What is overhand bricklaying?
Overhand bricklaying means the bricklayer stands on the inside of the wall and reaches over the rising work, while the outside face is built as fair-faced brickwork. The bricklayer therefore never looks straight at the face that will be on show, but works over it.
The counterpart is working from the face side, where the bricklayer looks directly at the finished work.
Why it is done
- No external scaffold needed. On a cavity wall or a wall built tight to a boundary there is often no room to scaffold outside. Overhand working solves that.
- Working off the floor. For internal work the bricklayer stands on the existing floor or an internal tower scaffold, which is safer and more efficient.
- The pointing comes with it. Overhand work is normally laid solidly and jointed as the work rises; pointing up from outside afterwards would hardly be possible.
Points to watch
- Checking the face. Because the face is not in front of you, checking matters more: plumb, line and gauge should be verified regularly, and the work assessed from outside as soon as access allows.
- Mortar droppings. Squeezed-out mortar falls down the fair face. Cut it off immediately and do not smear it; dried mortar smears on face brickwork are very hard to remove without damaging the brick.
- Keep the cavity clean. On a cavity wall the squeezed-out mortar drops into the cavity. Use a cavity batten lifted course by course — mortar bridges in the cavity are a classic cause of penetrating damp.
- Reach. The height you can comfortably and safely lay overhand is limited. Set the working platform so you never have to work above shoulder height; anything higher costs accuracy and your back.
- Openings and built-in items. Lintels, damp-proof trays and wall ties have to arrive in the right course. That is harder to correct overhand, so work to a gauge rod marked with the course spacing.
The technique is not limited to brick: glass blocks and thin-joint concrete and calcium silicate blocks are laid overhand too.
Related terms
- Bricklaying
- Cavity wall
- Calcium silicate block
- Rising brickwork
- Lintel
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