Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasonsBrickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons work in closely related trades creating attractive, durable surfaces and structures. The work varies in complexity, from laying a simple masonry walkway to installing an ornate exterior on a highrise building. Brickmasons and blockmasons—who often are called simply bricklayers—build and repair walls, floors, partitions, fireplaces, chimneys, and other structures with brick, precast masonry panels, concrete block, and other masonry materials. Some brickmasons specialize in installing firebrick linings in industrial furnaces. Stonemasons build stone walls, as well as set stone exteriors and floors. They work with two types of stone—natural cut stone, such as marble, granite, and limestone; and artificial stone made from concrete, marble chips, or other masonry materials. Stonemasons usually work on nonresidential structures, such as houses of worship, hotels, and office buildings. When building a structure, brickmasons use 1 of 2 methods, the corner lead or the corner pole. Using the corner lead method, they begin by constructing a pyramid of bricks at each corner—called a lead. After the corner leads are complete, less experienced brickmasons fill in the wall between the corners, using a line from corner to corner to guide each course, or layer, of brick. Due to the precision needed, corner leads are time-consuming to erect and require the skills of experienced bricklayers. Because of the expense associated with building corner leads, most brickmasons use corner poles, also called masonry guides, that enable them to build an entire wall at the same time. They fasten the corner poles (posts) in a plumb position to define the wall line and stretch a line between them. This line serves as a guide for each course of brick. Brickmasons then spread a bed of mortar (a cement, sand, and water mixture) with a trowel (a flat, bladed metal tool with a handle), place the brick on the mortar bed, and press and tap the brick into place. Depending on blueprint specifications, brickmasons either cut bricks with a hammer and chisel or saw them to fit around windows, doors, and other openings. Mortar joints are then finished with jointing tools for a sealed, neat, uniform appearance. Although brickmasons typically use steel supports, or lintels, at window and door openings, they sometimes build brick arches, which support and enhance the beauty of the brickwork. Stonemasons often work from a set of drawings, in which each stone has been numbered for identification. Helpers may locate and carry these prenumbered stones to the masons. A derrick operator using a hoist may be needed to lift large stone pieces into place. When building a stone wall, masons set the first course of stones into a shallow bed of mortar. They then align the stones with wedges, plumblines, and levels, and work them into position with a hard rubber mallet. Masons continue to build the wall by alternating layers of mortar and courses of stone. As the work progresses, masons remove the wedges, fill the joints between stones, and use a pointed metal tool, called a tuck pointer, to smooth the mortar to an attractive finish. To hold large stones in place, stonemasons attach brackets to the stone and weld or bolt these brackets to anchors in the wall. Finally, masons wash the stone with a cleansing solution to remove stains and dry mortar. When setting stone floors, which often consist of large and heavy pieces of stone, masons first use a trowel to spread a layer of damp mortar over the surface to be covered. Using crowbars and hard rubber mallets for aligning and leveling, they then set the stone in the mortar bed. To finish, workers fill the joints and wash the stone slabs. Masons use a special hammer and chisel to cut stone. They cut stone along the grain to make various shapes and sizes, and valuable pieces often are cut with a saw that has a diamond blade. Some masons specialize in setting marble, which, in many respects, is similar to setting large pieces of stone. Brickmasons and stonemasons also repair imperfections and cracks, and replace broken or missing masonry units in walls and floors. Most nonresidential buildings now are built with walls made of concrete block, brick veneer, stone, granite, marble, tile, or glass. In the past, masons doing nonresidential interior work mainly built block partition walls and elevator shafts, but because many types of masonry and stone are used in the interiors of today�s nonresidential structures, these workers now must be more versatile. For example, some brickmasons and blockmasons now install structural insulated wall panels and masonry accessories used in many highrise buildings. Refractory masons are brickmasons who specialize in installing firebrick and refractory tile in high-temperature boilers, furnaces, cupolas, ladles, and soaking pits in industrial establishments. Most of these workers are employed in steel mills, where molten materials flow on refractory beds from furnaces to rolling machines. Related