ULK POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

CIVIL ENGINEERING
CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY

MASONRY WORKSHOP MANUAL

Prepared by: Clement KABAYIZA

Instructor in Civil engineering
Date: 2023 Sept
 I. INTRODUCTION

DEFINITION
Masonry: This is the art of construction in which building units are arranged
systematically and bonded to form a homogeneous mass.
Mason: Is a skilled laborer who constructs buildings
 Chapter 1: Apply occupation, safety, health and
environmental(OSHE) rules.
PPE required for masonry practice;
o Overall,
First safety precaution during masonry
o Gloves,
practice;
o Safety shoes,
o Use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
o Helmets,
o Wear the Right Clothing.
o Masks Respirators,
o Avoiding Distractions.
o Face shields,
o Asking for Help When you Need It.
o Goggles…)
o Maintaining a Clean and Tidy Workshop.
o Keeping Your Blades and Bits Sharp
 CHAPTER 2: TOOLS USED IN MASONRY
- Tape measure and folding ruler: This used for measuring lengths

- Pencil: Used for marking and drawing

- Spirit level: Is used for leveling the horizontal plane of masonry works and to
stretch the verticality of masonry work piece.

- Building line: This is used for horizontal leveling and setting out of the building.

- Claw hammer: Is used in fixing and pulling out of nails

- Brick hammer: Is used in cutting bricks, fixing the nails and for demolishing
works

- Club hammer: Used to break and rectify stones

- Masonry chisels: Used for splitting bricks

- Bolster: Used for cutting bricks

- Steel square: This is used for controlling right angles when building walls and
setting out

- Plumb bob: Is used for stretching vertically

- Bucket: Used for carrying water

 CHAP 3: MATERIALS USED IN MASONRY
1. Cement: Used as binding material

2. Lime: Used as binding material and also for painting

3. Building units: burnt bricks, mud blocks and cement blocks for walling
and paving

4. Water: used for mixing of concrete, watering and curing.

1. Boards or timbers: Used for formwork, scaffolding and also for the construction
of foundation, floors, walls, roofs, pillars, and frames.

2. Nails: Are available in different sizes and are used to joint boards, timber, ceilings
and profiles.

3. Steel: Is used for reinforcement of concrete. E.g.: column, beam and slab.

4. Binding wire: used for binding of steel bars

5. Aggregates: Fine aggregates and coarse aggregates.

 CHAP 4:MORTAR
Mortar is the mixture of cement, lime and sand that is used to join the individual units
of the building material into the uniform mass.

Types of mortar
- Lime mortar: a mixture of lime, sand with water (1:3 to 1:6)(lime: sand) develops strength
slowly.

- Cement mortar: A mixture of cement, sand with water (1:3 to 1:9)(cement: sand)workable but
to strong for everyday use, only suitable for heavily loaded brickwork or in extremely wet
situations. Cement and sand mixed in proportions of 1:3 give greater strength.

- Cement-lime mortar: A mixture of cement, lime and sand with water (1:1:6 to 1:2:11) (cement:
lime: sand).
Properties of a good mortar
- It should be cheap and durable

- It should be easily workable

- It should have a good adhesion with bricks, blocks and stones

- It should set and harden quickly, so that speed of construction work may be
maintained.

- It should offer a good resistance to the penetration of rain water.

 CHAPTER 5: WALLING AND BRICKLAYING
Walls to buildings can be constructed in various ways using a variety of materials.

They can be load-bearing or non-load bearing.

Load-bearing walls are usually external walls and those supporting roofs, upper floors
and other components in building.

Non- load bearing walls are such as partitions walls, boundary walls.
. Functions of a wall
- Support upper floors and roofs together with their superimposed
loads

- Resist damp penetration

- Provide adequate thermal insulation

- Provide sufficient sound insulation

- Offer adequate fire resistance

 Bricks and Blocks

Most common walls are constructed using bricks (common and burnt clay)
and concrete or sand/cement blocks.

The main difference between bricks and blocks is in their size.

The usual size of brick is 21.5×10.25×6.5cm or 21×10×7cm.

Bricks may be Solid, perforated, hollow or cellular.

 Parts of brick

Blocks

They are made to various sizes, the most common being 44×21.5cm with a
wide range of thicknesses (allowing for mortar joints the size is
approximated to 45×23cm).
Brick cutting
 CHAP 6: BONDING
Bonding: is the method used in masonry work to avoid continuous vertical
joints which can make a wall unstable when load uneven.

Bricks and blocks are bonded together to give maximum strength and
adequate distribution of loads over the wall.
Technical terms for bonding
Rules of bonding for bricks

- Bricks are laid in several kinds of bonds according to the requirements of construction
or the wish of the customer.

- Horizontal joints always should be laid in level, no sloping ups or down

- The minimum lap of the brickwork on the face of a wall should be ¼ brick for a one
brick wall and ½ in case of a half brick wall.

- No vertical joint should extend into the next course.

- In forming right angles, the quoin in stretcher bond is a whole brick and three quarter in
header bond, block bond and mix bond.
Rules of bonding for blocks

- Blocks are laid in kind of stretcher bond with no special other arrangements
of bonds like brick walls

- Horizontal joints always should be laid in level, no sloping ups or down in

each course are permitted

- No vertical joint should extend into the next course

- The minimum lap is ¼ of a block or 12cm, the normal lap is ½ of a block.

Walls have to be built accurate in length, height and also horizontally and
vertically.
 TYPES OF BONDS
1. Stretcher bond: consists of all stretchers in every course, used in half brick wall or in
half skin of hollow or cavity walls.
2. Header bond: consists of headers in every course with the ¾ bat quoin.
Block bond or English bond: bond consisting of alternate courses of
headers and stretchers with the bonding ¾ bat quoin
Cross bond: bond consisting of alternate courses of headers and stretchers with an
interceptive header on every second stretcher course, with the ¾ bat quoin.
Mix bond or Flemish bond: Each course consists of alternate header and
stretcher with the ¾ bat quoin.
 CHAPTER 7: SETTING OUT OF A BUILDING
FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED WHEN SELECTING A BUILDING SITE
- Elevation of site, elevated sites are generally preferable to low lying ones, being drier
and easier to drain.
- Availability of facilities e.g. hospital, transport etc
- Availability of services e.g. water, electricity, sewage, etc
- Types and conditions of subsoil e.g gravel, sand, clay etc
- Before any building work can commence, the area must be levelled i.e reducing levels
METHODS OF SETTING OUT A RIGHT ANGLE BUILDING
- Typical builders square or steel square method
- 3-4-5 method or Pythagoras theorem “ the square of hypothesis of right
angle triangle is equal to the sum of square of the other two sides”
- Dumpy level or Theodolite Method
STEPS INVOLVED FOR SETTING OUT OF BUILDING
- Establish the baseline
- Set out the right angle at the correct length and check the diagonals
- Set up the profile boards to allocate the width of the trench, foundation and walls.
- They should be far apart and wide enough not to obstruct excavation work.
THANK YOU FOR KIND
ATTENTION