Brick Works

Introduction:
The bricks can be regarded as the oldest building materials known and used by
humans in primitive buildings. The bricks are usually manufactured from clay. The clay
is cut and dried in a lump and potteries. The bricks were used due to the availability of
clay materials in nature and easy manufacturing and use in construction.
Classification of Bricks:
Bricks can be classified by different methods:
1. According to the raw materials:
a. Clay bricks
b. Sand lime bricks
c. Concrete bricks
d. Glass bricks a b c
2. According to the shape:
a. Solid
b. Perforate
c. Hollow
d. Cellular
d e
e. Bricks with openings
Brick works:
They are the art to put bricks in mortar to make homogeneous blocks join bricks
together called wall which carries the loads uniformly and gets a good texture.

Work bricks expressions:

1. Frog: It is a hole in one of the working sides of a brick or both for several
purposes such as reducing the weight of the brick, it locks binding materials and
assists in keeping and handling bricks as shown in Fig. 4.1

Fig. 4.1 Frog of bricks

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2. Course: a raw of bricks sandwiched between two horizontal joints. The heightof
a course has the same thickness as a brick as shown in Fig. 4.2

Fig. 4.2 Course of bricks

3. Bed joint: is a horizontal joint between two courses of bricks and is perpendicular
to the pressure (Fig. 4.3).
4. Perpendicular joint: a joint that is perpendicular to the face of the wall
(Fig.4.3).

Fig. 4.3 Bed and perpendicular joints

5. Stratified on length: a term called to a brick set in construction so that the length
of 24cm is parallel to the face of the wall (Figure 4.4).
6. Stratified on Head: This term is called to a brick set in construction so that
length of 12cm in parallel to the face of the wall (Figure 4.4).
7. Stratified on thickness: This term is called to a brick set in the building so that the
thickness (7cm) is parallel to the face of the wall (Figure 4.4).

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 Stratified on head Stratified on length Stratified on thickness

Fig. 4-4 Types of brick sets

8. Bat type: It is part of a brick and is usually called by the portion size to the
total size of the brick. For example, it is named as a total, a quarter, a third or a
half (Fig.4.5).
9. Closer: It is part of a brick cut along the length and has different types, for
example, queen closer, king closer, beveled closer, and mitered closer (Fig. 4.5).
10. Lap: It is the horizontal distance between adjacent perpendicular joints in one
layer of bricks. These must be not less than a quarter of the length of the brick
in good link quality.

Figure 4.5 Parts of bricks.

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 Building with bricks:
Building with bricks by using mortar of cement and sand or gypsum paste.
When a mortar of cement and sand is used, bricks must be soaked with water before use to
achieve the following:
1. To ensure that the brick will not adsorb the water of the mortar. This is
necessary for it.
2. To remove the dust stuck from the face of bricks to enhance the binding
between the brick and mortar.
3. To decrease the dosage of the salts, that are located inside the bricks.

When bricks are used in construction it should be noted, that:

1. The horizontal surface of the brick should be level.
2. The face of the brick is straight, which will lead to a straight outer face of the building.
3. Face and each course are placed vertically. It can be with the aid of a plumb line.
4. The joints (horizontal and vertical) between the bricks should be filled with
mortar.
Factors affecting the stability of a brick building:
1. Vertical loads
2. Binding is not good enough, which subjects the wall to failures when it is
loaded with any weight.
3. The lateral loads.

Brick walls classification:

Brick walls may be classified according to:
1. Construction design:
a. Bearing walls: They are built to transfer loads to the soil as in light buildinglike
houses, schools, and others. These walls are constructed for buildings with one
or two floors and rarely three floors. Their thicknesses range between
24-36 cm.
b. Nonbearing walls: They are built to carry their weight only. They split the
internal spaces in light buildings as well as in heavy buildings. They should be
of a thickness of 24cm for external walls and 12 cm for internal walls and in
some cases a thickness of 7cm.
c. Retaining walls: They are designed to resist lateral forces such as water in dams and
other hydraulic structures or the walls that are constructed within the approaches of
bridges. The short wall is a type of retaining wall that has a little height of less than 1m
tosupport the fill soil, which is used in walkways around buildings and gardens.
2. Density design:
a. Solid walls: These are constructed without any voids between bricks.
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 b. Hollow or cavity walls: These are constructed with hollow according to the
desired shape to improve one of the following:
i. Thermal isolation by leaving the hollow or filling it with isolating materials.
ii. Bearing capacity by filling the hollow with reinforced concrete.
iii. Or to allow the engineer to use the hollow as a service duct.

Bonding of bricks:
It is a building block in the organization so that they no joints in the successive
layers one above the other and a lap should be exit between the successive courses. For a
good bond, the following rules should be taken into consideration:
1. Bricks should be placed on a regular basis in the construction and with joints of equal
width.
2. Nonuse of what can break the bricks.
3. The vertical joints in the frequent layers are in a straight line and perpendicular to
the surface of the wall.
4. Using bricks of equal dimensions in order to achieve uniformity in construction

Bonding of the bricks in the building is in several types, including:

a. English bond: bricks are placed in this type so that the face of the building
including the brick on the length and on its head in the following layer and as
shown in Fig. 4-6.

