Low Cost Brickwork Techniques

7" Thick brick wall

In India the major component used in construction is brick walls. Bricks normally used for this purpose are of size 9" x 4" x 3" due to this normally all main walls are 9" thick.

In multistoried framed R.C.C construction brick walls are used as filler and non load bearing walls. Here the external walls are kept 9" thick from consideration of dampness and safety. Another point to be seen is that the wall is built for a height of 9 feet and are built below external hanging beams. The slenderness ratio of L/15 gives the required thickness = 180mm or 7" thick wall.

Places where 7" thick brick wall can be used :-

  1. In multistoried framed R.C.C construction brick walls. Here walls are used as filler and non load bearing walls.In this not only do we save by reduction in cost of brick work but the weight of wall on beams and columns is also reduced thus helping in designing them more economically.
  2. In boundary walls here again the loading is nominal.
  3. In single storeyed structures as load bearing walls in combination with 9" solid walls in between to take the critical weights of slabs where wall height is not more than 9'.
  4. For site offices, labour rooms etc. That is where temporary structures with sheeting are created.

Benefits :-

  1. Savings in cost of bricks and mortar from 15% to 22%.
  2. Savings in cost of R.C.C elements in framed structures due to reduced loading.

The procedure for constructing these walls is given below.
 
Figure - 1. ( Perspective Showing 7" thick Wall.)

The brick has a size of Length = 9", Width = 4", Height = 3".

While doing the brickwork the brick (B) is laid normally along the length of the wall keeping its height of 3" and width of 4". The second brick is laid rotated so that now it is 4" high and has a width of 3" and length of 9"

along the length of the wall.Thus making the total thickness = 7" with slight variations w.r.t the sizes available in the market and the thickness of the Figure - 2. (Sectional Elevation showing stacking pattern of layers.)

mortar joint which is normally kept 10mm. The stacking is repeated as shown in Figure -2 ie. 3 layers of bricks laid as (B) along 2 layers of brick laid as (A) make a wall 9" high after this the laying position of (A) and (B) is reversed for every 9" height to give variation in joint and thus give strength as shown in Figure's - 1 & 2.

A 7" thick wall can also be used as load bearing wall after checking for load taking capacity and slenderness ratio in single storied structures.