Brick as a building material has been known for a very long time. Mention of it can be found in the Bible, in stories about the times after the Great Flood.

erection brick houses is rooted deep in history, in any country there are many such buildings, whose age is more than a dozen years. There are long-lived houses built 150 or even 200 years ago. Brick has always been the most sought after and popular building material in the world.

Why did builders love this material so much? There are several clear benefits here.

Strength

In construction, M100, M125, M150, M175 are used. The numerical index after the letter indicates strength and indicates that this species withstands a load of 100, 125, 150, 175 kg / cm 2. The M100 brand is suitable for building a house with a height of 3 floors.

Durability

A house that has a good thickness of brick, built from high-quality material and according to all the rules of house building, can stand for more than a century.

Environmental friendliness

The composition of the brick includes natural substances that do not contain harmful impurities - clay, sand, water. And it also allows air to pass through, "breathes" and does not rot.

Versatility, aesthetics

And the styling technology brings to life the most daring architectural projects. Individual style brick house give it originality and uniqueness.

Frost resistance

Extensive experience in the use of bricks in construction and testing it in different climatic zones confirm that this material has high frost resistance, which is designated F25, F35, F50.

The digital index indicates the amount of freezing and thawing of a brick in a state saturated with water, after which irreversible changes begin in it.

fire safety

Brick is a refractory material that complies with all fire extinguishing norms and rules, and the thickness of the walls in a brick house will not allow fire to spread from room to room.

Soundproofing

Brick is a good insulating material, much better than wood and reinforced concrete panels. in a brick house it protects well from street noise.

Minimum wall thickness

One of the main characteristics of a brick house is the thickness of the walls. The size of an ordinary ceramic brick is 250x120x65 mm. Building codes and regulations take a multiple of 12 (the length of half a brick) to determine the thickness of the walls.

It turns out that the thickness of the wall is equal to:

in half a brick - 120 mm;
in one brick - 250 mm;
one and a half bricks - 380 mm (10 mm is added to the thickness of the seam between the bricks);
in two bricks - 510 mm (10 mm per seam);
in two and a half bricks - 640 mm.

the same building codes the minimum thickness of a brick wall is clearly defined. It should be in the range from 1/20 to 1/25 of the floor height. A simple calculation shows that if at 3 meters, then the walls should be at least 150 mm thick. Brick wall, whose thickness is less than 150 mm, suitable for simple internal partitions.

External load-bearing brick walls

The strength and stability of the entire building is provided by the outer walls. They are called load-bearing because they carry the entire load acting on the building. They bear the weight of ceilings, higher walls, roofs, operational load (furniture, things, people) and snow.

The starting point for any masonry is the corners of the building. A lighthouse is made on each of them (an angle is removed from the bricks, aligned along the vertical and axes of the building). Corner masonry rises 6-8 rows. It is recommended to reinforce the corners of the outer walls with a metal mesh made of wire with a diameter of 6 mm. Then, between the lighthouses at the level of the upper brick, a twine is stretched along the edge of the wall, which indicates the outer axis of the structure. Brickwork is carried out from one lighthouse to another, the thickness of the walls consists of an outer, inner and middle part, which is filled with insulation or butyat with other material. A brick on the wall is laid with dressing, after three or five rows of spoons, one bonder is needed. There are many patterns for laying bricks. Depending on the chosen scheme, the arrangement of the spoon and poke rows may differ. The same applies to the seams, they should not be located one above the other. With the help of halves and quarters, the brick is easy to shift to the side relative to the bottom row. After laying several rows, the verticality of the wall is checked with a level to avoid various curvature of the plane, which can spoil the aesthetic appearance of the building.

The thickness of the brick load-bearing wall is selected based on the characteristics of the environment and its own capabilities. But for any calculations, it should not be less than 380 mm (laying "one and a half bricks"). In the northern regions, the thickness is usually increased to 510 mm, or even up to 640 mm.

