The Mortar

If the wall is more than one brick thick, it should be bonded transversely as well as longitudinally. The exact arrangement of the transverse bond varies with the thickness of the wall, but is easily worked out if a little attention is given to it. The face bond is likely to receive more attention than the transverse bond, and it can be readily inspected after the completion of the wall; but the transverse bond can not be examined after a course is laid on top of it, and therefore it should be carefully looked after as the work progresses.

English Bond.

English bond consists of alternate courses of stretchers and headers—see Fig. 75.

In building brick-work in English bond, it is to he borne in mind that there are twice as many vertical or side joints in a course of headers as there are in a course of stretchers; and that unless in laying the headers great care be taken to make these joints very thin, two headers will occupy a little more space than one stretcher, and the correct breaking of the joints—exactly a quarter of a brick—will be lost. This is often the case in carelessly built brick-work, in which at intervals vertical joints are seen nearly or exactly above each other in successive courses.

Flemish Bond.

This consists of a header and a stretcher alter nately in each course, so placed that the outer end of each header lies on the middle of a stretcher in the course below (Fig. 76). The number of vertical joints in each course is the same, so that there is no risk of the correct breaking of the joints by a quarter of a brick being lost; and the wall presents a neater appearance than one built in English bond. The latter, however, when correctly built, is stronger and more stable than Flemish bond.

Prick Veneer.

Not infre quently a brick wall is seen which appears to consist entirely of stretch ers, but which in fact is only a veneer of pressed brick on the front of a wall of common brick.

There are several methods in use for bonding the stretcher veneer to the body of the wall. 1. Pieces of hoop iron are laid flat in the bed joints, about two inches at the rear end being turned at right angles to the length of the strip and inserted into a vertical joint. 2. Strips of galvanized iron, corrugated so as to afford a good hold of the mortar, are laid in the bed joint. 3. A wire bent in the form of a letter S is laid in the horizontal joint. 4. A triangular piece is broken off from each inner corner of all the stretchers in one course, and common brick are laid diagonally across the wall with one corner in the vacant space between two adjoining bricks of the veneer.

The reasons for using a veneer consisting wholly of stretchers are: 1. The thickness of common and pressed brick is not the same, and hence there is alleged difficulty in bringing the face and the backing to the same height. However, with a little care it is possible to bring the face and the back to the same level, and thus permit a course of headers. This can usually be accomplished by varying the thickness of the joints of the backing, or by laying one more or one less number of courses of common brick than of face brick.

2. The face brick are the more expensive, and hence the desire is to use as few of them as possible. 3. It is sometimes claimed that an all-stretcher veneer looks better; but this claim is not in accordance with the principles of good architectural design.

The building regulations of some cities do not allow the counting of -a stretcher veneer as supporting any of the load; and it should not be so counted unless it is well bonded to the backing.