MASONRY

 Masonry may be defined as the construction of building units bonded together with
mortar.
 The building units may be stones, bricks or pre cast concrete blocks of concrete.
 Masonry is normally used for the construction of foundations, walls , columns ,and
other structural components of buildings.

FUNCTIONS OF MASONRY:

• Supporting loads

• Subdividing space

• Providing thermal and acoustic insulation

• Affording fire and weather protection

TYPES OF MASONRY:

 BRICK MASONRY
 STONE MASONRY

BRICK MASONRY:

 Brick masonry is made of bricks units, bonded together with mortar. Two essential
components of brick masonry are as follows:
o Bricks
o Mortar
 The mortar used for brick masonry should have some characteristics. Mortar as a
cementing material & unites the individual bricks together. Following types of mortar
are used in brick masonry:
i. Cement mortar
ii. Lime mortar
iii. Cement – lime mortar
iv. Mud mortar

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ADVANTAGES OF BRICK MASONRY:

Brick masonry is preferred over other types of masonry due to the following reasons:

i) All the bricks are of uniform size & shape, hence they can be laid in any definite
pattern.
ii) Bricks are light in weight & small in size. Hence they can be easily laid by hand.
iii) Bricks do not need any dressing
iv) The art of brick lying can be understood easily & even unskilled masons can do the
brick masonry.
v) Light partition walls & filler walls can be easily constructed in brick masonry.

BASIC DEFINITIONS OF BRICK MASONRY:

i) Stretcher: A stretcher is the longer face of the brick (19cm*9cm). A course of bricks
in which all the bricks are laid as stretchers on facing is known as stretcher course (or)
stretching course.

ii) Header: A header is the shorter face of brick (9cm*9cm). A course of bricks in which
all the bricks are laid as headers on the facing is known as header course (or) heading
course.

iii) Lap: Lap is the horizontal distance between the vertical joints of successive brick
course.

iv) Perpend: A perpend is an imaginary vertical line which includes the vertical joint
separating two adjoining bricks.

v) Bed: Bed is the lower surface (19cm*9cm) of the brick when laid flat.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
 vi) Closer: It is a portion of a brick with the cut made longitudinally & is used to close
up bond at the end of the course.
vii) Queen-closer: It is a portion of a brick obtained by cutting a brick lengthwise into
two portions. Thus a queen closer is a brick which is half as wide as the full brick.
This is also known as queen closer half.
viii) King closer: It is the portion of a brick which is so cut that the width of one of its end
is half that of a full brick, while the width at the other end is equal to the full width.
ix) Bevelled closer: It is a special form of a king closer in which the whole length of the
brick is beveled in such a way that half width is maintained at one end & full width is
maintained at other end.
x) Mitred closer: It is a portion of a brick whose end is cut as a splay with an angle of
45 to 60 degrees.
xi) Bat: It is the portion of the brick cut across the width. Thus a bat is a smaller in length
than the full brick.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
BONDS IN BRICK WORK:

• It is the method of arranging the bricks in courses so that individual units are tied
together and the vertical joints of the successive courses do not lie in same vertical
line. Bond of various types is distinguished by their elevation or face appearance.
Bricks used in masonry are of all of uniform size.

• If they are not arranged properly continuous vertical joint will result. An unbonded
wall, with its continuous vertical joints has little strength and stability. Bonds help in
distributing the concentrated loads over a larger area.

TYPES OF BONDS:

 STRETCHER BOND
 HEADER BOND
 ENGLISH BOND
 FLEMISH BOND

STRETCHER BOND:

 Longer narrow face of the brick is called as stretcher.

 Stretcher bond, also called as running bond, is created when bricks are laid with only
their stretchers showing, overlapping midway with the courses of bricks below and
above.
 Stretcher bond in the brick is the simplest repeating pattern.
 But the limitation of stretcher bond is that it cannot make effective bonding with
adjacent bricks in full width thick brick walls.
 They are suitably used only for one-half brick thick walls such as for the construction
half brick thick partition wall.
 Walls constructed with stretcher bonds are not stable enough to stand alone in case of
longer span and height.
 Thus they Then need supporting structure such as brick masonry columns at regular
intervals.
 Stretcher bonds are commonly used in the steel or reinforced concrete framed
structures as the outer facing.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
  These are also used as the outer facing of cavity walls. Other common applications of
such walls are the boundary walls, gardens etc.