To reduce the load of the walls on the foundation and facilitate the construction, the outer walls are laid from hollow bricks. It is unprofitable to make continuous masonry, it is expensive and reduces the thermal protection of the building.

Wall insulation

Often they use the technology by which masonry is carried out with the construction of wells. It consists of two walls 140-270 mm apart from each other with obligatory dressing of rows every 650-1200 mm. The wells between the masonry are filled with insulation with mandatory tamping. It can be lightweight concrete, slag, expanded clay, sawdust, etc. When using them, the thermal protection of the building increases by 10-15%.

The most effective insulation is foam. Its use allows you to reduce the thickness of the walls to 290 mm (brick 120 mm + foam 50 mm + brick 120 mm). And if you leave a well 100 mm wide (for two layers of foam laid with overlapping seams), then such a wall in terms of thermal conductivity will be equivalent to a solid masonry 640 mm thick. A brick wall, the thickness of which is 290 mm, must be additionally reinforced with meshes in 5 rows.

To make housing even more comfortable, arrange additional insulation outside or inside the building. Expanded polystyrene, polystyrene foam, mineral wool and other soft or hard materials are suitable here. With them, you can increase up to 100%.

Internal load-bearing walls

Buildings with a length or width of more than five and a half meters are divided along the long side by internal load-bearing walls. On them, the end support of the ceilings or coatings of the structure is made.

The thickness of the internal brick walls is made less than the external one, because insulation is not required here, but not less than 250 mm (laying "in brick"). All load-bearing walls, both external and internal, are interconnected and form, along with the foundation and the roof, a single structure - the skeleton of the building. All loads acting on the structure are evenly distributed over its area. The joints of the outer and inner walls are reinforced with meshes or separate reinforcement through 5 rows of masonry. The piers are arranged at least 510 mm wide and they are also reinforced. If it is necessary to put the pillars as load-bearing supports, then the cross section of the structures should be at least 380x380 mm (masonry "one and a half bricks"). They are also reinforced with wire 3-6 mm through 5 rows along the height of the masonry.

Partitions

These walls produce a zonal division of the space of large rooms. Since the partitions are not load-bearing, and no loads other than their own weight act on them, here you can choose which thickness of the brick wall is more suitable for this room.

Partitions 120 mm thick (“half-brick” masonry) are arranged mainly between rooms and bathrooms. If you want to separate a small room such as a pantry, then it is possible to lay out a wall with a thickness of 65 mm (masonry "on edge"). But such a partition must be reinforced with 3 mm wire every 2-3 rows of masonry in height, if its length is more than one and a half meters.

To lighten the weight and reduce the load on the ceiling, the partitions are made of hollow or porous ceramic bricks.

Masonry mortar

If the external masonry of the wall is carried out “for jointing”, then the quality, composition and proper application of the mortar determine how aesthetically the brick wall will look. The thickness of the seams should be the same everywhere, and they must be filled completely, voids are not allowed. The solution must be prepared before the start of work and applied within two hours. For plasticity, clay, lime or marble pulp is added to it.

For horizontal joints, a thickness of 10 to 15 mm is used, for vertical - from 8 to 10 mm.

When building a brick building, you need to know that any deviation from the project can subsequently lead to unpredictable consequences. The stability and strength of brick load-bearing walls can be easily reduced if:

reduce their thickness;
increase their height;
increase the area or number of openings;
reduce the width of the walls between the openings;
arrange additional niches or channels in the walls;
use heavier floors.

A brick wall, the thickness of which is less than the design, must be additionally reinforced.

All changes in the project must be made by specialists, this cannot be done independently.

Buildings made of brick have obvious advantages that put them a step above houses made of any other materials. Executed by original projects they have their own style and charm. And also this a good option for investing and transferring real estate to descendants by inheritance.

