CEng 3093 – Building Construction

Chapter 5.2: Masonry Construction; Wall

 Masonry is essentially a wall material

 Its main function is to enclose or divide space.
 It may have to provide support in certain conditions.
 Broadly, walls can be divided into the following two types
a) Load bearing walls
b) Non load bearing walls, or curtain, or filler, or panel walls.
 In addition to the above categories there are walls to support the thrust of soil or sub-soil water
on one side, which are known as retaining walls

Load Bearing Walls

o They are the structural part of the building

o Built on a continuous foundation
o Support the entire load including their own
o Must have sufficient strength and stability, durability, fire resistance, weather resistance,
thermal and sound insulation.

Non Load Bearing Walls

o They are not the structural part of the building

o Support their own weight only
o Simply to serve as screen for privacy
o Used in a framed structure

Partition Walls

o A partition wall is a thin internal wall which is constructed to divide the space within the building
into rooms or areas.
o It may either be non-load bearing or load bearing.
o A load bearing partition wall is called an internal wall.
o Weather exclusion and thermal insulation do not arise as criteria in the design of internal walls

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

Essential Requirements for a Partition Walls

o It should be strong enough to carry its own weight

o It should be strong enough to resist impact to which the occupation the building is likely to
subject them.
o It should have the capacity and be strong enough to support suitable decorative surface and
some wall fixtures like wash basin, sink, etc.
o It should be as thin as possible
o It should act as a sound barrier spatially when it divides two rooms.
o It should be fire resistant

Types of Partition Walls

o Brick partitions
o Clay block partitions
o Concrete (cast in-situ or pre-cast concrete) partitions
o Light-weight building board (or slab) partitions (e.g. plaster wall board)
o Timber partitions
o Plywood partitions
o Wood-chip board partitions

Separating wall: It is a wall separating different occupants within the same building
Cross wall: is a particular form of load-bearing wall construction in which all the loads are carried by
internal walls, running at right angles to the length of the building.

Cavity walls
o A cavity wall is the one which consists of two separate walls, with a capacity or lap in between.
o The two leaves of a cavity wall may be of equal thickness if it is a none-load bearing wall, or the
internal leaf may be thicker for load bearing walls.
o The two portions of the wall may be connected together by a metal pins(wall pins)
o Are often constructed for better thermal and sound insulation

Advantages of cavity wall over other walls

o There is no direct contact between the inner and outer leaves of the wall (except at the wall
ties). Hence the external moisture (dampness) can’t travel inside the building.
o The cavity between the leaves is full of air which is bad conductor of heat. Hence the
transmission of heat from external face to the internal face is very much reduced (about 25%
greater insulating value than solid masonry)
o Cavity walls also offer good insulation against sound.
o Load on foundations are reduced because of leaser solid thickness.

The functional requirements of a wall depend upon its form of construction. The popular form of
construction are:
a) Masonry walls
b) Monolithic walls

Masonry walls
o Is built of individual blocks of materials such as stone, bricks, hollow concrete blocks (HCB), etc.
o Usually in horizontal courses cemented together with mortar

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

Monolithic Walls
o Built of a material requiring some sort of shuttering in the initial stages.
o The popular forms of monolithic walls are:-
a) Traditional earth walls and
b) Modern reinforced concrete walls

Traditional Earth Walls Modern Reinforced Concrete Walls

Masonry Walls

Masonry can be classified into the following categories

1) Stone masonry
2) Brick masonry
3) Hollow concrete block masonry
4) Reinforced masonry
5) Composite masonry

Definition of Terms:

o Course: a course is a horizontal layer of bricks, HCB, or stones

o Bed: the surface perpendicular to the line of pressure
o Back: the inner surface of a wall which is not exposed
o Face: the exterior of a wall exposed to weather
o Hearting: the interior portion of a wall between the facing and backing
o Side: the surface forming the boundary in a direction transverse to the face and bed
o Joint: the junction of two or more blocks
o Header: is a block which lies with its greatest length at right angles to the face of the work
o Stretcher: is a block which lies with its greatest length parallel to the face of the work
o Bond: the method of arranging blocks so that the individual units are tied together
o Spalls: these are the chips of stones used for filling the interstices in stone masonry
o Quoins: these are the stones used for the corners of walls of a structure
o Bat: the portion of brick cut across the length
o Closer: the portion of brick cut along the length (in such a manner that its one long face remain
uncut)

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

o Queen closer: it is the portion of a brick obtained by cutting a brick length-wise into two
portions
o King closer: these are the portions of a brick obtained by cutting off the triangular piece
between the center of one end and the center of one side.
o Beveled closer: portion of the brick in which the whole length of the brick is beveled for
maintaining half width of one end and full width at the other.
o Frog: It is an indentation or depression on the top of a brick made with the object of forming a
key for a mortar.

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

Basic Brick Work Terminologies

Rowlock - laid on
face, end visible

Stretcher - long
dimension horizontal &
face parallel to the wall

Soldier - Laid on its

end, face parallel

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

Stone Masonry - It is the art of building the structures with stones

Uses of Stone Masonry

o Building foundations, dams, monumental structures
o Building walls, piers, columns, pillars, light houses, and architectural works
o Arches, domes, lintels, and beams
o Roofs, floors, paving jobs
o Railway ballast, blackboards, electrical switchboards, etc.

Selection of Stone for Stone Masonry depends upon:

a) Availability
b) Ease of working
c) Appearance
d) Strength and stability
e) Polishing characteristics
f) Economy
g) Durability

Dressing of Stone
o It is the process in which the stone surfaces specially the facing are prepared to a form fit to be
used for any construction work.
o Dressing is carried out either manually with the help of hand hammers, chisels, axes or
machines.

Importance of Dressing of Stone

o Gives desired shape to stones
o Reduces the mortar joint width
o Improves the appearance of stone surface

Stages of Dressing
Every stone has to be dressed involving the following stages
o Sizing: in this process the irregular blocks of the stones are reduced to desired dimensions by
removing extra portions with the help of common tools like hand hammers and chisels

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

o Shaping: It involves removing the sharp projection and other irregularities from edges, corners
and surfaces.
o Planning: In this process stones are cleared off all the irregularities from the surfaces
o Finishing: it consist of rubbing the surface of the stone with a suitable abrasive material like
silicon carbide in the presence of water
o Polishing: carried out by grinding the stone with abrasives either manually or with the help of
machines. For stones capable of yielding extremely pleasing patterns, (e.g. marble and granite)

Classification of Stone Masonry

Based on the arrangement of the stones in the construction and the degree of refinement in the
surface finish, the stone masonry can be classified broadly in the following two categories:
1) Rubble masonry
2) Ashlar masonry

Rubble masonry: In this category the stones used are either undressed or roughly dressed having
wider joints

Random Rubble Uncoursed

o This is the cheapest, roughest and poorest form of stone masonry
o The stones used in this type of masonry are very much vary in their shape and size and are
directly obtained from the quarry.
o Can be uncoursed random rubble or uncoursed square rubble
a) Bigger stone blocks are employed as quoins and jambs to increase the strength of
masonry
b) The vertical joints are not constructed in plumb.

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

Flint rubble masonry

o The stone used in this masonry are flints or cobbles, which vary in width the thickness from 7.5
to 15cm and length from 15cm to 30cm
o The face arrangement of the cobbles may be either coursed or un coursed
o Strength of flint wall may be increased by introducing lacing course of either thin long stone or
bricks at vertical internal of 1 to 2 meters

Brick masonry: Brick masonry is made of brick units bonded together with mortar.

Two essential components of brick masonry:

o Bricks
o Mortar

Types of bricks
o Traditional bricks
o Modular bricks

Traditional bricks: Are those which have not been standardized in size. The dimensions of traditional
bricks vary from place to place.
Modular bricks: Any bricks which is of uniform size as laid down by standards.

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

Bonds in brick work: Bond is the interlacement of bricks

Rules for bonding

For getting good bond the following rules should be observed.

1) The bricks should be of uniform size.
2) The length the brick should be twice the length of the width plus one joint, so that uniform lap
is obtained. Good bond is not possible if lap is non-uniform.
3) The amount of lap should be minimum ¼ brick along the length of the wall and ½ brick across
the thickness of the wall.
4) Use of brick bats should be discouraged, except in special locations.
5) In alternate courses, the center line of header should coincide with the center line of the
stretcher, in the course bellow and above it.
6) The vertical joints in the alternate courses should be along the same prepend.
7) The stretchers should be used only in the facing; they should not be used in the hearting.
Hearting should be done in headers only.

Prepared by: Engr. Lucia V. Ortega

CEng 3093 – Building Construction

Types of bonds

The types of bonds provided in brick work are:

o Stretcher bond
o Header bond
o English bond
o Flemish bond
o Facing bond
o English cross bond
o Brick on edge bond
o Dutch bond
o Raking bond
o Zigzag bond
o Garden wall bond

Stretcher bond
o Is the one in which all the bricks are laid as stretchers on the faces of the walls
o The length of the bricks are along the direction of the wall.
o Used for the walls having a width of half brick (12cm).
o The bond is not possible if the thickness of the wall is more.

Header bond
o Is the one in which all the bricks are laid as headers on the faces of the walls
o The width of the wall is along the directions of the walls.
o Used only when the thickness of the wall is equal to one brick length (25cm).
o The overlap is usually kept equal to half brick length.
o Three-quarter bats are used in each alternate courses as quoins.
o The bond doesn’t have strength to transmit pressure in the direction of the length of the wall.
o Unsuitable for load bearing walls.

Flemish bond
o In this type of bond, each course is comprised of alternate headers and stretchers.
o Have better appearance than English bond
o Every alternate courses starts with a header at the corner.
o Queen closers are placed next to quoin header in alternate courses to develop the face lap.
o Every header is centrally supported over the stretchers bellow it.

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

Flemish bonds are of two types

o Double Flemish bond
o Single Flemish bond

Double Flemish bond: Each course presents the same appearance both in the face and the back.

Single Flemish bond

o Comprised of double Flemish bond facing and English bond backing and hearting in each course
o This bond thus have the strength of English bond and the appearance of Flemish bond.
o Used for wall thickness at least one and half brick.
o Double Flemish bond facing is done with good quality expressive bricks, however cheaper bricks
can be used for backing and hearting.

Comparison of English bond and Flemish bond

o English bond is stronger than Flemish bond for walls thicker than one and half.
o Flemish bond gives more pleasing appearance than the English bond
o Brocken bricks can be used in the form of bats in Flemish bond. However more mortar is
required.
o Construction in Flemish bond requires more skill in comparison with English bond

Garden wall bond

This type of bond is suitably adopted for one brick thick wall which may act as a garden wall or a boundary
wall. In garden wall bond, it is possible to build uniform faces for a wall without much labor or expense.
This type of bond is not as strong as English bond and its use is restricted to the construction of dwarf
walls or other similar types of walls which are not subjected to large stresses. On accounts of its good
appearance, this bond is sometimes used for the construction of the outer leaves of cavity walls.
There are two types of garden wall bond,
a) English garden wall bond
b) Flemish garden wall bond

English garden wall bond. The general arrangement of bricks in this type of bonding is similar to that
of English bond except that the heading courses are only inserted at every fourth or sixth course.
Usually the arrangement consists of one course of headers to three courses of stretchers. A queen
closer is placed next to the quoin header of the heading course to give the necessary lap.

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

Flemish garden wall bond. This consists of alternate course composed of one header to three or
sometimes even five stretchers in series throughout the length of the courses. Each alternate course
contains a three quarter bat placed next to the quoin header and a header is laid over the middle of
each central stretcher.

Facing bond

This arrangement of bricks is adopted for thick walls, where the facing and backing are desired to be
constructed with bricks of different thickness. This bond consists of heading and stretching courses so
arranged that one heading course comes after several stretching courses. Since the number of joints in
the backing and the facing differ greatly, the load distribution is not uniform. This may sometimes lead to
unequal settlement of the two thickness of the wall.

Raking bond
This is a bond in brick work in which the bonding bricks are laid at any angle other than zero or ninety
degrees. This arrangement helps to increase the longitudinal stability of thick walls built in English bond.
In this arrangement of bonding, the space between the external stretchers of a wall is filled with bricks
inclined to the face of the wall. This bond is introduced at certain intervals along the height of a wall.
There are two common forms of raking bond;
a) Herring hone bond

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

b) Diagonal bond.

Herring-bone bond. This type of bond is best suited for very thick walls usually not less than four
bricks thick. In this arrangement of brick work, bricks are laid in course inclined at 45° in two directions
from the center. This bond is also commonly used for brick paving.

Diagonal bond. This bond is best suited for walls which are 2 to 4 brick thick. This bond is usually
introduced at every fifth or seventh course along the height of the wall. In this bond, the bricks arc
placed end to end in such a way that extreme corners of the series remain in contact with the
stretchers.

Dutch bond

This bond is a modification of the old English cross bond and consists of alternate courses of headers and
stretchers. In this arrangement of brick work, each stretching course starts at the quoin with a three-

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

quarter bat and every alternate stretching course has a header placed next to the three-quarter brick bat
provided at the quoin.

English cross-bond

This is similar to English bond and consists of alternate course of headers and stretchers. However, in this
bond, queen closer are introduced next to quoin headers and each alternate stretching course has header
placed next to quoin stretcher. This bond is sufficiently strong and bears a good elevation.

Zig-Zag bond

This is similar to herring-bone bond with the only difference that in this case the bricks are laid in a zig-
zag fashion. This is commonly adopted in brick paved flooring.

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CEng 3093 – Building Construction

Silverlock’s bond

This is a form of bonding brick-work in which bricks are laid on edge. It is economical but weak in strength
and hence it is only recommended for garden walls or partition walls. In this bond, the bricks are laid as
headers and stretchers in alternate courses in such a way that headers are laid on bed aid the stretchers
are laid on edge forming a continuous cavity.

Openings in Wall
o Openings are invariably left in the wall for the provision of doors, windows, cupboards, etc.
These openings are bridged by the provision of either a lintel or an arch. Thus, both lintel and
arch are structural members designed to support the loads of the portion of the wall situated
above the openings. Then transmit the load to the adjacent jambs.
o A lintel is a horizontal member, which is placed across the openings. An arch is a curved member
comprising of wedge shaped units upholding each other by mutual pressure of their own weight
and maintained in equilibrium by reaction from supports called abutments

Prepared by: Engr. Lucia V. Ortega