Certain types of Brick Bonds and Patterns

Has a rule in brickwork , when I was being taught many yrs ago, the old bricklayer named Joe told me that there were many patterns that you could accomplish in brickwork, but he told me that there were only two true bonds in brickwork, and they are half bond and quarter bond. In this other part of my blog for the beginner I will go through just a few of these bonds and patterns, which when applied in to practice will most certainly give a very attractive appearance and self satisfaction.

First of all we will explore the most commonly used bond to date .

Half Bond or Stretcher bond. This bond is mostly used in the construction of mass produced houses today , this is one of the quickest ways in brickwork to build houses , and very plain in appearance , consists of one half of the full brick passing over the lower course by half a brick hence the term half bond. Please see diagram below.

Rat Trap Bond.

Rat-trap bond, also known as Chinese bond, is a type of garden wall bond in which the stretchers and headers are laid on their sides, with the base of the stretcher facing outwards. This gives a wall with an internal cavity bridged by the headers, hence the name. The main advantage of this bond is economy in use of bricks, giving a wall of one brick thickness with fewer bricks than a solid bond. Rat-trap bond was in common usage in England for building houses of fewer than 3 stories up to the turn of the 20th century and is today still used in India as an economical bond, as well for the insulation properties offered by the air cavity. Also, many brick walls surrounding kitchen gardens were designed with cavities so hot air could circulate in the winter, warming fruit trees or other produce spread against the walls, causing them to bloom earlier and forcing early fruit production.

The Next Bond, Is a quarter bond (Alternately Flemish Bond)

Flemish bond, also known as Dutch bond, has historically always been considered the most decorative bond, and for this reason was used extensively for dwellings until the adoption of the cavity wall. It is created by alternately laying headers and stretchers in a single course. The next course is laid so that a header lies in the middle of the stretcher in the course below. Again, this bond is one brick thick. It is quite difficult to lay Flemish bond properly, since for best effect all the perpendiculars (vertical mortar joints) need to be vertically aligned. If only one face of a Flemish bond wall is exposed, one third of the bricks are not visible, and hence may be of low visual quality. This is a better ratio than for English bond, Flemish bond's main rival for load-bearing walls.
A common variation often found in early 18th century buildings is Glazed-headed Flemish Bond, in which the exposed headers are burned until they vitrify with a black glassy surface. Monk bond is a variant of Flemish bond, with two stretchers between the headers in each row, and the headers centred over the join between the two stretchers in the row below.

Flemish Bond

Brickwork for strength (English Bond)

English Bond Is a very strong bond, if not the strongest bond , this bond is mostly used for large loads bearing down upon it, or even more so retaining large loads , such as bridges , large retaining walls etc etc but not very commonly used today now that there is such a substance like reinforced concrete it has a combination of alternate courses of headers and stretchers .

Next Post ,we will look at heringbone, plus other ornate bonds.