How to Build a Brick Wall Perpendicular to Another Wall
- 1). Measure straight out from the wall that’s already built to the length that you want to make the brick wall. Mark the end of the measurement with a wooden stake and drive another wooden stake into the ground right by the first wall where you started your measurement.
- 2). Create a ditch between the two points that you marked, digging to a depth that is roughly a third the desired height of the wall. If you want to build a 3-foot wall, for instance, dig a 1-foot ditch. Make the trench the same width as the bricks that you intend to use in the wall.
- 3). Pour enough coarse sand into the ditch to fill it to a depth that leaves a space roughly one eighth of the height of the wall above the sand. In the case of a 3-foot wall, leave 4 to 5 inches of space above the sand. Compact the sand with a manual soil compressor to remove all of the spaces between particles.
- 4). Lay a 6- to 10-foot level over the sand to make sure the sand base sits evenly. If the sand isn’t even, remove the level, use the shovel to move the sand along the ditch, compact the sand and check it again for level. Repeat until the sand base is level in the ditch.
- 5). Spread a layer of mortar over the compacted sand. Place the first row of bricks down into the ditch over the mortar, pressing the bricks down into the adhesive and leaving a 1/8-inch gap between bricks. Use a spade to pick up any mortar that squeezes out around the bricks and spread it down in the gaps between the bricks, using extra mortar if necessary to fill the gaps.
- 6). Apply a layer of mortar over the first row of bricks and lay a second row of bricks on top of the first. Try to spread each layer of mortar as evenly as possible and check the bricks with a level when you lay each row to make sure the bricks sit level. If the bricks don’t sit level, add more mortar beneath bricks that sit too low to bring them up to level.
- 7). Apply mortar to the space between the walls with a spade, starting from the bottom of the wall and working your way upward if you aren’t concerned about waterproofing the joint. If waterproofing is a concern for you, install a waterproofing mortar strip according to the directions on the packaging to fill in the gaps between the perpendicular walls.