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BSB 402

WALL

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the class, students should be able to: Identify types of wall Determine the properties and material use for wall Understand the construction of each types of wall

A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into rooms, or protects or delineates a space in the open air. There are three principal types of structural walls: building walls, exterior boundary walls, and retaining walls.

Building walls
Building walls have two main purposes: to support roofs and ceilings, and to divide space, providing security against intrusion and weather. Such walls most often have three or more separate components. In today's construction, a building's wall will usually have the structural elements (such as 24 studs in a house wall), insulation, and finish elements, or surface (such as drywall or paneling).

In addition, the wall may house various types of electrical wiring or plumbing. Electrical outlets are usually mounted in walls. Building walls frequently become works of art externally and internally, such as when featuring mosaic work or when murals are painted on them; or as design foci when they exhibit textures or painted finishes for effect. In architecture and civil engineering, the term curtain wall refers to the facade of a building which is not load-bearing but functions as decoration, finish, front, face, or history preservation.

Load-bearing wall
A load-bearing wall or bearing wall, is one in which a wall of a structure bears the weight and force resting upon it, conducting the vertical load from the upper structure to the foundation. A bearing wall is opposed to a curtain wall, which uses the strength of a sub-wall to bear the weight of the curtain such as the brick facade on a skyscraper, and superstructure, usually a steel frame, to carry the weight of the floors and walls inside the curtain walls protection.

The materials most often used to construct load-bearing walls in large buildings are concrete, block, or brick.

Application
Depending on the type of building and the number of stories, load-bearing walls are gauged to the appropriate thickness to carry the weight above it. Without doing so, it is possible that an outer wall could become unstable if the load exceeds the strength of the material used, potentially leading to the collapse of the structure.

Housing
In housing, bearing walls in the most common light construction method "platform framing", each sit on wall sill plates which are mated to the lowest base plates, the two together making up a double width 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 laid horizontally atop one another, where the sills are bolted to the masonry or concrete foundation, and the base plate or floor plate is the bottom attachment point of wall studs which rest upon it when the wall is laid up in place.

Using a top and bottom plate, walls can be constructed laying down allowing end nailing then tipped up into place. The wall studs are end nailed between two plates, the top plate or ceiling plate being the name of the one just below the platform of the next floor (at the ceiling). Use of a top and bottom plate, enables walls to be constructed in a section along flat ground or on pavement, then tipped up into place atop the wall sill, improving accuracy and shortening the construction while providing a stronger wall.

ICF
ICF or Insulated Concrete Formwork is a stay-in-place concrete forming system for a steel reinforced, solid poured, monolithic concrete wall. Are used for exterior, interior, loadbearing, and non-load bearing walls in commercial, industrial and residential construction.

A Perfect Fit for ICF


Condominiums Educational & Religious Buildings High-rise Apartments Hotels & Motels Office & Medical Buildings Theaters Severe Weather Shelters

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