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Leaderboards A basic photographic illustration of various brick bonds (brick work) Contents
General
FAQ and brick detail found within Great Britain. Stretcher bond
Help Pages Header bond
Sitemap
Contact Us Flemish bond
Support Us English bond
English Garden Wall bond
Flemish Stretcher bond
sponsored by
Scottish bond
Rat-trap bond
Herringbone bond
Basket bond
Stack bond
Other patterns
Ventilation holes
Brick burr wall
Brick details
Decorative patterns
❖ Further reading

Stretcher bond

The simplest to lay, and therefore the most

common, the bricks are laid flat long side to
the face of the wall.

Header bond

Using only the header (end) of the brick as

the facing wall. This is particularly strong as
the width of the wall is the whole length of a
brick.

Flemish bond

Bricks are laid flat one long side

face and another to header end
face. Also known as Dutch bond.

Variants have the header bricks at every third or fourth

brick.

Variation showing protruding headers.

English bond

One course in stretcher bond, and one

course in header bond.

English Garden Wall bond

Three courses of stretchers to one of

headers.

Flemish Stretcher bond

One course of flemish to three stretchers

courses. Also called Garden wall bond but
despite the name, most garden walls are
built in flemish or stretcher bond.

Scottish bond

One header course to five stretcher courses.

Rat-trap bond

Headers and stretchers laid on edge. Usually

used for garden walls. Laid on edge as a
money saving method, but not particularly
strong compared with a conventional flat
laid brick. Also known as Chinese bond.

Herringbone bond

Often used as infill to timber frame

buildings, the bricks are laid at 45° in a zig-
zag pattern.

Basket bond

Bricks are laid in squares of three at 90° to

each other square.

Stack bond

Stretcher layers of bricks are placed directly

inline above each other. This is often used in
modern slip cladding, rather than traditional
brick walls.

Other patterns

Ventilation holes

Brick burr wall

Brick burr walls are most likely to be found in brick making

areas. A brick burr (or burh) is a waste product of the brick
industry. Two or more bricks fused together in the kiln as a
result of an over-hot firing. The bricks are often distorted
and some have a vitreous appearance. They are not suited for structural
use, so are generally found in garden walls.

Brick details

Soldier Course

Rubbed brick header

Arches

String Course

Lacing Course

Dentils

Quoins

Corbels

The brick steps out as the wall rises. Often used in chimneys.

Circles

Decorative Bricks

Domes

Tumbled-in gable

Chimneys

Dutch gable
Also known as Flemish gable.

Bell shape gable

Originating from Amsterdam. A variation of the Dutch gable.

Examples
This grand village hall has numerous brick details, including
string courses, corbeling, circular window surrounds,
arches, dentils, label moulds and Dutch gables.

Bee Boles
A recess in a wall to hold a bee skep.

Decorative patterns
Using different colour
bricks, and the different
types of brick bonds above,
many patterns can be
achieved.

❖ Further reading

Wikipedia: Brickwork

illustrations © Oast House Archive

Images used on this page, © Copyright Oast House KML

Archive, Richard Croft, Colin Smith, Bob Embleton, Michael

Trolove, Penny Mayes, Gareth Hughes, Trudi Barr, Gerald Massey,
David Martin, Ian Paterson, Wendy Carey, James Allan, David
Lally, Simon Carey, Maigheach-gheal, Graham Horn, Jonathan
Billinger, Andrew Tatlow, Alan Murray-Rust, Brian Robert
Marshall, Tom Jolliffe, Philip Halling and Espresso Addict; licensed
for re-use under a Creative Commons Licence.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

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