Prefabrication

For the floor of the shelter I am building a kind of hypocaust system. I wanted to prefabricate some of the pillars because, as I know, bricks are much easier to join vertically than horizontally. I can make stacks of three bricks and then turn them upright once the mortar has cured. I realized once again the importance of having the right tools and equipment. I was using a scrap piece of MDF for the base, but it was very uneven when I placed it on the ground. I was cleaning up some of the mortar and I knocked over one stack...and the whole row fell like dominoes. 

After being rather angry for a couple of minutes I decided to make some proper tools and start again the day after.

I found a long board for the base, much stiffer than the sheet of MDF. I also made myself a guide so that I can line up one set of edges.

The board and guide.

I used clay again to support the first brick of the stack and to position it against the guide. Only the small ends of the bricks will be visible in the finished floor/bed, so I am using all the bricks I deemed too ugly for the walls or roof! Some are also quite irregular so I just have to make sure at least one side lines up.

The joints aren't going to be visible but I still cleaned them up a bit, just to keep the stacks generally tidy.