BRICKWORK. 



BRICKWORK. 



encouragement to depart from the ordinary KM and quality ; teeing 

 tlt the duty rapidly increased if the bricks were either larger in size or 

 uperior in quality. Just before the duty was repealed, it wan charged 

 on about 2000 million bricki annually ; there are now no means of 

 dotonnining bow many an made. 



BRICKWORK. Brick wall* are of Tarioiu thicknesses ; from four 

 and a half inchea to three or four feet, according to the nature and 

 purpose of the structure. The mint usual dimensions are four and a 

 half inehea or half brick ; nine inohe* or one biick ; fourteen inchea or 

 one and a half brick ; and eighteen inchea or two bricks. Except in 

 Urge public worka, walla are aeldoni built more than four brick* thick. 

 In good work three bricki are well bonded together. 



The word bond u applied to the mode of laying bricks side by aide, 

 and one on another, ao as to produce the greatest strength, and the 

 Boat symmetrical appearance. There are four kinds of bond besides 

 exceptional kinds which need not be noticed here in general use in 

 laying bricks ; called English bond, Flemish bond, herring bond, and 

 garden-wall bond. >,/<jA bond consists of bricks laid lengthwise on 

 the length of the wall, and crossed by bricks laid with their breadth 

 on the wall The former are called stretching courses, and the bricks 

 stretchers; the latter are heading courses, and the bricks headers. 

 This bond is much used in hydraulic engineering. Flemish bond 

 consists in laying a header and stretcher alternately in the same course. 

 This bond, which is considered by bricklayers the most beautiful, is 

 not ao effectual as the English bond. To unite more firmly the 

 Flemish bond brickwork, especially in thick walls, and to remedy the 

 weakness of the stretching courses, the bricks are often placed at an 

 angle of forty-fire degrees parallel to each other, and reversed in the 

 alternate courses ; this is done in the centre or core of thick walls, and 

 is called litrrlnri-boiul. It is advisable only to use this diagonal brick- 

 work occasionally ; because, though the bricks in the core have sufficient 

 bond, the sides, on occount of the triangular interstices, are very 

 improperly tied to the core. Flemish bond is, moreover, varied accord- 

 ing to the width of the openings in the wall or front of a house. The 

 rereals of windows are bonded every alternate course, with a closure or 

 quarter brick and a half brick. The reveals of doors are terminated 

 with a half brick and closure. Gartlen-tcatl bond consists of three 

 stretchers and one header in nine-inch walls ; but when fourteen inches 

 thick, the Flemish bond is used. In English bond, it is to be observed, 

 that as the length of a brick is nine inches, and its breadth four and a 

 half, it is the practice to prevent two perpendicular joints from falling 

 over each other, at the end of the first stretcher from the corner header, 

 by the introduction of a closure, or by a three-quarter brick or bat as 

 it is technically called, instead of a stretcher at the corner. 



The moot difficult work for the bricklayer to execute U the groining 

 or intersection of arches in vaults, where every brick has to be cut to a 

 different bed or angle. This and the arches called gauged arches, either 

 circular or straight, cut with the axe and rubbed on the banker or 

 table, and afterwards set in lime only, called putty, require the neatest 

 workmanship. Some straight arches are made roughly ; that is, the 

 bricks are inclined each way, parallel to each other on the respective 

 akewbacks or shoulders of the arch, until the soffit-ends of the bricks 

 touch, when the vacant space at top is filled with two bricks forming a 

 wedge : this arch, like other straight arches, is constructed on a camber 

 slip, or piece of wood slightly curved on the upper side, and serving as 

 a centering. 



The bricks for nibbed or gauged arches are cut with radiating lines. 

 Those for cambered or straight arches are cut by the manual skill of 

 the workman ; and the lines do not radiate exactly to one centre, like 

 the bricks in semicircular gauged arches. The following is the 

 method adopted by bricklayers in cutting the straight arch : The 

 straight arch, so common in houses in London, is first drawn out the 



Mould. 

 [Cat of the mould with the btrtls wt off upon It] 



rrpnssnts tk* point at UM top line of the mould, being a rnide for the 

 brick j , tb* mile. Mt off I. j the bevrl. 



full sixe on a board; the ton part la a straight line; the lower, the 

 curved line of the camber-slip, a segment of a circle ; and the sides, 

 til* inclination of the akewback of the arch, which is usually inclined 

 bout seven inches and a half fmm the upright of the reveal The 

 top and the bottom lines are then divided into an equal number 

 of equal p*rt*> n J Une * radiating are drawn as shown in the cut. The 

 iomts follow the curve of the camber-dip. The curved line at the 

 bottom given by the camber slip is out by means of the berel ; every 



angle of each brick being different, they are copied by the bevel, and 

 set off in succession on the mould anil numbered, so that for the rest 

 of the operation, the workman has only recourse to the mould. 



