Useful for Civil Engg. undergraduate & Diploma Level Students

1. Brick Masonry
Principles & Significance
Er. S S A Rufai
Principal S S M Polytechnic College/
Faculty S S M College of Engg.& Technology
J&K

2. Systematic arrangement of bricks bonded
together with mortar to form a unified mass is
called Brick Masonry
Due to light weight, uniform size and
easier handling of Bricks, In most of the
construction may it be foundation, load
bearing walls, partition walls ,floors or
even at many times in road or hydraulic
structures Brick masonry is commonly
used now a days .

3. The strength of Brick masonry
work, depends upon the quality of
material used, nature of
workmanship and supervision.

4. For good quality , sound brick masonry construction the following
general principles should be observed :-
•The bricks used should be sound, hard and well
burnt with uniform size, shape and colour.
•The bricks must be soaked in water to ensure
removal of dust , dirt and to reduce absorption of
water from mortar.
•The bricks should be placed in horizontal plane on
a full bed of mortar with their
frogs pointing upwards & should be slightly pressed
into the mortar while laying.
•All the joints should be properly flushed and filled
with mortar so that no cavity is left in between.
-Continued-

5. • Proper bond is maintained throughout the work.
• the maximum height constructed in one day should
not be more than 2 meters.
• All the courses of bricks at plinth, door & window
sill, floor levels, roof levels and at the top of parapets
should invariably be laid with brick on edge or
should be embedded on concrete
• All the joints should be filled upto a depth of 10- 15
mm with mortar
• All the finished masonry work should be kept wet for
at least seven days
• Plastering should be done 28 days of completing
masonry to permit adequate time for shrinkage
which prevents any sort of deformation
-Continued-

6. • The face joints are generally raked to a
minimum depth of 10-15 mm. when
the mortar in the joints is still green. This is
done to provide proper key for the plastering
or pointing
• where plastering or pointing is not desired,
the mortar joints should be struck flush and
finished at the time of laying.
• When an existing wall has to be strengthened
by making it thicker, one brick size
recesses/square meter are cut in staggered
manner in existing wall for proper bondage.

7. If there is a programme for increasing the length
of the wall at a future date, the wall is ended in a
toothed fashion, so that continuous bonding
between the old and the new work is ensured
Bed blocks of stone, concrete or reinforced
concrete should be provided at the ends
of beam carrying heavy loads