FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION PANKSHIN

SCHOOL OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES

SCHOOL OF VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL
EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

(BUILDING CONSTRUCTION)

COURSE CODE: DTB 428

COURSE TITLE: CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY

PRESENTED BY
ADIGIZI TIMOTHY JOSHUA
FCEP/DP/TECH/18/0078

QUESTION:
Load Bearing wall construction, brick, block stone and building
materials.

MARCH, 2022
INTRODUCTION
A load bearing wall or bearing wall is a wall that is an active structural element of
a building that carries the weight of the elements above it, by conducting its own
weight for a foundation structure below it. Load-bearing walls are one of the
earliest forms of construction. In load-bearing walls, live and dead loads are
transferred to the ground through designed walls and foundations.
The most commonly used materials for constructing load-bearing walls in massive
buildings are concrete, blocks, or brick. A wall that is built to support the above
slabs or other building elements in a structure is called a load bearing wall.

Function of Load Bearing Wall:

 A load-bearing wall carries a load of the structure from the roof and upper
flooring transfers to the foundation or other suitable frame members.
 It can assist structural members such as beams, slabs, and walls on flooring
above.
 These walls also carry their own weight.
 This wall is normally stacked on each flooring.
 These walls can be used as interior or exterior walls.
 Such walls will usually be perpendicular to the floor joist or ridge.

Types of Load Bearing Wall

1. Precast Concrete Wall: This precast concrete wall is aesthetically pleasing,
this precast wall has higher strength and it is identified for sturdiness. It
offers excellent protection and they are easy & simple to install.
2. Retaining wall: Retaining wall offers lateral support while installing a
retaining wall has many environmental advantages such as lowering erosion
and protecting areas from being saturated. It is also generally known as a
revetment or breast wall.
3. Masonry wall: Masonry is the most durable part of any structure because it
allows for unlimited architectural expressions and provides strength
durability. The masonry walls also helps in controlling the temperature in
 indoor and outdoor. In addition, it increases fire resistance and the lateral
hardness of the masonry wall is very low.
4. Pre-paneled load bearing metal stud wall: It is used to manufacture
exterior wall cladding. The metal can be stainless steel, copper, aluminum, it
supports gravity, seismic and wind loading.
5. Engineering Brick Wall: It uses a double open-ended bond beam block
constructed using a mold. The block wall is replaced horizontally.
6. Stone wall: It is considered as a stone structure, this wall gives structure to a
building and encloses an area.

Advantages of load bearing wall:

 It is good and inexpensive for building less than 2 floors construction
because bricks are cheaper.
 Also, good against fire resistance as rebars in RCC may fail by melting in
the fire.
 It has a thick brick wall which gives the walls more weather resistance, noise
protection.

Disadvantages of Load Bearing Wall:

 Brick foundations require a large foundation area as compare to RCC framed
structures because the load-carrying capacity of brick is much lower than
that of RCC.
 This gives the less available area.
 The load-bearing structure is poor in resistance to earthquakes because
shock waves create irregular stresses and compression in columns.
 Tension is greatly developed by RCC steel which is absent in the load-
bearing structure.
REFERENCES
"Wall". Whitney, William Dwight, and Benjamin E. Smith. The Century dictionary
and cyclopedia, vol. 8. New York: Century Co., 1901. 6,809. Print.
Committee on Damp Indoor Spaces and Health, Board on Health Promotion and
Disease Prevention. Damp indoor spaces and health. Institute of Medicine,
(U. S.). National Academies Press. Washington, D. C.. 2004. 34-35. Print.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load-bearing_wall#History
https://theconstructor.org/construction/masonry/load-bearing-masonry-
construction/2143/
Straube, J. F.and Burnett, E. F. P., "Driving Rain and Masonry Veneer". Water
Leakage through Building Facades, ASTM STP 1314. R. J. Kudder and J. L.
Erdly, Eds. American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), 1998. 75.
Print.