Brick is a popular building material with good strength. It has an excellent bearing capacity: a wall made of 1 brick (according to construction terminology), absolutely calmly withstands significant loads. On such a structure, you can fearlessly support ceilings made of concrete, reinforced concrete, wood, and install several floors on it.

Brick walls are one of the most reliable and durable.

Thicker walls, for example, 2 bricks, are usually constructed in order to increase the thermal insulation characteristics of the building or in order to improve the insulation qualities. This may be justified if the building is located near factories, highways, airports that produce a lot of noise, as well as under not the best climatic conditions in certain regions.

The good thermal conductivity of this building material allows the use of various options to improve the insulating qualities of the building. This is convenient in that you can determine the optimal load that will be placed on the foundation. Materials that can be used for additional thermal insulation, vary in weight. Due to the installation of materials for insulation, the load on the base increases. This means that the foundation will require an increase in strength, which will increase the construction budget. For most buildings, the construction of the foundation costs a third of the budget.

What are the advantages of brick buildings?

Brick has many advantages over other materials used for building walls. Among their advantages, as mentioned above, low thermal conductivity and good strength. But these excellent qualities are lost if the wall does not have an optimal thickness for operating conditions.

The thickness of the building wall is an important indicator that affects both the quality factor of the built structure, and its bearing capacity, and other characteristics of the structure, such as functionality, thermal insulation and vibration isolation, and the ability to protect against noise.

If necessary, you can use small calculations to determine which one should be chosen. According to the standards adopted in construction, the thickness of a wall made of ordinary brick is obtained corresponding to half of the product. The walls and the name are depending on this parameter - in half a brick, in 1 brick, in 2 bricks.

Of these, a half-brick wall has a thickness of 12 cm, 1 brick - 25 cm, one and a half - 38 cm, and the so-called wall of 2 bricks turns out to be 51 cm thick. concrete can be placed in brick layers.

Usually, all the walls of the building located outside, as well as the bearing ones, are built in one and a half bricks or more. Partitions are built in half a brick or even a quarter - a construction of 2 bricks will not work.

The most economically advantageous is the implementation of a wall of 1 brick. But far from everywhere it is possible to build in this way due to seasonal temperature fluctuations, which can be quite sharp. It is possible in such cases to make another masonry, arrange an additional layer of thermal insulation, an air cushion. It is customary to carry out load-bearing walls with a greater thickness, and in some cases create additional reinforcement through reinforcement.

It is also possible to erect walls, the thickness of which will vary. When constructing a high-rise building, after laying out the walls of 5-6 floors, the width of the subsequent ones is often “cut off” by half a brick. This is done in order to reduce the load that the building exerts on the foundation and lower floors.

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Wall thickness calculation

width 120 mm;
length 250 mm;
thickness 65 mm.

The weight of one cubic meter of brick is approximately 1800 kg. When making calculations, it is necessary to take into account the climatic features of the area where the construction is being carried out. For example, if in winter the temperature reaches -25 ° C, the width of the outer walls should be calculated as 51 cm (in 2 bricks) or 64 cm.

With such a feature of building materials, it is easy to perform calculations and find out what is expected to build a house. For example, construction is planned to be carried out in an area where severe frosts are common. At the same time, the building is planned to be erected without the installation of an insulating layer. In this case, the thickness of the walls should be 51 cm. This means that the masonry should be made 2 bricks thick.

Knowing the length and height of the structural element of the building, it is easy to calculate the area for each separately. Next, we find out the area of \u200b\u200bthe brick and calculate the amount of material that will be required to build a wall with specific parameters. Multiply the amount calculated for one of them by the weight of one brick - you get the weight of the wall.

1 m³ of brick has a weight of 1800 kg. If we take the weight of the wall as X, we can calculate right amount building material (Y): X / 1800 \u003d Y (m³). If you find out the price of bricks, and it can be different depending on the suppliers, then you can very simply calculate the total amount that the construction of the building will cost.

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How should brickwork be done?

