make the mix wetter? Struggling to get the mix to stick to dry blocks...
Here in the northern us we use 1 part masonry mortar to 2 parts sand. But our cement comes in different types n,s,m,o the different types have different amounts of lime to cement ratio. Do you use straight cement or is it a Pre blended mortar?
Haha love these vids mate but you don’t wear no dust mask 😂 I can’t find it 😂 😂
Nice vid mate, I tend to find the concentrated stuff is the best, only using 10ml a gauge and adding just over half a bucket of water seems to be perfect every time for a 5-1 mix, tend to find when the muck is flowing through the holes of the blades and is rolling at 2 o’clock it’s normally cock on for bricks and thermalites.
Nice video. and that blockwork behind you looks 100%'. I Wish you would have built my extension. I have got about 5 different colours of mortar on mine. bricky who doesn't really take too much pride in his work. left mess all over the place, has a new labourer every week making a different mix. I did email you but I guess you must have been too busy. hey ho. still enjoy watching your videos. very talented. keep it up.
So do you allways blend your mortar free hand in the UK? Generally over here in sweden we get pre mixed sacks. And plasticizer explains something i have allways wondered aswell why your cement look so sticky. Great vid , fun to see how you guys do it!
top tips pal. perfect for the newbies
In canada our ratio is 3:1 because of weather and we stop the mixer 5 minutes and remix it for it to last longer
Stu, turns out I'm a shit bricky! Fancy coming down to Norfolk and finishing my massive outdoor kitchen? You could even rebuild it for a Vid if you like!
Fire the Feb in Stu,my old boss used to make me clean his Belle mixer religiously,I've got one of my own now and as I've got no labourer I've neglected the old girl-dosent take a lot to clean your tools at the end of the day (good practice)keep posting Stu...."The Big n from Wigan" 👏👏👏👌
george barker once mines caked I remove the drum, add 5L of brick acid and top up with water and leave over night. Works a treat.
I chuck a couple of shovels of gravel and a bucket of water in mine and leave it running while I'm packing up tools etc keeps it lovely and clean without too much hassle
Hi Stu, Liking your videos. I’m looking at laying standard dense concrete blocks to build up a sloped garden for prep in laying a small patio...about 12” high. Should I use sharp sand for the mix? Thanks
no always building sand with bricks and blocks, flags and tone work you can use sharp sand in the mix
Another great vid. I can see why I get claggy mortar rather than the creamy stuff you and the pros get, far too stingy on the plaz - thanks mate
Don't use that red sand some people call " Cheshire red" bloody awful stuff. You want a nice gritty building sand. I use the concentrate plas with OPC not ( mastercrete) and my mix is lovely and creamy.
Top Notch stuff, as always. One question: Can you add plasticiser to a hand mix, or do you need an actual mixer to make it work?
How much cement would you add if you already had a lime mortar, 6 or 7 % lime. ?
Havent you got a stand for the mixer? goes straight into a barrow?
you make a cleaner bricky than a labourer pal. :)
ps/ tidy blockwork that at back. - integrity in the building game.....doing the right thing even when nobody's looking :)
See the mortar plastersizer is that instead of washing up liquid back in the day 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻?
Stu do you ever use the stand for the mixer,
That 2nd toss off sand changed your water ratio, massive glug of water came flying out 😂 love your channel though!
thanks for this nice basic sand cement mix tutorial, on your background wall, the mortar at the top seems having color of red and Bottom has white color, or it just needs some time to settle/cure then it will all turn to white. if I want to make red mortar , like many house these days, we use red sand or red cement to make the mortar red ? thanks
steven Gao it's not dryed yet he would have just laid it
8:37 “Never mix your mortar stronger than the material...” To which I agree, and that is what I was taught. If the mortar is too strong, any movement and also moisture has to be absorbed by the material causing it to be under more stress and deteriorate faster. The mortar should instead absorb those stresses - it can be repaired if needed. Someone started an argument with me over this, and insisted setting brickwork with pure cement would be a good idea.
Can you explain more? How do you judge the strength of your material.
@@cookeslifeandtravels8568 It's not that complicated, old clay bricks are rather soft, modern bricks are a bit harder, engineered concrete bricks and natural stone like limestone and granite are much harder. Suppliers tend to provide recommendations to the mix ratio.
@@disklamer Thank you!
@@cookeslifeandtravels8568Also consider what type of strcture, load- bearing, indoor/ outdoor, required flex and lifecycle. Bricklayers e.g. may use a different mix for laying vs. pointing. The pointing is easy to redo.
If you didnt use plastisizer, how much lime would you put in that 4:1 mix? What 3 part ratio would that be?
Can I use quickkrete for my cement and does it matter what kind of sand because yours looks very like wet and heavy compared to normal like beach sand I'm new to this don't judge me
quick question, what are you doing with the concrete floor? will it need a layer of self levelling compound on ?
Not sure just yet but concrete is pretty level so no real need they may just seal then tile over
Great stuff as usual, guess adding water to get the right consistency comes with experience. On the rare occasions I do a bit of diy brickwork in the garden I always struggle to get the mix just right
It’s the plas mate that gets the working consistently, little brick work in the garden just add some fairy but anything structural use a proper plas
You make much time to prepere
Dish detergent works great too, to make the mortor more workable on a hot day!
