Brick Bonds

Brick Laying Positions

 Bond:
A pattern in which brick is laid.
 Stretcher:
A brick laid horizontally, flat with the long side of the brick exposed on the
outer face of a wall.
 Header:
A brick laid flat with the short end of the brick exposed.
 Soldier:
A brick laid vertically with the narrow ("stretcher") side exposed.
 Sailor:
A brick laid vertically with the broad side exposed.
 Rowlock or Bull Header:
A brick laid on the long, narrow side with the small or "header"
Side exposed.
 Shiner:
A brick laid on the long narrow side with the broad side exposed
The most commonly used cuts:
 Three-quarter bat - stretching: A brick cut to three-quarters of its length,
and laid with its long, narrow side exposed.
 Three-quarter bat - heading: A brick cut to three-quarters of its length,
and laid with its short side exposed.
 Half bat: A brick cut in half across its width.
 Queen closer: A brick cut in half down its width.
Less frequently used cuts are all colored as follows:
 Quarter bat: A brick cut to a quarter of its length.
 Three-quarter queen closer: A queen closer cut to three-quarters of its
length.
 King closer: A brick with one corner cut away, leaving one header face
at half its standard width.

Masonry Joints:
 Weathered joints
 Concave Joints
 Racked Joints
Types of Brick Bonds:
 Stretcher Bond
 Header Bond
 English Bond
 Flemish Bond
 Flemish Garden Wall Bond
 Herringbone Bond
Stretcher Bond:
 Easiest bond to lay & it minimizes the amount of cutting required.
 Originally used for single brick walls.
 It is used for cavity walls as less cutting is required.
 Walls are half brick wide.
 No two adjacent vertical joints should be in line
Header Bond:
 When all the bricks are placed as headers on the faces of the walls, the
bond formed is called “Header Bond”.
 Stretcher bond is used for the construction of walls of half brick thickness
whereas header bond is used for the construction of walls with full brick
thickness which measures 18cm.
 Header bond is also known as heading bond. The overlap is kept equal
to half width of the brick. To achieve this, three quarter brick bats are used
in alternate courses as quoins.
 Header bond is useful when the design demands curved surfaces to be
constructed. In such cases, stretcher bond cannot be used. Apart from
using it for curved surface, it can also be used for the brickwork in
foundations.
English Bond:
 Alternative courses of headers and stretchers.
 One header placed centrally above each stretcher.
 This is a very strong bond when the wall is 1 brick thick (or thicker).
 One of the strongest brickwork patterns.
Flemish Bond:
 Alternate bricks are placed as header and stretcher in every course.
 Each header is placed centrally between the stretchers immediately
above and below. This is not as strong as the English bond at 1 brick
thick.
 It can be successfully applied in cavity wall.
Flemish Garden Wall Bond:
 In this variant of Flemish bond, one header is placed at every third
stretcher.
Herringbone Bond:
 It is a purely decorative bond. It is used in floor and wall panels.