BRICK WALL CONSTRUCTION

Sizes of bricks
 The advantage of using bricks is that the raw materials used in their
production are cheap and readily available in large amounts.
 The construction using brick and mortar is known as brick masonry.
Lime mortar, lime-cement mortar and cement mortar may be used in the
brick masonry.
 Types of mortar to be used in brick masonry depend upon the strength of
the brickwork required.
Bricks have a standard size of 215 x 102.5 x 65mm .These dimensions give
an allowance of 10mm joint during the laying of the units.
 The units may have a depression on one side known as ‘frog’ or
perforations.
The purpose of the frog or the perforation is to:
i. Reduce the weight of a brick.
ii. Provide a key with the mortar to prevent the sliding of bricks after
they have been laid.
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 Terminologies
i. Stretcher
 The longer face of the brick is known as the stretcher.
A course of bricks in which all the bricks are laid as stretchers on the facing
is known as a stretcher course.
ii. Header and header course
 Face of brick showing breadth and height is known as header and the
course containing headers on the exposed face is known as header course.
iii. Perpend
 The vertical joint separating the brick in either length on cross direction are
known as perpends.
iv. Lap
 The horizontal distance between the vertical joint of successive brick
courses is known as lap.
In good brickwork lap should not be less than ¼ of the length of the brick.
v. Closer
 It is a piece of brick used to close up the bond at the end of the course.
vi. King closer
 It is obtained by cutting a corner of a brick joining middle points of widths
and length of the brick.
It is used near door and window openings to get good arrangement of the
mortar joint.
vii. Queen closer
 It is a piece of brick obtained by cutting the brick longitudinally into two
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equal parts.
 The queen closer is used immediately after quoin header to obtain the
break of vertical joints from the break of immediately below this course.
viii. Bats
 It is a piece of brick and it is designated according to the length of the brick
e.g. ½-bat, ¾-bat,etc.
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  When the bricks are laid on a wall, the bottom surface is known as bed and
the vertical joint between two bricks is known as a perpend.
 The common thickness of external brick wall is 215mm such a wall requires
a single brick laid in header form and hence referred to as 1-brick thick wall.
 Sometimes it is necessary to have brick walls thicker than 1- brick e.g. one
and half-brick, two- brick, etc.
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 Bonding of bricks
 Bonding of bricks is the process of lapping bricks in successive courses so as
to avoid continuous vertical joints.
 The bonding is facilitated by introducing cut pieces of bricks e.g. bats and
closers at the end of the wall.
 If a queen closer is used it is introduced immediately after the first header.
 If the bricks are laid un-bonded the wall will fail by either a part of it settling
down more than the rest or being pushed off by side forces e.g. wind.

Types of bonds
 There are different types of bonds used in laying brick walls.
The choice of a particular type depends on:
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i. The appearance.
ii. The strength of the wall required.
 The two common types of bonds are the:
a) English bond
b) Flemish bond
 English bond
 This pattern consists of stretchers throughout the length of one course and
the headers in the next course.
 It is stronger than any other form of patter but not decorative.
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 Flemish bond
 In this pattern bricks are laid alternately as headers and stretchers in the
same course.
 In order to avoid straight vertical joints, a header in one course is set such
that it is at the centre of a stretcher in the course above and below it.
 This type of bond is decorative but weak.
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 Erecting a brick wall
 The acceptable practice of erecting a brick wall is first to lay the corner
units to about six to seven courses.
This is known as raising the leads.
The units for the infill are laid later.

Functions of corner leads

i. Locate the corner and wall lines for the buildings.
ii. Determine course heights and location of openings.
iii. Set the bond pattern for the wall.
iv. Guide the placement and alignment of units along the walls.

 Corner leads may also be laid at convenient spacing within the length of a
long wall or at the jamb of door opening.
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Procedure of laying brick wall

i. Use the profile boards to locate an external corner on the strip foundation.
ii. Use a builder’s level held vertically or a plumb line to mark the position of
the external corner with mortar.
 Repeat step (i)and(ii) for all four corners
iii. Stretch a line between the corners to provide a position for the first course
of bricks.
  Secure the line by wrapping it around a brick and putting another brick on
top.
iv. Lay the bricks in rows.
Adjust their position by tapping the brick with a trowel.
Check that they are level horizontally and vertically with the builder’s level.
v. Build up the corners by raking the bricks back for 6 to 8 courses.
 Check your accuracy with the help of builder’s level.
 Use a gauge rod to control the height.
vi. Insert metal pegs into the mortar joints on the corners for each completed
course of brick work.
 Stretch a line between the pegs so that it is flush with the surface of the
brick work to provide a guide for the next course of brick work.
vii. Continue checking horizontal and vertical levels.
viii. Form the joints when the mortar is soft.

STONE WALL CONSTRUCTION

Sizes of stones
 The common sizes of building stones are:
i. 225 x 225mm
ii. 150 x 225mm
iii. 100 x 225mm
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Laying of stones
 Laying procedure and bonding of building stones in erecting a wall is the
same with concrete blocks.
However there are some aspects in stone work which are treated
differently. These are:
a) The corner stone
 The quoin stone defines faces of the two sides of a building.
 As such it should be laid plumb to facilitate the checking of plumpness, the
stone should therefore have marginal drafts dressed as both exposed
surfaces.

b). Laying of middle stones

 In brick work units have regular lengths.
This regularity makes it easier for the mason to control the bonding so as to
avoid vertical joints.
 Stones however have varying length so as to achieve a proper bond in a
course; the stones are initially dry- laid with full length units.
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 As with concrete blocks the stones are jointed together using a mixture of
1:3 cement sand mortar.