A larger, or what is called an irregular, segment is cut in the same 

 manner. A semicircular arch being struck from one centre requires 

 but one mould, without the aid of the bevel, as all the bricks are alike 

 and have their ends at the same angle. All arches, it should '. 

 observed, are constructed on centerings of wood. In straight arches 

 the camber-slip answers the purpose of a centering. Elliptical arches 

 are cut like straight and semicircular arches, the ends like semicircular 

 arches, and the centre like camber arches. Corbelling, or a projecting 

 of brickwork, U often practised to gain space for flues and over corners 

 of narrow street*. 



In steyning wells it is usual to employ brickwork where the soil is 

 loose. For this purpose a centre is required, made with circular rings 

 of wood boarded round the outside ; upon these rings the bricks are 

 laid. As the digger excavates the ground, the centre with the brick- 

 work sinks and another is laid upon it till the whole work is completed. 



Mortar is the common medium employed in the execution of brick- 

 work. This mortar, in the neighbourhood of London, is composed of 

 lime, gray or white, but gray or stone lime is the better ; it is mixed 

 with river sand, sea sand, or road sand, in the proportion of one of 

 gray lime to two and a half of sand, and one of white or chalk lime 

 to two of sand. In dry weather and for firm work the best mortar 

 should be used, and the bricks should be wetted or dipped in water 

 as they are laid, which makes them adhere firmly to the [mortar. 

 Brick-work in drains and foundations, where it is liable to be con- 

 stantly wetted, becomes so firmly united with the mortar as not to 

 be separated without the greatest difficulty. 



In building walls, they should be carried up level all round simul- 

 taneously, and not one part higher than another, lest in the shrink- 

 ing there should be a settlement, which would cause the parts to 

 separate. In laying the foundation of walls the first courses are 

 always laid broader than the wall intended to be carried up ; these 

 courses are called the footings; and the projections, called set-offs, 

 ore generally two inches in projection. Garden-walls are usually 

 built with piers, projecting four and a-half inches from the face of the 

 work at every ten or twelve feet. These piers are turned in at the top 

 like buttress-heads, and the top of the wall is finished with a course of 

 brickwork on edge. 



When new walls are to be attached to old it is usual to cut a chase 

 or draw a brick at every other course in the old work and tooth m the 

 new work. When it is intended to add walls to other buildings these 

 toothings are left. The flues for chimneys are twisted to prevent 

 their smoking; they are always chalked on the wall of a house to 

 which another is intended to be added. 



A rod of brickwork was originally taken from the standard of 16 J feet 

 square, and consequently consisted of 272J square feet ; but as the $ was 

 found troublesome in calculation, 272 superficial feet has been adopted 

 as the standard for a rod of brickwork. The following is the method 

 in practice for calculating the number of rods and feet in a brick wall, 

 if of the standard thickness, which is 134 inches, or a brick and a half. 

 Multiply the length by the height, and divide by 272, which will give 

 the rods; if it is more or less than the standard thickness, multiply 

 the surface by the number of half-lengths of bricks in the thickness of 

 the wall, divide the product by 8, and the wall will be reduced to the 

 standard, which, if divided by 272, will give the work in rods : or if the 

 work is cubed, it must be divided by 306 to reduce it to rods, &c. A 

 rod of standard brickwork set with mortar Will require 4500 bricks 

 upon an average : the mortar required for the same is 1) cwt. of chalk 

 or white lime with two loads of sand, or 1 cwt. of stone lime with 2} 

 loads of sand. In walls a foot of reduced brickwork requires 17 bricks. 

 A foot superficial of gauged arches requires 10 bricks. A yard of 

 paving requires 82 paving bricks, or 48 stock bricks, or 144 Dutch 

 clinkers laid on edge, or 86 bricks laid flat. The weight of a rod of 

 brickwork is calculated to be 16 tons 7 cwts. 2 qrs. 1 lb., in the fol- 

 lowing quantities : 



tons. 



4500 bricks 9 



81 cubic feet of sand . . S 

 40 ft. 6 in. of chalk lime . . 2 



cwta. 



18 



8 







qr. 

 



8 



Ibi. 



9 

 20 







15 



Among the most remarkable specimens of ancient brickwork are the 

 masses on the Palatine hill and the baths of Caracalla. The Roman 

 brickwork in large works is excellent : the bricks are very hard, and so 

 firmly cemented, that they cannot be separated without the greatest 

 difficulty. Great care has been shown in the execution of the work ; 

 and one building, still existing near the grotto of Egeria, has pilasters, 

 cornices, modillions, dentils, and other ornaments finely cut in a 

 yi-llowinh brick closely cemented together and still in high preservation. 

 The most recent specimens of ancient Roman brickwork are the alls 

 which surround Rome: there are also many specimens sc,v 

 throughout Italy. The bricks being generally thin and of the nature 

 of tiles, this circumstance diminished the difficulty of constructing 

 arches, of which the great arches of the Temple of Peace in the 

 Forum Komanum are remarkable examples. The Tauk Kesra at 



