Laying bricks with plastering sand.

woody7777

I have done a small amount of bricklaying with some great help from this forum. I want to help a friend repair their wall which needs about 20 bricks laying. He has a bag of plastering sand, but I don't know if this is any good for bricklaying?

grumbler

Personally I don't see any problems. 
Fine sand mortar allegedly "doesn’t bond correctly to bricks", but I don't believe this.
Another feature of plastering sand is that it was washed  better and has lower clay content.

woody7777

Thank you grumbler for the quick reply. Good to know it can be used. 

Section62

woody7777 said:

I have done a small amount of bricklaying with some great help from this forum. I want to help a friend repair their wall which needs about 20 bricks laying. He has a bag of plastering sand, but I don't know if this is any good for bricklaying?

What kind of wall?  How thick, and does it do any retaining of soil?  What has gone wrong with it to need repairing?

Finer and more rounded sand particles are less 'grippy' than coarser and more angular particles.

Building sand gets the balance right between the two extremes.  Depending on the purpose of the wall (and why it previously failed) it may be the sand he has is Ok.

On the other hand, a bag of building sand costs between about £2 and £3, so it would be a shame to risk a poor outcome for such a small cost saving.

woody7777

It is a small garden wall, but not a retaining wall. The top row of bricks looks like it has been damaged by the frost, and needs a new row.