Brick is a unified building material that has been used in construction for many years. The most popular is single, with dimensions of 250X120X65 mm. When building, thickened modular bricks are also used, their dimensions are slightly different and amount to 250X120X88 mm. Indicators such as length and width are the same for different types of bricks. The base size is considered to be a length of 250 mm. In order to calculate the thickness of the masonry, it is necessary to build on it.

Masonry, which the builders call 1 brick, has a thickness of 250 mm. Bricks in such a masonry will not fit one next to the other. At this method laying the wall will not be stable. Individual elements in it will be held only by the solution, whose binding power may not be enough. Laying is carried out in accordance with certain rules. Among them is ensuring the correct dressing for connecting sutures that are placed vertically. It is necessary to ensure that the bricks of the upper row overlap the vertical connecting seams between the bricks in the lower row. When dressing, not only the strength of the walls increases, but the loads are distributed more evenly.

When laying in 1 brick, both the butt and spoon sides of the bricks can be turned outward. Compared to half-brick or quarter-brick walls, they won't be as strong. The construction is not particularly economical, more material will be used up, and a lot of mortar will be used.

Basically, such masonry is used for load-bearing walls. For others, you can choose one and a half or two bricks. From the point of view of heat conservation, buildings made in this way have a greater inertia.

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For work you will need:

bricks;
building level;
plumb;
binding solution;
a nylon cord, the length of which should exceed the length of the wall being built by 40 cm;
Master OK;
device for cutting bricks;
order;
stitching.

For masonry, you can use different types dressings:

ligation of the transverse seams does not allow the bricks to move along the wall;
dressing of the seams located vertically;
ligation of transverse seams will not allow the wall to delaminate vertically. And the load along the length of the wall is more uniform.

Produced in a single-row or multi-row system.

When choosing a single-row system, one row of bricks is laid out so that the spoon surface “looks” outward. The next row is laid out with the bonding part of the bricks. Transverse seams should be shifted by ¼ bricks, longitudinal - by 1/2.

With a multi-row dressing system, the alternation of rows laid with the spoon part outward with those laid with the butt part outward will go through not one, but several spoon ones. For such a system, there are certain rules of alternation. For single-type bricks, masonry is used in 6 uniform rows, which are tied with a bond row.

With thickened products, the number of spoon rows changes to 5, then there is a row of bonded arrangement. The system, called single-row, can be used when the thickness of the walls is less than the length of the brick. Multi-row is used for walls at least one brick thick. With such a connection, it is possible to ensure the strength of the wall and evenly distribute the load inside it.

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Advantages and disadvantages of brick walls

A wall folded into 1 brick is capable of withstanding quite significant loads, provided that they are evenly distributed over the surface.

Like others building materials, bricks have both advantages and disadvantages. For example, heat-shielding qualities in comparison with wooden walls are not particularly good. A 16-20 cm thick wall built of wooden building materials is able to maintain the same temperature in the building as 64 cm brick walls.

It turns out that in order to ensure a normal temperature regime in the building, the walls must be laid out as thick as possible. But when they are made with a thickness of more than 1 brick, the consumption of expensive building materials is very large. An example would be a 2 brick masonry. Therefore, to reduce costs, builders resort to various tricks: for example, they use hollow bricks. Another option is to make two masonry in 1 brick and arrange an air cushion between them, where the insulating material will be placed. At the same time, the walls are supposed to be plastered with a special composition based on concrete, the so-called warm plaster. That is, a thick brick wall will be economically unprofitable only if it is solid.

When laying bricks, it is necessary to monitor the thickness of the joints, maximum thickness which should not exceed 15 mm.

When thickening the walls and the foundation, you will need a stronger one, which will lead to additional costs. Therefore, when building a house, they try to turn to the manufacture of air cushions. The space between the masonry should be at least 5 cm. With such a wall arrangement, even with its small width, heat is well preserved inside the house, and material consumption becomes 15-25% less.

