How to lay a foundation strip

Foundation strips are the first step in establishing your new brick wall. This guide tells you how you make one ... .

Level of difficulty

Level 2 – Intermediate

What you need

• String lines
• Pegs
• Bricks
• Shovel
• Hammer
• Garden roller
• Builder’s sand
• Bricklaying trowel
• Garden rake
• Hardcore

The steps to follow

1. Set the foundation width and thickness of the wall you plan to build.
2. Wrap a string line around two pegs to stretch a line across the length of the foundation. Once you have set the string line as a guide to lay your foundation, you may start digging a trench.
3. Use a spade to dig a 75 mm (3 in) deep trench.
4. Position these sharpened timber pegs at 1 m (3 ft) intervals from each other. These timber pegs should measure 75 mm (3 in) in height.
5. Drive them with a sledgehammer into the base of the trench.
6. Check with a spirit level to see if the peg tops are level with the foundation surface.
7. Once the peg tops are positioned, fill the trench with hardcore and tamp down with a shovel.
8. Next, shovel in the concrete and lay it on top of the hardcore.
9. Use the shovel to evenly spread it onto the surface.
10. Tamp down the newly covered concrete layer with a stout piece of timber.
11. Add more concrete until it reaches the level of the peg tops.
12. When you’ve finished filling the trench with concrete, check that the strip is level with a spirit level.
13. Next, leave the foundation strip to harden. The strip will usually take a day to harden.
14. Once hardened, you may start building your wall.