Fig. 4-6 English bond

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b. German double bond (Flemish double bond): In this method, if the first brick in a layer is
placed on the length, the second brick should be placed on the head as shown in Fig. 4-7.

Fig. 4-7 Double Flemish bond

This type of bonding can be regarded as weaker than the English bond, due to the
frequent use of broken bricks. Moreover, the bricks that are placed on their length
are more than that in the first type. However, this kind has a better appearance than
the English bond, and it is more economical because of the possibility of using
broken bricks, which results from brick transportation.
c. German single bond (single Flemish bond): In this type, the bricks are put so that
the external face is bonded according to the German method and the internal face
according to the English method. This type of wall has the strength of English
bonding and the beauty of German bonding as illustrated in Fig. 4-8.

Fig. 4-8 Single Flemish Bond

Fig. 4-8 Single Flemish Bond
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d. Bond on the length (Stretcher bond): This type is used in nonbearing walls with a
thickness of 12cm. All courses are constructed with bricks that are placed on the
length, which indicates a stretcher or long face as shown in Fig. 4-9. Stretcher
bond is used for the construction of walls of a half brick thickness.

Fig. 4-9 Bond on the length

e. Bond on the head (Header bond): This type is used in the nonbearing walls with a
thickness of 24cm. Each course in this type of bonding is constructed by placing
the bricks on the head, which indicates a stretcher or head face as shown in Fig. 4-
10. Header bond is used for the construction of walls with full brick thickness,
which measures 24 cm. In header bonds, the overlap is kept equal to half the
width of the brick. To achieve this, three-quarter brickbats are used in alternate
courses as quoin.

Fig. 4-10 Bond on the head

f. Zigzag bond: Walls that are very thick have fewer stretchers and hence their
longitudinal stiffness gets decreased. This defect can be overcome by the use of
zigzag courses at certain intervals along the height of the wall say, after the sixth
or eighth course (Fig. 4-11).
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 Fig. 4-11 Zigzag bond

Joints in the face of the building bricks (jointing):

The finishing in the face of the construction joints of the brick walls that cover
rising any other work in some ways set out below in order to obtain the strength in
construction, landscape, and good resistance to atmospheric changes:
a. Flush or flush joint: This is the simplest type of joint and when ribbed gives a
good finish. It is used with English bonds. This fills the intervals between the
bricks with mortar of cement and sand, then raises the excess mortar and wipes
the face with a rough cloth.
Working method
The mortar is generously applied and leveled in a smooth way so that the
mortar is flush with the brickwork.
Effect
This form of pointing is often used with colors on coloring joint mortars. Only the
surfaces that are desired are emphasized by this way.
b. Struck or weathered: This joint permits water to drop off from the face of the
brickwork. The construction of this type is done by filling the horizontal joints
and clicking on the mortar along the upper edge of the joint to an angle of about
45°. The appearance of this joint is not satisfactory if ordinary bricks are used
because the unevenness in the edges of the bricks is visible.
Working method
The mortar is applied partially and recessed at an angle of 45°.
Effect
This creates a shadow effect. The horizontal lines of the facade are emphasized.
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c. Recessed joint: This joint is constructed with a jointing tool; the thickness of
the rubber attached in front of the tool is being to the joint. Rubber attachment
is used as it adjusts itself to the irregularity of the brick edge. This tool is
used after any projecting mortar has been removed. The brick should be carefully
selected and should have a uniform thickness. This joint is at least 1cm in
thickness. This is satisfactory in face-work for well-textured bricks and good-
quality mortar.
Working method
This is an extra raked joint. The mortar is applied 3 to 12 mm deeper than the
visible surface of the facade.
Effect
The emphasis is laid on the horizontal aspect of the facade, especially in
combination with full vertical head joints or even no vertical head joints at all.
d. Keyed or curved recessed (Concave joint): This type is similar to the first type, but
it works a hole of a semi-circle along the separation in the center of it by rule
with the end of the form of a hemisphere.
Working method
The mortar is generously applied but not leveled smoothly. Brushing the excess
mortar creates a rougher joint with more texture.
Effect
Here also this type of pointing creates an even surface when using colors on
coloring mortar. In addition, the brushed effect creates a facade with more
character.
e. V-joints: It is similar to flush but during construction, a hole is made into a
triangle. This is used to give the appearance of narrow joints. The finishing should
be done before the mortar setting.
Working method
The mortar is applied partially recessed at an angle of 45° from the top and
bottom of the bed joints.
Effect
This creates a surface that is protected from rain water.
f. Projecting joints (Key joints): Mortar is left projecting from the joints. This type
of joint affords a rough surface, which can be helpful in keying the plaster, which
is applied later on.

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 Fig. 4-12 Various types of jointing

References:
1. BARRY, The construction of building, vol. 1&4
2. S.K.SHARMA, Building construction.
3. ‫انشاء المباني – آرتين ليفون – زهير ساكو‬

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