Another way to reduce the width brickwork- warming it with felt. At the same time, the efficiency of the walls in terms of retaining heat will be increased by 30%. If the felt is replaced with foam, the efficiency can be increased by a factor of 2 or more. In order to keep warm, other materials can be used: sawdust, tuff, mortar with filler in the form of slag. The use of such materials will help increase the heat-shielding characteristics of the building by 15%.

The most economical of the wall structures is masonry, made in the form of a well. It consists of 2 half-brick walls, which are located at a short distance from each other and are interconnected in a special way. The connections are made as horizontal and vertical brick bridges that form closed wells. They will need to be filled. Expanded clay, slag, lightweight concrete are suitable for this.

When choosing what the thickness of a brick wall should be, it should be borne in mind that this material has a high degree of thermal inertia.

That is, a wall made of ordinary material will slowly heat up, but it will also cool very slowly. Temperature fluctuations in houses built of such bricks per day will be insignificant. But with a large wall thickness (for example, 2 bricks), it will take a lot of fuel to warm it up, especially if the building has been without heating for a long time in cold weather, as happens with country houses.

One of the main issues that is solved during the construction of a private house is what wall thickness to choose. Everyone wants to save money, so the 370 mm thickness of brickwork indicated in the project, for example, “look wrong,” because “the neighbor built walls of 190 mm and nothing.” Indeed, in recent times, during the construction of private houses, the walls are often made not wide - from bricks of 250 mm, but from heavy concrete blocks and 200 mm. The same values are sometimes given by projects low-rise buildings. Is this wall thickness always suitable?

What determines the thickness of the wall of the house, what thickness of the wall of the house to prefer, and what to look for when choosing this parameter for your own home ... ..

What loads act on the wall of the house

The external load-bearing walls of the house are subject to a vertical compressive load formed by the weight of the masonry itself and the floors located above, roofs, snow, constant and variable operating loads ...
A simple calculation shows that a wall with a thickness of 190 - 250 mm made of bricks or heavy concrete blocks laid on a conventional cement mortar, has a large margin of compressive strength. Such a wall can withstand significantly higher compressive loads.
Loads directed horizontally act on the walls, planes tending to overturn them. Horizontal loads can be caused by wind pressure, so all houses are designed for wind loads. Also, a significant lateral load on the wall can occur due to expansion from the roof truss system. The wall must be resistant to certain values of lateral loads. The thrust from the roof elements must be compensated in the roof structure itself, for example, see
Various bending and torsional moments act on the wall. The nature of their occurrence may be different, for example, due to subsidence of the foundation, due to greater pressure from ceilings or facade finishes on the edges of the wall, due to irregularities in the masonry and the resulting slope of the wall, etc. Forces for bending and torsion in various directions may be higher than strength of thin walls. Bearing walls made of bricks and concrete blocks with a thickness of 190 - 250 mm do not have a large margin of safety for bending loads. Such a wall thickness for this factor should be confirmed by the calculation for each specific house design. At the same time, according to practical experience, a wall with a thickness of 350 mm or more has a significant margin of safety in the most various options building structures.

Those. big influence the choice of wall thickness is provided by the specific design of the house. Let us consider in more detail the factors that significantly affect the choice of wall thickness.

How the design affects the strength of the choice of thickness

The stability and strength of the wall of the building is mainly influenced by its design. The most significant factors are:

Wall thickness. With a decrease in thickness, the probability of wall failure increases significantly, primarily due to bending loads.
Wall height. The higher the wall, the greater the load acting on it, the less its stability.
The area of the openings in the wall. Openings significantly weaken the wall. The larger the opening, the less stable the wall.
Number of openings (wall width between openings). The greater the total area of all openings, the narrower the wall gaps between the openings, the lower the stability and safety margin of the wall.
The presence of backwater from an adjacent load-bearing wall. The greater the span of the wall without lateral support of the perpendicular (adjacent) wall, the less stability of this section. Interlocking walls (with interlocking masonry) increase the stability of a particular section of the wall.
The presence of reinforcing belts. To increase stability, reinforcing belts are laid in the wall, various masonry reinforcements, which significantly increase the stability of walls made of piece materials.
The presence of gates, internal channels, niches, etc. in the wall. The depth and length of various discontinuities in the wall are determined by the project and confirmed by the calculation.

