If your lackluster backyard inspires visions of what could be, it’s likely that the projects dancing in your head will involve bricklaying. Fire pits, raised-bed gardens, retaining walls and pet pens all require brick walls, and services from contractors don’t come cheap. Teaching yourself some basic masonry can save you bricks of money.

Howtolaybrick.com offers these pointers:

* Streamline your motions. The process is repetitive, intense work, so keep your supplies (mortar, mortarboard, bricks, trowel) close at hand and in easy-to-reach places to avoid awkward strain.

* Freshen up your mortar board. Before your pour mortar on your board, splash some water on it to stop the wood from absorbing the moisture and drying out the sticky stuff.

* Don’t overload your trowel. To avoid waste and unnecessary mess, avoid filling your trowel with so much mortar that it ends up on the ground or on the side of your wall. Expect a reasonable trowel-load of mortar to cover between three and five bricks.

Here’s a link to a YouTube video with some more tips.

How to Lay Brick [Howtolaybrick.com]

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