brick bonds: which is the best 4

[lolobau]

Hi

there are so many different brick bonds (courses)
for me it seams that the "englisch bond" one stretcher one header must be still the strongest
but if, so why are people not using only this type of bond?

why would someone still go for a "running bond" ? (except you have a cavity wall)

or even a stack bod? (in my eyes the weakest of them all)

why not alwys the "englisch bond" ?

Regards

 

[hokie66]

Probably just that in most western countries, brick is no longer a favoured material for structural walls. It is still use a lot as a veneer, but not structurally.

 

[lolobau]

but still even in the past when brick walls were structural elements the bonds were still so different

 

[concretemasonry]

The bond appearance on the wall face is dictated by the customer or architect for a veneer. The architect must be aware of the size of the brick selected when the face pattern is considered for bonded (brick and block)walls even down to control joint spacings.

Dick

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.

 

[BSVBD]

As hokie66 stated, in my area, brick is generally used as non-structural veneer only.

A general point to consider is that, wouldn't a running or stack bond both, be more economical, labor wise, than virtually any other bond of masonry?

 

[SlideRuleEra]

lolobau - You are correct about the (structurally) best bond, the answer comes from the past (1914) when brick was a competitive structural material:

...all structurally sound brickwork is based on either one of two methods of bonding, both of which systematically include headers with the stretchers throughout the courses. The first is known as English Bond... The second is the Flemish Bond... All ornamental bonds are simply variations of these two fundamental forms.

The complete seven page article from the magazine is attached below:

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

http://www.VacuumTubeEra.net

 

[SlideRuleEra]

That attached file did not load correctly, I'll try again:

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

http://www.VacuumTubeEra.net

 

[Brad805]

Engineer... This would be the strongest course pattern. I suggest this.

Architect... but, that is not pretty. Will this other pattern I like work?

Engineer... yes, it will work, but.. followed by a bunch of yadda yadda yadda the architect is not listening too anyway.

Architect... We will use the pretty pattern.

Not once in my career have I been the one to select the brick on a project except for small projects where there was no architect. Now if you can figure out why some architects focus on the details they do, I will send you an award for solving the mystery.