TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

BRICK WORK

PROJECT: PROPOSED RESIDENTIAL APARTMENTS

AT KOMPALLY BELONGS TO Mr. MAYUR GUPTA

 BRICK WORK

1. Scope of work:
The work covered under this specification pertains to procurement of well burnt clay
bricks of class 35 unless otherwise specified and workmanship in building walls of various
thickness, in strict compliance with the specifications and applicable drawings.

2. Materials:
2.1. Brick shall be table moulded of uniform size, shape and colour must be well burnt
so as to give a clear ringing sound when struck. They shall be clean, whole and
free from flaws, cracks, stones or lumps of any kind, especially lime. They shall have
sharp edges, shapes and even surface and shall be sound & hard to resist
compression. They shall be from a source to be approved by the Engineer-in-
charge and the quality of the brick should be such that they shall not absorb more
than 20% of water by weight after immersion in water for 24 hours and shall have a
compressive strength of 3.5 N/mm2 as per IS: 1077-1992.

2.2. The size of the brick shall be 230 (9”) x 115 (4-1/2”) x 75 mm (3”). Permissible
tolerance on dimensions shall not be more than (+/ -) 8%. 230 mm (9”) and 115
mm (4-1/2”) thick walls will be built fair on one side only. All walls of greater
thickness shall be built without exception with fair face to both sides.

2.3. All bricks shall be thoroughly saturated with water before use. They should be
soaked for about 12 hours for this purpose. No broken bricks shall be used except
as closers. All joints shall be thoroughly flushed with mortar of mix as specified in the
schedule of quantities, at every courses. Care shall be taken to see that the bricks
are bedded effectively and all joints completely filled to the full depth. The
horizontal & vertical joints shall not be more than 10 mm in thickness.

2.4. Mortar for brick masonry shall be prepared as per IS: 2250. Mix for cement mortar
shall be as specified in the respective items of work. Gauge boxes for sand shall be
of such dimensions that one complete bag of cement containing of 50 kg of
cement forms one unit. The sand shall be free from clay, shale, loam, alkali and
organic matter and shall be of sound, hard, clean and durable particles. Sand
shall be approved by Engineer-in-charge. If so directed by the Engineer-in-charge
sand shall be thoroughly washed till it is free from any contamination.

2.5. For preparing cement mortar, the ingredients shall be first mixed thoroughly in dry
condition. Water shall then be added and mixing continued to give a uniform mix
of required consistency. Cement mortar shall preferably be machine mixed,
though hand mixing in a thorough manner may be allowed. The mortar so mixed
shall be used within 25 minutes of mixing. Mortar left unused beyond specified
period shall be rejected.

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3. Workmanship:
3.1. Bricks shall be laid in English Bond unless otherwise specified. For brick work in half
brick wall, bricks shall be laid in stretcher bond. Half or cut bricks shall not be used
except as closer where necessary to complete the bond. Closers in such cases,
shall be cut to the required size and used near the ends of the wall. Header bond
shall be used preferably in all courses in curved plan for ensuring better alignment.

3.2. Brick work shall not be raised more than 10 courses a day unless otherwise
approved by the Engineer - in-Charge. The brick work shall be kept wet for at least
7 days. Brick work shall be uniformly raised all-round and no part shall be raised
more than 1.0 meter above another at any time. Date of laying the brickwork shall
have to be marked, as directed by the Engineer-in-charge, on the wall so as to
ensure easy monitoring of the curing period.

3.3. All joints shall be thoroughly flushed with mortar of mix as specified in the schedule
of quantities, at every courses. Care shall be taken to see that the bricks are
bedded effectively and all joints completely filled to the full depth.

3.4. The joints of brick work to be plastered shall be raked out to a depth not less than
10 mm. as the work proceeds. The surface of brick work shall be cleaned down
and watered properly before the mortar sets.

3.5. The adhesion between the brick masonry surface and the concrete surface of
columns, beams, chajjas, lintels etc. should be proper by ensuring that the
concrete surface coming in contact with brick masonry is hacked/ chipped/
keyed, cleaned and cement slurry is applied so that a proper bond is achieved
between the two dissimilar materials. It is the responsibility of the contractors to
ensure that there will not be any cracks/ fissures anywhere in the brick masonry.

3.6. In case the cracks appear subsequently in those areas, they should be made
good by cement grouting or epoxy putty grouting/ poly sulphide compound
grouting or as per standard modern specifications/ methods with the prior
approval of the Engineer -in-Charge, at the cost of the contractor.