In addition to structural factors, the stability of the wall is influenced by building factors or the “human factor”. So, the strength of any wall will change if you change the brand, class of bricks, blocks or masonry mortar .... Changes in materials and structures of adjunctions, roofs or even foundations are possible. All this will affect the stability of the walls of the house.

What violations significantly reduce stability

Blocks, bricks with a lower strength class than provided for by the project are used. A masonry mortar is used, the composition of which differs from that designed.
Masonry curvatures are allowed more than the normative ones. A large vertical slope of the wall is allowed. The horizontal straightness of the masonry was not observed.
The seams between the blocks are not completely filled with mortar.
Increased seam thickness. The number of seams has been increased and the size of piece material has been reduced, pieces of bricks and blocks have been applied.
Docking of ceilings (floor beams) with walls using anchors was not completed, their number was reduced, their location was changed.
Bandaging of load-bearing walls was performed incorrectly, bandaging density was reduced.
The reinforcement of the walls according to the project was not completed, the number of rows was reduced, the grade of the material was changed, etc.
The construction of the foundation, roof, and other adjacent structures was damaged, as a result of which significantly greater bending, overturning forces were allowed ...

During the construction process, situations arise when the required amount of material with the required qualities is not available. Also often construction teams want to simplify the work and design and offer to "make it simpler and more reliable." The owner needs to control the construction process and compliance with the requirements of the documentation. Avoid deviations from the project, norms and rules. All changes in the design of walls and ceilings must be agreed with the designer. Changes made must be certified by signatures, seals of responsible persons and organizations.

This is especially important for thin walls, in which the margin of safety is small. Errors and shortcomings in the construction process drastically reduce the already small stability of a thin wall, it becomes possible to destroy it.

What is the thickness of the walls in most cases

Extensive experience in the construction of low-rise private houses from piece materials has been gained high density. If you use heavy brick or concrete on a cement-sand mortar, then we can say that the load-bearing walls of the next thickness will have satisfactory stability.

For one storey building walls with a thickness of 200 - 250 mm are applicable. The same thickness of the walls can be at the top floor of a multi-storey building.
For a house with two floors, the wall thickness of 200 - 250 mm must be confirmed by calculations certified by the design organization. Also, the project should be based on soil studies of the building site. Such a project should be carried out by qualified specialist builders. Qualified technical supervision of construction must be carried out.
For a two and three storey house, the load-bearing walls of the lower floors with a thickness of 350 mm or more will have a sufficient margin of stability to compensate for the influence of some unfavorable factors.

The walls of private houses, cottages and other low-rise buildings are usually made of two or three layers with an insulating layer. The insulation layer is located on the bearing part of the wall made of bricks or small blocks. Developers often ask questions:
“Is it possible to save on wall thickness?”
“But why not make the load-bearing part of the wall of the house thinner than the neighbor’s or what is provided for by the project?

On the construction sites and in projects see a load-bearing wall made of bricks with a thickness of 250 mm., and from blocks - even 200 mm. became commonplace.

The wall was too thin for this house.

Loads and effects on the walls of the house

Design standards (SNiP II-22-81 "Stone and reinforced masonry structures"), regardless of the results of the calculation, limit the minimum thickness of load-bearing stone walls for masonry in the range from 1/20 to 1/25 of the floor height.

Thus, with a floor height of 2.5 ... 3 m. wall thickness in any case should be more than 120 - 150 mm.

