Day 1945: Another Great Wall

Throughout history, many iconic walls have been erected which serve as a testament to the might and engineering capability of the civilisations that built them. 

The Great Wall of China (Qin's Wall, c. 221 BC)

The Great Wall of Scotland (Hadrian's Wall, c. 122 AD)

The Great Wall of Mexico (Trump's Wall, c.2017) 

Well .. now we're adding another landmark to this list ....

The Great Wall of Surbiton (Hare's Wall, c.2021)

Ok, it's not quite finished but it will be equally as spectacular as the walls that came before it. 

Now that the weather returned back to normal - cloudy and rainy but above zero - the brickies could get to work on the gable wall. The intent here was to make a new wall look like a 120 year old wall so it wouldn't be too obvious. The solution was to use reclaimed bricks taken from some unfortunate building or perhaps a not-so-great wall. The colour of bricks here are know as London Yellow Stock. They are common on many properties in the area and typically go on the side of buildings - the pretty facing bricks go on the front. 

A little about blockwork before showing the details. There are multiple different styles of brick courses the most popular shown in the photo below. 

The stretcher bond is the most basic that people will recognise and works well on a single row ("skin") brick wall. It has good vertical strength but not lateral and isn't typically used on house walls. 

The next 2 types are for double skin solid walls where the bricks are alternated length and width wise so that the two skins are physically connected and offering strength vertically and horizontally. The choice here is just a matter of taste. The Flemish Bond has a similar cousin the Surrey Bond which coincidently was used on our house. 

Below is an example of the Flemish Bond being used on our wall. Now building regs call for a cavity wall - air gap between the skins - so the alternating bricks can't be laid lengthwise and were instead chopped in half. 

The inner skin won't be visible on the inside or outside so the guys used cement blocks. Denser, bigger and less fiddly. The two skins are held together with metal ties that go into the mortar. These are placed throughout to keep everything solid. 

And the Leaning Stack of Surbiton is no longer leaning - we decided to rebuild this from the base. It also needed to be raised to meet building regs. Unfortunately, we'll also require a new longer stainless steel chimney lining (queue sound of money going down drain)

But on the bright side, the bricks look great. Most match, some don't. But the guys are going to go over with a stain to blend everything in a bit better. The unevenness of the bricks is intentional and provides some of the character - it will look great when it's fully pointed. 

And rest assured, while the bricks themselves aren't perfectly even, the wall is perfectly level as the guys are following a brick line across. 

There you go. The making of the Great Wall of Surbiton. Hopefully it be just as iconic and will last as long as some of it's predecessors. Just hoping it doesn't take as long to build.