Brick Bonds

In this video you will learn about brick bonds.

In masonry, a brick bond refers to a specific pattern of arranging bricks to ensure structural stability. It is determined by the position of each brick in every successive course of the wall.

Here are a couple of useful words to learn: Header: A Header is a brick laid horizontally with its smallest surface towards front of the wall. A course of headers is one in which all of the bricks are laid widthwise. Stretcher: A Stretcher is a brick laid horizontally with its longest surface towards the front of the wall. A course of stretchers is one in which all of the bricks are laid lengthwise Mortar Bed: A Mortar Bed is the layer of mortar on which a course of bricks is laid. Perpend: A Perpend is the vertical layer of mortar at the joint between two bricks. They ensure that bricks in the same course are held together Queen Closer: A Queen Closer is a brick cut in half lengthwise. Quoin: The Quoin is the corner brick where two walls intersect.

An essential rule which every bond follows, is to always offset the perpends of neighbouring courses. This spreads the load evenly, preventing the risk of structural failure. As a result, most Walls are made of alternating courses where the bricks are centered on the perpends of adjoining courses.

The most common brick bonds are the Stretcher bond, the English bond and the Flemish bond.

In a Stretcher Bond, every course consists only of bricks laid in Stretcher position. Every other course ends with a half-brick bat or one half of the protruding stretcher from the same course of the next wall. This prevents perpends in successive rows from aligning with each other. The Stretcher bond is usually used in walls bearing lighter loads, such as partition walls.

The English bond is made by alternating Header courses and Stretcher courses. A Queen closer is placed in second and penultimate position on Header courses. This type of bonding is considered to be the strongest and is used to build load-bearing walls of all thicknesses.

The Flemish Bond is made of courses made of alternating Headers and Stretchers. Each course starting with a Stretcher will end with a Stretcher. The courses starting with a Header will end with a Header as well. These courses also contain a Queen Closer in second and penultimate positions. Headers are centered on Stretchers from the course below. The Flemish Bond uses more mortar as it contains a larger number of joints, however, it is considered more aesthetically pleasing.

You now know how to identify the different Brick Bonds.