CEPE10

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES &

EQUIPMENTS

Unit 1: 1. Reinforced Brick Masonry

2. Cavity Walls

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Reinforced Brick Wall:
 Reinforced brickwork is the one in which the brick masonry is
strengthened by the provision of mild steel bars, hoop iron,
expanded mess.
 This type of masonry has increased resistance to forces that
produce tensile and shear stresses.
 This type of masonry is generally used in lintels, retaining walls,
walls that are built on soil susceptible to large settlements.
 This type can be grouped into
1. Reinforced brick walls
2. Reinforced brick columns
3. Reinforced brick lintels and
4. Reinforced brick slabs.
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1. Reinforced Brick Wall:
 Reinforcements may be provided on both horizontal and vertical
directions.
 In case of half-brick partition walls, mild steel flats or hoop
iron, expanded mesh, or mild steel bars or fabric are used as
reinforcements.
A. Reinforcements:
 These reinforcements are placed on every third or fourth courses of
the brickwork.
 They shall be securely anchored at their ends where the
partitions bond.
 In case of round bars used as reinforcement,
the diameter shall not exceed 8 mm.
 Flat bars and similar reinforcement shall
not have a thickness exceeding 8 mm.
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1. Reinforced Brick Wall:
 The inlaid steel reinforcement shall be completely embedded in mortar.
 Overlaps in the reinforcement, if any, shall not be less than 300 mm.
 In the case where the reinforcements cross inside a joint, the
diameter of the reinforcement shall not exceed 5 mm, unless
specially shaped bricks are used to permit larger reinforcement.
B. Bricks:
 The thickness of reinforced brick wall shall be not less than 100mm.
 The crushing strength of the bricks used in reinforced brick
masonry shall be not less than 7.5 N/mm2.
C. Mortar:
 The mortar shall generally be rich, dense, cement mortar of mix
about 1 : 4. Lime mortars shall not be used.
 The mortar covering in the direction of joints shall be not less than 15
mm.
 The mortar interposed between the reinforcement bars and the brick shall
5 be not less
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2. Reinforced Brick Columns:
 The load carrying capacity of the columns made of brick masonry can be
increased by reinforcing them.
 Special type of bricks, which have grooves foe vertical reinforcements are
used.
 At every 4th course, they are provided with
horizontal steel plates of 6mm thickness.
 Vertical steel bars are fixed in the
foundation concrete block.

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3. Reinforced Brick Lintels:
 Longitudinal reinforcements consists of 6-12 mm dia bars
 The vertical stirrups are 6mm dia and are provided at every third joint.

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4. Reinforced Brick Slabs:
 When bricks are used for the construction of slabs, they should be
reinforced with steel.
 For this type of construction, a wooden platform is built and is covered
with well beaten earth.
 Then fine sand is sprinkled and a layer of mortar is spread and the
reinforcements are embedded.
 Special bricks with grooves are then laid in one or two courses. The joints
are filled with mortar.
 Curing is done for 2 – 3 weeks and both the surfaces are finished suitably.

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Reinforced Brick Wall – Reasons for failure:
 Presence of high chloride content
 Inadequate cement mortar cover to reinforcements
 Ingress of moisture
 Carbonation of mortar surrounding the reinforcement

Further, Reinforced masonry can be classified into three types:

 Reinforced hollow unit masonry
 Reinforced grouted cavity masonry
 Reinforced pocket type walls

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Reinforced grouted cavity masonry

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 Reinforced pocket cavity masonry construction

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 Cavity Walls:
Cavity wall consists of two leaves – inner and outer with a cavity of 40– 80 mm.
The main advantages:
1. Control of external moisture ingress
2. Thermal insulation (25% better thermal insulation because of the presence of
air)
3. Good insulation against sound
Structure:
 The outer and inner leaf of the cavity wall can
be of same material or different materials such as
brickwork or concrete
 For buildings up to 2 storeys, each leaf can be
half brick thick wall. The inner leaf ~ greater
load from the slab – thicker wall
 Space between two leaves being left continuous
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or filled with other non-load bearing insulating material
Ties:
 The outer and inner leaves shall be tied by means of wall ties. The wall ties
shall preferably be bedded with a slight fall towards the
exterior part of the wall.
 Spacing of ties shall not be more than
1. four brick lengths apart horizontally and
2. not more than 5 brick-heights vertically
and must be staggered.
 Additional ties shall be used near openings. There shall, at least, be 5 ties
per square metre surface area of the wall.
 Ties may be of mild steel, flat iron or round bars, suitably twisted at their
mid-point or sloped towards.
 Ties shall be given a bituminous or other coat before, insertion to protect
them from corrosion.

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Bond:
 For hollow walls of half-brick thickness, only stretcher bond shall be
used, unless purpose made snap headers are available.
 When header bricks are cut and used, they are either likely to protrude into
the cavity and form ledges for mortar droppings to collect or they may be so
short as to weaken the structure.
Ventilation:
 In order to keep the cavity dry, air slots
shall be provided above the ground floor
level and below the eave level of the roof to
extent of 500 mm2 area of vents to every
20 m2 area of the wall.
 The air cavity shall begin not less than
200 mm below the upper floor surface of
the ground floor
CEPE10
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Construction
the cavity
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shall be
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continued without interruption up to the roof.
Construction & Care:
 Care shall be exercised during construction that the
cavity is continuous and free from obstruction to
prevent rain penetrating to the inner face
 Mortar droppings shall be prevented from falling down the
cavity by the use of laths or by hay bands which shall be drawn
up the cavity as the work proceeds.
 Any mortar which may unavoidably fall on the wall-ties be
removed daily and temporary openings shall be provided to
permit the daily removal of mortar droppings from the bottom
of the cavity.
 At the points where the two leaves of the hollow wall come into
contact they shall be separated by a water-tight membrane.
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Damp Proof Course:
 DPC should be provided on the jambs and at the top of
openings where such openings occur in cavity falls.
 The DPC in the jambs shall be vertical and shall be provided at
the junction of the internal and external parts of the cavity wall
to prevent ingress of dampness
 A flexible DPC shall be provided at the top to protect the lintel
head from the water which flows down through the cavity
above and to drain it off outside through weep holes.
 Above the lintels of doors and windows, damp-proof
membrane shall be inserted slopping downwards and outwards.
 At solid jambs a vertical damp-proof course shall be inserted
between the outer and inner parts of the wall.
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 Typical anchorages of reinforcing bars

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