Except it's illegal on most sites in England I think. Don't quote me on that though
It’s a well known and oft repeated statement but how do you actually determine the strength of the mortar and how do you know what strength the bricks are that are being used to make sure you’re getting the right mix
Bro if I took this long to make a mix the layers would chew my head up. Good video for a DIYer
They’d have to get it out of your ass first 😂
I only gauged it if boys on face brickwork or rendering, good video
Your vids are so good man! Don't they say it should slide off the trowel clean in the mixer when it's just right? Something like that! How many bricks or blocks would you expect to get out of a four bucket mix Stu???
Well the general rule is 1kg of mortar per brick so if you mix 125kg of Mortar you can lay 125 brick
@@Stucrompton1 that's a handy rule of thumb. I must remember that.
Excellent tutorial Stu , your kid will be kicking off saying "Stu, look at me new floor "!! 😁😁😁😁🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗
Lol mike jung cleaned it so you could eat your dinner off of it 😁
@@Stucrompton1 still on with my extension, kitchen dining knock thru, back to brick walls , and full bathroom job Inc new floorboards and full back to brick walls , while trying to make a living fixing cars and taking my boy swimming training 12 hours a week lol
Están perfectos tus vídeos el problema que no entiendo el inglés
Havent done bricklaying in 12 years since I left college, trying to get back into it any tips ? Bricking up a door way. Keep up with the videos great watch
None.
Салам Брат . колхоз дело тонкое сам каменщик без слов понимаю.удачи и здоровья Мастер.
Hi Stu, lovely job on that block! Question... what grade of sand do you prefer for general 4:1 ?
Use fine sand, mortar masonry sand we call it. Ultra fine blend!
Top stuff Stu. Just about to tackle sandstone slabs in back garden. What ratio sharp sand/cement mix would you reccomend?
4:1 on a full bed of mortar
2 parts sharp sand, 2 parts building sand, 1 part cement
@@richardaskham2154 Cheers pal. I've seen all sorts from 3:1 to 10:1 and still none the wiser!
@@TheDranny no worries, When laying Indian paving slabs I seal the back of them with dilute PVA, it's the same principle used when plastering. It stops the flags absorbing the moisture to quickly which can lead to the top of the mortar forming a skin of dryer material, which can cause the bond between the slab and mortar to fail. I'm sure there's other ways but I've never known this method to fail.
Good, easy instructions. Any tips on how to clean out mixer after use? And how to dispose of the waste from mixer? Cheers
I always use water and a shovel of gravel to clean mine just leave it running when I'm packing tools etc , cleans it lovely even round back of blades, water and a stiff brush works OK too
Hosepipe immediately after every mix. Then none dries on the paddles or cakes the outside of the drum in muck, you also have then have the water in for the next mix. Just how i do it. Best way I've seen. Always clean tools immediately after each use. Just lazy to leave it till later. I pour that into my barrow and clean my barrow with the water. Spray the inside of the drum while tipped until water runs clean. Pout the water away. Any sludge goes in the skip.
whats the difference between the plasticiser and fairy washing up liquid? great video and and takes me back some years when I was the labourer for a builder and this was my job when I was 16, I am now 55 and had forgotten the ratio and wether or not it is sharp sand or soft sand, I am pretty sure it is soft sand?
Plasticiser won’t get the grease off your dishes ....
@Andy XoX 😆😀😜
I can’t find my dust mask 😷 🤣 ok stu 😉 also why don’t u use the stand for the mixer
Now that's the secret recipe
I like that bloke
How about 3:1 That is 3 sand : 1 cement is alright? Thx 🙏🏻
Good instructions stu, do they still make Feb mix. Weres kc is he golfing again😀😀
Always golfing kc
He should be getting good at it now👍👍👍
I know mate
Maybe put the mixer on its stand . The work all looks great...
I'm starting next masonry next week. Any tips of what a beginner should bring to the job site to be 1 step ahead?
Show willing. Do more than is expected of you. Practice on your own time when your mates are out getting pissed.
@@Stucrompton1 Thank You. I have a problem though, he wanted me to start Monday and I haven't even filled out an application yet. He said he would bring app next week. Is this normal for masonry guys to use laborers and not pay them????
Hi,i am a diyer,i have a wall to repair,how much mortar would i need to lay 266 bricks on edge,any help will do
Tim Duncan won the “bricky” like 12 years in a row.
Bend your knees, bend your knees 😂🙈
watching USA videos about doing block work, they use glue! on a dry gravel foundation for a retaining wall. Is that crazy, or clever?
Why mix the cementone mortar plasticeser, and how much litre should mix it for 4:1, anyone can reply, please
What do you think of 15 shovels to one bag🤔 what i used to have to do when labouring, was a larger mixer and used about 3 bags each time
I always use buckets because it’s harder to gauge a mix with shovel pal
We do 12 shovels or 4 buckets to half a bag of cement 🤔
@@AshSmash981 perfect buddy 24 and a bag is exactly right in a diesel mixer or 12 and half a bag like you say in a belle mixer 👍 works out at 5&1 perfect mix for above dpc.
I labour for plasters and we use big diesel mixers. For the most part I use the shovel especially when we're floating or doing scratch coats. It's quicker. But when we are doing a fine finish like dash I use buckets. For colour consistency