WALLS INTRODUCTION A wall is a continuous, usually vertical structure, thin in proportion to its length and height, built to provide

shelter as an external wall or divide buildings into rooms or compartments as an internal wall. The prime function of an external wall is to provide shelter against wind, rain and the daily and seasonal variations of outside temperature normal to its location, for reasonable indoor comfort. FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS The main function of a wall is to enclose and protect a building or to divide space within a building. Other functional requirements that walls must satisfy are 1. Strength and stability 2. Resistance to weather and ground moisture 3. Durability and freedom from maintenance 4. Fire safety 5. Resistance to the passage of heat 6. Resistance to airborne and impact sound 7. Security STRENGTH AND STABILITY The UK Building Regulations 1985 set out functional requirements for buildings and health and safety requirements that may be met through the practical guidance given in 11 Approved Documents that in turn refer to British Standards and Codes of Practice. The guidance given in the Approved Document for walls of brick or block is based on compressive strengths of 5 N/mm2 for bricks and 2.8 N/mm2 for blocks for walls up to two storeysin height, where the storey height is not more than 2.7 m and 7 N/mm2 for bricks and blocks of walls of three storey buildings where the storey height is greater than 2.7m. The stability of a wall may be affected by foundation movement, eccentric loads, lateral forces (wind) and expansion due to temperature and moisture changes. The greater the eccentricity of the loads and the greater the lateral forces, the greater the tendency of a wall to deform, bow out of the vertical and lose stability. To prevent loss of stability, due to deformation under loads, building regulations and structural design calculations set limits to the height or thickness ratios (slenderness ratios) to provide reasonable stiffness against loss of stability due to deformation under load. To provide stiffness against deformation under lateral loads, that is horizontal, restraint is provided by walls and roofs tied to the wall for stiffening up the height of the wall and by intersecting walls and piers that are bonded or tied to the wall as stiffening against deformation along the length of walls.

Irregular profile walls have greater stiffness against deformation than straight walls because of the buttressing effect of the angle of the zigzag, chevron, offset or serpentine profile of the walls.

RESISTANCE TO WEATHER AND GROUND MOISTURE Walls should adequately resist the passage of moisture to the inside of the building. Moisture includes water vapourand liquid water. Moisture may penetrate a wall by absorption of water from the ground that is in contact with foundation walls or through rain falling on the wall. To prevent water, which is absorbed from the ground by foundation walls, rising in a wall to a level where it might affect the inside of a building it is necessary to form a continuous, horizontal layer of some impermeable material in the wall. This impermeable layer, the damp-proof course, is built in, some 150 mm above ground level, to all foundation walls in contact with the ground and is joined to the damp-proof membrane in solid ground floor.

Damp-proof course above ground level in walls.

Slate damp-proof course.

The ability of a wall to resist the passage of water to its inside face depends on its exposure to wind driven rain and the construction of the wall. A wall of facing bricks laid in mortar will absorb an appreciable amount of the rain driven on to it so that the wall must be designed so that the rain is not absorbed to the inside face of the wall. This may be effected by making the wall of sufficient thickness, by applying an external facing of say rendering or slate hanging, or by building the wall as a cavity wall of two skins or leaves with a separating cavity.

Tile hanging DURABILITY AND FREEDOM FROM MAINTENANCE The durability of a wall is indicated by the frequency and extent of the work necessary to maintain minimum functional requirements and an acceptable appearance. Where there are agreed minimum functional requirements such as exclusion of rain and thermal properties, the durability of walls may be compared through the cost of maintenance over a number of years. In time, brick/mortar materials exposed to wind and rain will slowly change colour. This imperceptible change will take place over many years and is described as weathering, that is a change of colourdue to exposure to weather. FIRE SAFETY The premature failure of the structural stability of a building during fires is restricted by specifying a minimum period of fire resistance for the elements of the structure. An element of structure is defined as part of a structural frame, a loadbearingwall and a floor. The requirements are that the elements should resist collapse for a minimum period of time in which the occupants may escape in the event of fire.

Periods of fire resistance vary from 30 minutes for dwelling houses with a top floor not more than 5 m above ground, to 120 minutes for an industrial building, without sprinklers, whose top floor is not more than 30 m above ground. RESISTANCE TO THE PASSAGE OF HEAT Of recent years the expectation of improved thermal comfort in buildings, the need to conserve natural resources and the increasing cost of fuels have led to the necessity for improved insulation against transfer of heat. To maintain reasonable and economical conditions of thermal comfort in buildings, walls should provide adequate insulation against excessive loss or gain of heat, have adequate thermal storage capacity and the internal face of walls should be at a reasonable temperature. RESISTANCE TO THE PASSAGE OF SOUND Sound is transmitted as airborne sound and impact sound. Airborne sound is generated as cyclical disturbances of air from, for example, a radio, that radiate from the source of the sound with diminishing intensity. The vibrations in the air caused by the sound source will set up vibrations in enclosing walls and floors which will cause vibrations of air on the opposite side of walls and floors. Impact sound is caused by contact with a surface, as for example the slamming of a door or footsteps on a floor which set up vibrations in walls and floors that in turn cause vibrations of air around them that are heard as sound. The most effective insulation against airborne sound is a dense barrier such as a solid wall which absorbs the energy of the airborne sound waves. The heavier and more dense the material of the wall the more effective it is in reducing sound. The UK Building Regulations require walls and floors to provide reasonable resistance to airborne sound between dwellings and between machine rooms, tank rooms, refuse chutes and habitable rooms. A solid wall, one brick thick, or a solid cavity wall plastered on both sides is generally considered to provide reasonable sound reduction between dwellings at a reasonable cost. The more dense the material the more readily it will transmit impact sound. A knock on a part of a rigid concrete frame may be heard some considerable distance away. Insulation against impact sound will therefore consist of some absorbent material that will act to cushion the impact, such as a carpet on a floor, or serve to interrupt the path of the sound, as for example the absorbent pads under a floating floor.

JOINTING Jointing is the word used to describe the finish of the mortar joints between bricks, to provide a neat joint in brickwork that is finished fairface. Fairface describes the finished face of brickwork that will not be subsequently covered with plaster, rendering or other finish.

POINTING Pointing is the operation of filling mortar joints with a mortar selected for colourand texture to either new brickwork or to old brickwork. The mortar for pointing is a special mix of lime, cement and sand or stone dust chosen to produce a particular effect of colourand texture. The overall appearance of a fairfacebrick wall can be dramatically altered by the selection of mortar and colouringfor pointing. Pointing is the process of removing semi-set mortar to a depth of about 20mm and replacing it with fresh mortar.