bricklayer
{{Short description|Craftsperson and tradesperson who lays bricks to construct brickwork}}
{{for|the photograph|Bricklayer (photograph)}}
{{Infobox occupation
| name = Bricklayer
| synonyms = Builder, construction worker
| pronounce = ˈbrɪkleɪə
| image = Kuben murer.jpg
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption = Bricklayer apprentice practising at Kuben Vocational Arena in Oslo, Norway
| official_names =
| type = Craftsperson
| activity_sector = Construction
| competencies =
| formation = Apprenticeship
| employment_field = Civil engineering
| related_occupation =
}}
File:The Employment of Women in Britain, 1914-1918 Q28190.jpg
A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsperson and tradesperson who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry.{{cite book|title=Masonry Skills |author= Richard T. Kreh|year= 2003|publisher=Thomson Delmar Learning|isbn=0-7668-5936-3}} In British and Australian English, a bricklayer is colloquially known as a "brickie".{{cite web |url=http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/bricklayer |title=bricklayer noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com |website=Oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com |access-date=2017-04-02 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} A stone mason is one who lays any combination of stones, cinder blocks, and bricks in construction of building walls and other works.{{Cite web |title=Stonemason {{!}} Explore careers {{!}} National Careers Service |url=https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/stonemason |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930091058/https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/stonemason |url-status=usurped |archive-date=September 30, 2020 |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=nationalcareers.service.gov.uk |language=en-gb}} Bricklaying is a part of masonry.{{Cite web |title=Bricklayer Job Description |url=https://work.chron.com/bricklayer-job-description-11161.html |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=Chron |language=en-US}}
Bricklaying may also be enjoyed as a hobby. For example, the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill did bricklaying as a hobby.{{cite web |last1=Glueckstein |first1=Fred |title=Churchill as Bricklayer |url=https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-157/churchill-as-bricklayer/ |website=International Churchill Society |date=March 2015 |access-date=14 September 2022}}
Bricklayers occasionally enter competitions where both speed and accuracy are judged. The largest is the "Spec-Mix Bricklayer 500" held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.{{Cite web |date=2023-10-10 |title='Spec Mix Bricklayer 500' incites fierce competition and ample learning in masonry |url=https://news.yahoo.com/spec-mix-bricklayer-500-incites-222906586.html |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=SPEC MIX BRICKLAYER 500® {{!}} SPEC MIX |url=https://www.specmix.com/spec-mix-bricklayer-500/ |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=www.specmix.com}}
Required training
Professional bricklayers usually go through a formal apprenticeship which includes about three to four years of on-the-job training combined with classroom instruction, though some bricklayers may learn entirely from on-the-job experience. Unions and employers may offer apprenticeships, which allow individuals with little or no experience in bricklaying to learn fundamental skills under a more experienced employee. Contemporary masons in many countries must attend trade school and/or serve apprenticeships in order to complete curricula signifying that they understand fundamental related concepts such as the effects of humidity and water ingress, thermal insulation, and general knowledge regarding the science of construction materials, as well as occupational health and safety.{{Cite web |title=Job Information |url=https://careerswales.gov.wales/job-information/bricklayer/skills-and-qualities |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=careerswales.gov.wales}}{{Cite web |title=Become a Bricklayer {{!}} Key Skills, Qualification & Salary |url=https://www.lcb.ac.uk/find-a-course/careers-a-z/bricklayer/ |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=Leeds College of Building |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Bricklaying apprenticeship Level 2 - Find an apprenticeship |url=https://www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/apprenticeship/1000203407 |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2018-07-06 |title=Foundations of Success as a Bricklayer {{!}} Builders Academy |url=https://buildersacademy.edu.au/building-and-construction/foundations-success-bricklayer/ |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=Builders Academy Australia |language=en-AU}}{{Cite web |title=Bricklayer: Occupations in Alberta - alis |url=https://alis.alberta.ca/occinfo/occupations-in-alberta/occupation-profiles/bricklayer/ |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=alis.alberta.ca |language=en}}
In fiction and popular culture
- Italian-American author John Fante featured brick hod carriers, bricklayers, and stonemasons prominently in several novels and short stories. This was due to the autobiographical nature of much of Fante's writing; his father, Nick, an Italian-born bricklayer descended from — at least in Fante's fictions — a long line of Italian artisan bricklayers and stonemasons. Fante also spent a significant portion of his youth apprenticed to his father.{{Cite web |last= |date=2015-04-09 |title=John Fante: A Real American Writer |url=https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/california/articles/john-fante-a-real-american-writer |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=Culture Trip |language=en}}
- In Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, the title character, a Gulag prisoner, worked as a bricklayer.
- The long-running British children's TV series Look and Read featured "Bill the Brickie" ("brickie" being a British and Australian colloquialism for "bricklayer"), who would 'build' words with bricks to demonstrate the use of morphemes, such as '-ed' or '-ing'.
- In 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo's mother, Dolores Aveiro, stated in an interview for Sporting Clube de Portugal's official television channel (Sporting TV) that her son would have become a bricklayer if he hadn't become a professional football player.{{Citation |title=ADN de Leão {{!}} Episódio 37: Dolores Aveiro |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA9wTYYLdLI&t=430s |access-date=2023-09-28 |language=en}}
- In 2024, The Bricklayer, an American action thriller film directed by Renny Harlin and written by Hanna Weg and Matt Johnson, based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Paul Lindsay, who used the pen name Noah Boyd, was released.{{Cite web |date=2024-01-05 |title=The Bricklayer {{!}} Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_bricklayer_2023 |access-date=2024-01-28 |website=www.rottentomatoes.com |language=en}}
See also
- {{annotated link|Architectural Forum}}
- {{annotated link|Dry stone}}
- {{annotated link|Guild}}
- {{annotated link|Stonemasonry}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
- {{Wiktionary-inline}}
{{commonscat|Masons}}
{{Construction overview}}
{{Authority control}}