Bricklayer and plastering in Belgrade

Building partitions and bricking up openings

A partition is built from brick, hollow clay block or aerated concrete, depending on how much load the slab below may take and how much sound it must keep out. The new wall is tied into the existing ones with anchors, and a lintel goes over a door. When a window or door is bricked up, the new part is built flush with the old, so that the join does not show after plastering.

Before building it is decided where cables and pipes will run through the new wall, because channels for them are easier to make in a fresh wall than after plastering. Bricking up a window is often the first step of a refurbishment in which the bathroom or kitchen moves. An opening for a new door in a partition wall is cut only once the lintel is in place.

Plastering and repairing old plaster

Plaster goes onto brick or block once the wall is cleaned and wetted, and smooth concrete surfaces first get a coat that improves adhesion. In older houses and buildings the plaster is often lime-based and falls away in pieces around chases and windows; such a spot is opened back to sound material and replastered, not just patched on the surface. New plaster over an old chase tends to crack along its edge, so a mesh is embedded across the join before the finishing coat.

The price of masonry work depends on the material, the thickness and area of the wall, the room height, rubble removal and whether material has to be carried upstairs without a lift. Smaller jobs, such as patching plaster around a new pipe or closing a chase, are charged per piece, while building and plastering are charged per square metre.