HEADER BOND:

 Header is the shorter square face of the brick which measures 9cm x 9cm.
 Header bond is also known as HEADING BOND.
 In header bonds, all bricks in each course are placed as headers on the faces of the
walls.
 While Stretcher bond is used for the construction of walls of half brick thickness
whereas header bond is used for the construction of walls with full brick thickness
which measures 18cm.
 In header bonds, the overlap is kept equal to half width of the brick. To achieve this,
three quarter brick bats are used in alternate courses as quoins.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ENGLISH BOND:

• This is the most commonly used bond for all wall thickness. This bond is considered
to be the strongest.

• The bond consists of alternate courses of headers & stretches. In this bond the vertical
joints of the header courses come over each other, similarly the vertical joints of the
stretcher courses also come over each other.

• In order to place the vertical joints in the successive courses, it is essential to place
queen closer after the first header in each heading course.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ESSENTIAL FEATURES IN ENGLISH BOND:

The following are the essential features of English bond:

 Alternative courses will show either headers or stretchers in elevation.

 Every alternative header comes centrally over the joint between two stretchers
 In the stretcher course the stretchers have a minimum lap of 1/4th their length over
headers
 There is no continuous vertical joint

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
  Walls of even multiple half bricks present the same appearance on both faces. Thus a
course showing stretchers on the front face will also show stretchers on the back face.
 Wall of odd multiple half bricks will show stretcher on one face & header on other
face.
 The middle portion of thicker walls consists entirely of headers.
 A header course should never start with queen closer as it will get displaced. The
queen closer should be placed just next to the header. Queen closer is not required in
the stretcher course.
 Since the number of vertical joints in the header course are twice the number of
vertical joints in the stretcher course, the joint in the header course are made thinner
than the joints in the stretcher course.

FLEMISH BOND:

 In this type of bond, each course is comprised of alternate headers and stretchers.
Every alternate course starts with a header at the corner (i.e. quoin header). Quoin
closer is placed next to the quoin header in alternate courses to develop the face lap.
Every header is centrally supported over the stretcher below it.
 Flemish bond are of two types.
I. Double Flemish Bond
II. Single Flemish Bond

DOUBLE FLEMISH BOND:

 In this bond, each course presents the same appearance both in the front face as well
as in the back face. Alternate headers and stretcher are laid in each course. Because
of this, double Flemish bond present better appearance than English bond

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
SPECIAL FEATURES OF DOUBLE FLEMISH BOND:

1. Every course consists of headers and stretchers placed alternately

2. The facing and backing of the wall, in each course, have the same appearance

3. Quoin closer is used next to quoin headers in every alternate course.

4. In wall having thickness equal to odd multiple of half bricks, half bats and three
quarter bats are amply used.

5. For walls having thickness equal to even multiple of half brick, no bats are required.
A header or stretcher will come out as header or stretcher on the same course in front
as well as back faces.

SINGLE FLEMISH BOND:

 Single Flemish bond is comprised of double Flemish bond facing and English bond
backing and hearting in each course.
 This bond thus used the strength of English bond and appearance of Flemish bond.
However this bond can be used for those walls having thickness at least equal to 1 ½
brick.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
  Double Flemish bond facing is done with good quality expensive bricks. However
cheaper bricks can be used for backing and hearting.

STONE MASONRY:

 The construction of stones bonded together with mortar is termed as stone masonry
where the stones are available in abundance in nature, on cutting and dressing to the
proper shape, they provide an economical material for the construction of various
building components such as walls, columns, footings, arches, lintels, beams etc.

USES:

1) Building foundations, walls, piers, pillars, and architectural works.

2) Beams, beams Arches, domes etc.,

3) Roofs and Roof coverings.

4) Dams, light houses, monumental structures.

