Wall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
For other uses, see Wall (disambiguation).
The lead section of this article may need to be rewritten. Use the lead layout
guide to ensure the section follows Wikipedia's norms and is inclusive of all
essential details. (December 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template
message)
Various examples of walls
A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load;
provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of
walls, including:
Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the superstructure or separate
interior rooms, sometimes for fire safety
Glass walls (a wall in which the primary structure is made of glass; does not
include openings within walls that have glass coverings: these are windows)
Border barriers between countries
Brick walls
Defensive walls in fortifications
Permanent, solid fences
Retaining walls, which hold back dirt, stone, water, or noise sound
Stone walls
Walls that protect from oceans (seawalls) or rivers (levees)
Contents
1Etymology
2Defensive wall
3Building wall
o 3.1Curtain wall
o 3.2Precast wall
o 3.3Mullion wall
o 3.4Partition wall
o 3.5Party wall
o 3.6Infill wall
o 3.7Fire wall
o 3.8Shear wall
o 3.9Knee wall
o 3.10Cavity wall
o 3.11Pony wall
o 3.12Demountable wall
o 3.13Solar energy
4Shipbuilding
5Boundary wall
6Border wall
7Retaining wall
8Shared wall
9Portable wall
10Temporary wall
11Walls in popular culture
12See also
13References
14External links
Etymology
"weall," an Old English word for 'wall'
The term wall comes from Latin vallum meaning "...an earthen wall or rampart set with
palisades, a row or line of stakes, a wall, a rampart, fortification..." while the Latin
word murus means a defensive stone wall.[1] English uses the same word to mean an
external wall and the internal sides of a room, but this is not universal. Many languages
distinguish between the two. In German, some of this distinction can be seen
between Wand and Mauer, in Spanish between pared and muro.
Defensive wall
Main article: Defensive wall
The word wall originally referred to defensive walls and ramparts.
Building wall
See also: American historic carpentry
The purposes of walls in buildings are to support roofs, floors and ceilings; to enclose a
space as part of the building envelope along with a roof to give buildings form; and to
provide shelter and security. In addition, the wall may house various types of utilities
such as electrical wiring or plumbing. Wall construction falls into two basic
categories: framed walls or mass-walls. In framed walls the load is transferred to the
foundation through posts, columns or studs. Framed walls most often have three or
more separate components: the structural elements (such as 2×4 studs in a house
wall), insulation, and finish elements or surfaces (such as drywall or panelling). Mass-
walls are of a solid material including masonry, concrete including slipform
stonemasonry, log building, cordwood construction, adobe, rammed
earth, cob, earthbag construction, bottles, tin cans, straw-bale construction, and ice.
Walls may or may not be leadbearing. Walls are required to conform to the local local
building and/or fire codes.
There are three basic methods walls control water intrusion: moisture storage, drained
cladding, or face-sealed cladding.[2] Moisture storage is typical of stone and brick mass-
wall buildings where moisture is absorbed and released by the walls of the structure
itself. Drained cladding also known as screened walls[3] acknowledges moisture will
penetrate the cladding so a moisture barrier such as housewrap or felt paper inside the
cladding provides a second line of defense and sometimes a drainage plane or air
gap allows a path for the moisture to drain down through and exit the wall. Sometimes
ventilation is provided in addition to the drainage plane such as
in rainscreen construction. Face-sealed also called barrier wall or perfect
barrier[3] cladding relies on maintaining a leak-free surface of the cladding. Examples of
face sealed cladding are the early exterior insulation finishing systems, structural
glazing, metal clad panels, and corrugated metal.
Building walls frequently become works of art, externally and internally, such as when
featuring mosaic work or when murals are painted on them; or as design foci when they
exhibit textures or painted finishes for effect.
Curtain wall
Wall art in Budapest's Széll Kálmán Square.[4]
Main article: Curtain wall (architecture)
In architecture and civil engineering, curtain wall refers to a building facade that is
not load-bearing but provides decoration, finish, front, face, or historical preservation.
Precast wall
Precast walls are walls which have been manufactured in a factory and then shipped to
where it is needed, ready to install. It is faster to install compared to brick and other
walls and may have a lower cost compared to other types of wall. Precast walls are cost
effective compare to Brick Wall compound wall.
Mullion wall
Main article: Mullion wall
Mullion walls are a structural system that carries the load of the floor slab on
prefabricated panels around the perimeter.
Partition wall
Mirrored glass partition wall
A partition wall is a usually thin wall that is used to separate or divide a room, primarily a
pre-existing one. Partition walls are usually not load-bearing, and can be constructed
out of many materials, including steel panels, bricks, cloth, plastic, plasterboard, wood,
blocks of clay, terracotta, concrete, and glass.
Some partition walls are made of sheet glass. Glass partition walls are a series of
individual toughened glass panels mounted in wood or metal framing. They may be
suspended from or slide along a robust aluminium ceiling track. [5] The system does not
require the use of a floor guide, which allows easy operation and an uninterrupted
threshold.
A timber partition consists of a wooden framework, supported on the floor or by side
walls. Metal lath and plaster, properly laid, forms a reinforced partition wall. Partition
walls constructed from fibre cement backer board are popular as bases for tiling in
kitchens or in wet areas like bathrooms. Galvanized sheet fixed to wooden or steel
members are mostly adopted in works of temporary character. Plain or reinforced
partition walls may also be constructed from concrete, including pre-cast concrete
blocks. Metal framed partitioning is also available. This partition consists of track (used
primarily at the base and head of the partition) and studs (vertical sections fixed into the
track typically spaced at 24", 16", or at 12").
Internal wall partitions, also known as office partitioning, are usually made
of plasterboard (drywall) or varieties of glass. Toughened glass is a common option, as
low-iron glass (better known as opti-white glass) increases light and solar heat
transmission.
Wall partitions are constructed using beads and tracking that is either hung from the
ceiling or fixed into the ground.[6] The panels are inserted into the tracking and fixed.
Some wall partition variations specify their fire resistance and acoustic performance
rating.
Movable partitions
Main article: Portable partition
Movable partitions are walls that open to join two or more rooms into one large floor
area. These include:
Sliding—a series of panels that slide in tracks fixed to the floor and ceiling,
similar sliding doors
Sliding and folding doors —similar to sliding folding doors, these are good for
smaller spans
Folding partition walls - a series of interlocking panels suspended from an
overhead track that when extended provide an acoustical separation, and when
retracted stack against a wall, ceiling, closet, or ceiling pocket.
Screens—usually constructed of a metal or timber frame fixed with plywood and
chipboard and supported with legs for free standing and easy movement
Pipe and drape—fixed or telescopic uprights and horizontals provide a ground
supported drape system with removable panels.
Party wall
Main article: Party wall
Party walls are walls that separate buildings or units within a building. They provide fire
resistance and sound resistance between occupants in a building. The minimum fire
resistance and sound resistance required for the party wall is determined by a building
code and may be modified to suit a variety of situations. Ownership of such walls can
become a legal issue. It is not a load-bearing wall and may be owned by different
people.
Infill wall
Main article: Infill wall
An infill wall is the supported wall that closes the perimeter of a building constructed
with a three-dimensional framework structure.
Fire wall