3.7. All the courses shall be laid truly horizontal and all vertical joints shall be truly
vertical. Specified mortar of good and approved quality shall be used. Lime shall
not be used where reinforcement is provided in brick work. The mortar should
completely cover the bed and sides of the bricks. Proper care should be taken to
obtain uniform mortar joint throughout the construction. The walls should be raised
uniformly in proper, approved bond. In construction of the wall, first of all two end
corners are carefully laid to line and level and then in between portion is built, with
a cord stretching along the headers or stretchers held in position at the ends. This
helps in keeping the alignment of the courses and maintaining them in level.
Similarly all other courses are built. Care shall be taken to keep the perpends
properly aligned within following maximum permissible tolerances:

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 a) Deviation from vertical within a storey shall not exceed 6 mm per 3 m
height.
b) Deviation in verticality in total height of any wall of building more than
one storey in height shall not exceed 12.5 mm.
c) Deviation from position shown on plan of any brick work shall not exceed
12.5 mm.
d) Relative displacement between load bearing wall in adjacent storeys
intended to be vertical alignments shall not exceed 6 mm.
e) A set of tools comprising of wooden straight edge, masonic spirit levels,
square, 1 metre rule line and plumb shall be kept on the site of work for
every 3 masons for proper check during the progress of work.

3.8. Bricks shall be laid with frog (where provided) up. However, when top course is
exposed, bricks shall be laid with frog down. For the bricks to be laid with frog
down, the frog shall be filled with mortar before placing the brick in position.

3.9. No brick work shall be carried on during frosty weather except with the written
permission of the Engineer - in-Charge, who will give special directions as to the
manner in which the work is to be performed. All brick work laid during the day,
shall, in seasons liable to frost, be properly covered up at night as directed by the
Engineer-incharge. Should any brick work be damaged by frost, the brick work
shall, at the discretion of the Engineer-in-Charge, be pulled down and made
good, at the cost of the contractor.

3.10. No holes for supporting scaffolding arrangement shall be allowed especially at the
junction of concrete surfaces and the brickwork. However, these holes may be
allowed elsewhere and are to be made good after the scaffolding is removed in
such a manner so as to ensure complete water tightness.

3.11. Concrete surfaces of columns, beams, lintels, chajjas etc. coming in contact with
masonry work shall be include wire brushing and cleaning brickwork covered with
fungus or deleterious materials.

3.12. Brick work shall be well watered/ cured throughout the day for at least a week
from the date of building

3.13. Scaffolding shall be strong to withstand all dead, live and impact loads which are
likely to come on them. Scaffolding shall be provided to allow easy approach to
every part of the work.

4. Half brick work:

Materials and workmanship for a half brick or brick on edge partition wall shall be as
specified above. The wall shall be stiffened by R.C.C. horizontal stiffeners of 115 x 75 mm
with two bars of 10 mm diameter and spacers of 6 mm diameter at 900 mm center to
center laid in 1:2:4 concrete properly filled including formwork, consolidation, curing,
etc. The RCC work shall not be measured separately but will be included in the

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brickwork. The MS reinforcement however will be measured separately. These bars shall
be securely anchored at their end where the partition ends. The free ends of the
reinforcement shall be keyed into the mortar of the main brick work to which the half
brick work is joined. Overlaps in reinforcement, if any, shall not be less than 30 cm.

The rates for brick work shall include the cost of the following:
i. Providing and fixing necessary single or double scaffolding and removing the
same after the work is completed.
ii. Form work for stiffeners concrete as required.
iii. Watering, curing, lifting of materials to any height.
iv. Raking out of joints to receive plaster.
v. Forming slab sittings, cutting or leaving holes for lugs of windows, doors, sills,
switch boxes etc.
vi. Making good all holes, chases, etc. to any depth due to conduit pipes, holdfasts,
bolts, switch & plug boxes etc.
vii. Bedding and pointing precast lintels, sills etc. in or on walls.

5. Sampling and tests:

Samples of bricks shall be subjected to the following mandatory tests:

a) Dimensional tolerance b) Water absorption c) Efflorescence d) Compressive strength

Note: 1. Cost of above tests shall be borne by the contractor.

2. Frequency of test shall be as per relevant IS specifications.

6. Mode of measurement:
6.1 For Brick Work Measured in Cubic Meter:
The contract rate shall be for a unit of one cubic metre of brick masonry as actually
done. 230 mm. thick (or as specified in schedule) brick walls shall be taken as one brick
thick. All openings in brick work for doors, windows and ventilators shall be deducted to
get the net quantity of actual brick work done. Openings or chases required for P.H. or
electrical inserts less than 0.1 sqm. and bearing of precast concrete members shall not
be deducted. No extra payment shall be made for any extra work involved in making
the above openings or placements.

6.2 For brick work measured in square meter:

Half brick thick masonry walls shall be measured in sqm. All openings in brick work for
doors and windows and ventilators shall be deducted to get the net quantity of actual
work done. Openings or chases required for P.H. or Electric inserts less than 0.1 sqm. and
bearing of precast concrete members shall not be deducted. No extra payment shall
be made for extra work involved in making the above openings or placements.

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