TYPES OF STONE MASONRY:

 Based on the arrangement of the stone in the construction and degree of refinement in
the surface finish, the stone masonry can be classified broadly in the following two
categories

1. Rubble masonry

2. Ashlar masonry

RUBBLE MASONRY:

 In this category, the stones used are either undressed or roughly dressed having wider
joints.
i) UNCOURSED RUBBLE MASONRY: This is the cheapest, roughest and
poorest form of stone masonry. The stones used in this type of masonry very
much vary in their shape and size and are directly obtained from quarry.
Uncoursed rubble masonry can be divided into the following.
a) Uncoursed random rubble
b) Uncoursed squared rubble

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
a) UNCOURSED RANDOM RUBBLE MASONRY:
 The weak corners and edges are removed with mason’s hammer. Generally, bigger
stone blocks are employed at quoins and jambs to increase the strength of masonry.

b) UNCOURSED SQUARED RUBBLE:

 In this type the stone blocks are made roughly square with hammer. Generally the
facing stones are given hammer dressed finish. Large stones are used as quoins.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
BUILT TO REGULAR COURSE:

 In this type of stone masonry the uniform height stones are used in horizontal layers
not less than 13cm in height.
 Generally, the stone beds are hammered or chisel dressed to a depth of at least 10cm
from the face.
 The stones are arranged in such a manner so that the vertical joints of two
consecutive courses do not coincide with each other as shown in figure below.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
POLYGONAL RUBBLE MASONRY:

 In this type of masonry the stones are roughly dressed to an irregular polygonal shape.
The stones should be so arranged as to avoid long vertical joints in face work and to
break joints as much as possible. Small stone chips should not be used to support the
stones on the facing as shown in the figure

FLINT RUBBLE MASONRY:

 This type of masonry is used in the areas where the flint is available in plenty. The
flint stones varying in thickness from 8 to 15cm and in length from 15 to 30cm are
arranged in the facing in the form of coursed or Uncoursed Masonry as shown below.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DRY RUBBLE MASONRY:

 This type of stone masonry is used in the construction of retaining walls, earth dams
and canal slopes in the form of random rubble masonry without any mortar. The
hollow spaces left around and stones should be tightly packed with smaller stone
pieces.

ASHLAR MASONRY:

 This type of masonry is built from accurately dressed stones with uniform and fine
joints of about 3mm thickness by arranging the stone blocks in various patterns.

 The backing of Ashlar masonry walls may be built of Ashlar masonry or rubble
masonry. The size of stones blocks should be in proportion to wall thickness.

TYPES OF ASHLAR MASONRY:

 The various types of masonry can be classified under the

following categories are

1) Ashlar fine

2) Ashlar rough

3) Ashlar rock or quarry faced

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
 4) Ashlar facing

5) Ashlar chamfered

6) Ashlar block in course

ASHLAR FINE:

 In this type of stone masonry stone blocks of same height in each course are used.
 Every stone is fine tooled on all sides
 Thickness of mortar is uniform thorough out.
 It is an expensive type of stone masonry as it requires heavy labour and wastage of
material while dressing.
 Satisfactory bond can be obtained in this type of stone masonry.

ASHLAR ROUGH:

 This type of ashlar masonry the sides of the stones are rough tooled and dressed with
chisels.
 Thickness of joints is uniform which does not exceed 6 mm.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ASHLAR ROCK OR QUARRY FACED:

 A strip is provided around the perimeter of every stone. But the remaining portion of
the face is left in the same form as received from quarry.
 Projection on exposed face is restricted to 75 mm. Thickness of joint up to 10mm.

ASHLAR BLOCK IN COURSE:

 The name is given to a class of ashlar masonry which occupies an intermediate place
between rubble and ashlars.
 The stones are all squared and properly dressed. It resembles to coursed rubble
masonry or rough tooled ashlar masonry.

ASHLAR FACING:

 Ashlar facing is the best type of ashlars masonry.

 Since this type of masonry is very expensive, it is not commonly used throughout the
world thickness of the wall except in works in great importance and strength.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
  For economy the facing are built in ashlars and the rest in rubble.

ASHLAR CHAMFERED:

 It is similar to quarry faced except that the edges are bevelled or chamfered to 450 for
depth of 2.5 cm or more.

Mr A.NAGA SAI, M.Tech, (Ph.D)

RVR&JC COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING