Brickwork

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Flemish bond. Stretcher bond English bond Header bond. Herringbone bond. A simple basket bond pattern.

Brickwork masonry is produced when a bricklayer uses bricks and mortar to build up structures such as walls, bridges and chimneys. Brickwork is also used to finish openings such as doors or windows in buildings made of other materials. Where the bricks are to remain fully visible, as opposed to being covered up by plaster or stucco, this is known as face-work.

Contents 1 Flemish bond 2 Garden wall bonds 3 Rat-trap bond 4 Terminology 5 Dimensions 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Flemish bond

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Flemish bond, also known as Dutch bond, has historically always been considered the most decorative bond, and for this reason was used extensively for dwellings until the adoption of the cavity wall. It is created by alternately laying headers and stretchers in a single course. The next course is laid so that a header lies in the middle of the stretcher in the course below. Again, this bond is one brick thick. It is quite difficult to lay Flemish bond properly, since for best effect all the perpendiculars (vertical mortar joints) need to be vertically aligned. If only one face of a Flemish bond wall is exposed, one third of the bricks are not visible, and hence may be of low visual quality. This is a better ratio than for English bond, Flemish bond's main rival for load-bearing walls.

A common variation often found in early 18th century buildings is Glazed-headed Flemish Bond, in which the exposed headers are burned until they vitrify with a black glassy surface. Monk bond is a variant of Flemish bond, with two stretchers between the headers in each row, and the headers centred over the join between the two stretchers in the row below.

[edit] Garden wall bonds

Scottish bond has one row of headers to five of stretchers.^[1]

[edit] Rat-trap bond

Rat-trap bond, also known as Chinese bond, is a type of garden wall bond in which the stretchers and headers are laid on their sides, with the base of the stretcher facing outwards. This gives a wall with an internal cavity bridged by the headers, hence the name. The main advantage of this bond is economy in use of bricks, giving a wall of one brick thickness with fewer bricks than a solid bond. Rat-trap bond was in common usage in England for building houses of fewer than 3 stories up to the turn of the 20th century and is today still used in India as an economical bond, as well for the insulation properties offered by the air cavity. Also, many brick walls surrounding kitchen gardens were designed with cavities so hot air could circulate in the winter, warming fruit trees or other produce spread against the walls, causing them to bloom earlier and forcing early fruit production.^[2][3]

[edit] Terminology

In UK building yards, what many would refer to as a housebrick is known as a 'common', with larger breeze block-like materials being called 'solids'. Mortar is often referred to as 'mud', due to its appearance.

Commons usually feature a 'frog'; an indent in one surface that faces up during laying. This is packed with mud as laying progresses and helps add lateral strength to the layer, as opposed to the vertical strength formed by the compressive weight of the brickwork on itself.

'Ties' are metal products that are approximately the length of a common. They are used to tie layers of brickwork into one another. This is particularly important if a building is constructed with an inner and outer wall featuring a cavity, where the ties will be places through the cavity, between mortar layers in the two walls. This allows the two walls to function better as one structural unit, without filling the cavity with a solid material and so lowering its insulative properties. Ties are simply lengths of stainless steel wire, around twice as thick as that used to form a steel coat hanger, and have a loop at either end that is buried in the mortar as the wall progresses. Due to being stainless and reasonably thick, they are also somewhat expensive. However, ties must be stainless to avoid them rotting in the alkaline conditions created by the cement in the mortar.

[edit] Dimensions

When selecting fresh bricks, one may wish to consider their appearance but, more importantly, their dimensions. In the UK, building yards will often carry commons in 73 and 63mm thicknesses. Selecting the correct thickness makes tying old brickwork in with new an easier task, as incorrect selection will cause the mortar lines to fall out of alignment more easily and require less than the ideal 10mm of mortar placing between layers to correct for the error.

Specific dimensioning is discussed in more detail in the topic bricks under the heading "Optimal dimensions, characteristics, and strength".

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Brick walls

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Brickwork.

Look up brickwork in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
• Construction
• Masonry
• Tuckpointing

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• DIYinfo.org's Brick Laying Wiki - Heaps of practical information on laying bricks
• Brick patterns for wall and pavement
• National Concrete Masonry Association
• Details on turning corners and adjoining walls by the use of bats and queen closers
• Brickwork Bonds and net quantities per m³ Diagrams of most types of bond
• Good photos and discussion of English brickwork and its history