news articles Martin LeFevre: When Time Stops - 16 Oct 2006 Scoop.co.nz (press release),...them. Many have huge slabs balanced on top of them, some looking like they had been perfectly placed there by a giant stonemason. ... Cool Tools: The Art of the Stonemason - Sep 21, 2006 NewsFactor Network,This book by Ian Cramb is a classic. Straightforward and elegant, everything you need to know about putting one stone on top of another. ... TIDY Records: A Skone's Eye View - Oct 11, 2006 Pembrokeshiretv.com,I was sharing a shandy (two straws natch) with Griff, landlord of The Stonemason’s Arms, Haverfordwest, arguably Pembrokeshire’s most happening music pub ... “Harsh�? Islamist rule in Somalia - Oct 14, 2006 EiTB,..."They are bandits," said the stonemason and father-of-three, while queuing for food aid in a Kenyan refugee camp after trekking and hitchhiking from Somalia ... High fives as FTSE rockets - Oct 13, 2006 The Sun,They include Dubliner James Mansfield, 67, whose fortune is put at £267million and ex-stonemason Sean Mulryan, worth an estimated £234million. ... Wife frantic over vanishing act - Oct 14, 2006 Worcester Telegram,He no longer works as a stonemason and has been depressed for months, but he has never disappeared before, she said. Gardner Police Lt. ... The real Lady Chatterley: society hostess loved and parodied by ... - Oct 9, 2006 Guardian Unlimited,She didn't have sex in a woodshed, but her fling with "Tiger", a young stonemason who came to carve plinths for her garden statues, was an open secret among ... Lifetime ban on identifying witness in murder trial - Oct 12, 2006 Belfast Telegraph,Steven Leslie Browne, also known as Steven Revels, from Castle Place, Castlecaulfield, Co Tyrone and Mark Burcombe, a stonemason from Ballynahinch Road, Lisburn ... All in the family - Oct 11, 2006 The State,...program are Tymere Zimmerman and Josh Stepp. What he won’t tell you is he’sa pretty good stonemason. With the Indians sitting on a ... Vandals rip off saintly fingers - Oct 10, 2006 Worcester News,One of the saint's fingers had been missing for about a year and had only just been replaced by stonemason from the Forest of Dean, Glouc-estershire, who had ... ON THE JOB Bricklayer - Oct 9, 2006 ChronicleHerald.ca,Bricklayer and restoration stonemason are designated apprenticeship trades in Nova Scotia. Certification for bricklayers is compulsory. ... Kenya: Lawyer Takes Head-On Rally Driver's Parents - Sep 29, 2006 AllAfrica.com,...between the parents of rally driver Carl Tundo and a defence lawyer marked yesterday's trial of Thomas Cholmondeley over the murder of Stonemason Robert Njoya ... Milk-Truck Driver Kills 3 Girls, Critically Wounds 8 - Oct 2, 2006 Los Angeles Times,..."It's a sad day," Jacob King, a 31-year-old stonemason said. He could think of nothing else to add, just repeated that one word, "sad.". ... British aristocrat's murder trial opens in Kenya - Sep 25, 2006 People's Daily Online,Thomas Cholmondeley, 38, great-grandson of one of Kenya's first white settlers, Lord Delamere, has denied the murder of 37-year- old stonemason Robert Njoya ... White Kenyan aristocrat shot man accidently-witness - Sep 27, 2006 Reuters AlertNet,Thomas Cholmondeley, a 38-year-old descendant of Lord Delamere, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Robert Njoya, a local stonemason he accuses of poaching ... Fearful Pakistani Quake Victims Rebuild Homes - Oct 6, 2006 FOX NewsWe'll do the same this year," said Mohammed Farid Khan, 70, a stonemason who has lived in Dubri Bandi all his life. "Where else can we go?". Nizhny Novgorod Region - Oct 7, 2006 Kommersant,It was destroyed by a landslide in 1597 and then rebuilt in a new location closer to the city under the direction of journeyman stonemason Antipa Vozoulin. ... Carnage at Amish school - Oct 3, 2006 DetNews.com,...shock, but in hushed, muted tones. "It's a sad day," Jacob King, a 31-year-old stonemason said. Rather than dwell on the victims ... » Hero dad honoured - Oct 5, 2006 East Lothian Courier,Disregarding his own safety, Mr Reid, a stonemason’s labourer, jumped into his car with wife Linda and five-year-old son Josh and pursued the man, who was on ... Freemasons bring back Ben Franklin - Oct 6, 2006 Canton Journal,...they do?". Freemasons trace their history back to the stonemason guilds that built Europe's cathedrals and castles. Organized in ... More information on Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons from The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook Overview of Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons occupation Number of Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons in the U.S. Salary and earnings for Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons Working conditions for Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons Significant points for Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons Training requirements for Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons Labor Information Home | Occupational data by city | Search Rainforests | Madagascar | What's new |