A vertical compressive load acts on a load-bearing wall from the weight of the wall itself and overlying structures (walls, ceilings, roofs, snow, operational load). Design resistance the compression of masonry from bricks and blocks depends on the brand of brick or class of blocks in terms of compressive strength and brand of mortar.

For low-rise buildings, as calculations show, the compressive strength of a wall with a thickness of 200-250 mm brick is provided with a large margin. For a block wall, with an appropriate choice of block class, there are usually no problems either.

In addition to vertical loads, horizontal loads act on the wall (section of the wall), caused, for example, by wind pressure or thrust transmission from the roof truss system.

Besides, torques acting on the wall which tend to rotate the section of the wall. These moments are due to the fact that the load on the wall, for example, from floor slabs or from a layer of insulation and facade cladding, is not applied in the center of the wall, but is shifted to the side faces. The walls themselves have deviations from the vertical and straightness of the masonry, which also leads to additional stresses in the wall material.

Horizontal loads and torques create bending load in the material on each section of the load-bearing wall.

How to make walls strong and stable

Strength, stability of walls 200-250 thick mm and less, to bending loads does not have a large margin. Therefore, the stability of the walls of the specified thickness for a particular building must be confirmed by calculation.

To build a house with walls of this thickness, it is necessary to choose a ready-made project with the appropriate wall thickness and material. Correction of the project with other parameters for the selected thickness and material of the walls must be entrusted to specialists.

The practice of designing and building residential low-rise buildings has shown that load-bearing walls made of bricks or blocks with a thickness of more than 350 - 400 mm. have a good margin of safety and stability, both to compressive and bending loads, in the vast majority of building designs.

The walls of the house, external and internal, resting on the foundation, form, together with the foundation and the ceiling, a single spatial structure (skeleton), which jointly resists loads and impacts.

Creation of a durable and economical building frame is an engineering task that requires high qualification, pedantry and culture from the construction participants.

A house with thin walls is more sensitive to deviations from the project, from the norms and rules of construction.

The builder needs to understand that strength, stability of walls is reduced if:

the thickness of the wall is reduced;
the height of the wall increases;
the area of openings in the wall increases;
the width of the wall between the openings decreases;
the length of the free section of the wall increases, which does not have backwater, interface with the transverse wall;
channels or niches are arranged in the wall;

The strength, stability of the walls changes in one direction or another if:

change the material of the walls;
change the type of overlap;
change the type, dimensions of the foundation;

Defects that reduce the strength, stability of the walls

Violations and deviations from the requirements of the project, norms and rules of construction, which builders allow (in the absence of proper control by the developer), reducing the strength, stability of the walls:

wall material (brick, blocks, mortar) with reduced strength compared to the requirements of the project is used.
the anchoring of the floor (slabs, beams) with walls according to the project is not performed with metal ties;
masonry deviations from the vertical, displacement of the wall axis exceed the established technological standards;
deviations of the straightness of the masonry surface exceed the established technological standards;
masonry seams are not fully filled with mortar. The thickness of the seams exceeds the established norms.
excessively many halves of bricks, blocks with chips are used in the masonry;
insufficient dressing of the masonry of the inner walls with the outer ones;
gaps in the mesh reinforcement of the masonry;

In all of the above cases of changing the dimensions or materials of walls and ceilings, the developer must contact professional designers to make changes to the project documentation. Changes in the project must be certified by their signature.

Your foreman's suggestions like "let's make it easier" must be agreed with a professional designer. Control the quality construction works made by contractors. When performing work on your own, do not allow the above construction defects.

The norms of the rules for the production and acceptance of work (SNiP 3.03.01-87) allow: deviations of the walls due to the displacement of the axes (10 mm), by one floor deviation from the vertical (10 mm), according to the displacement of the supports of the floor slabs in the plan (6 ... 8 mm) etc.

The thinner the walls, the more they are loaded, the less they have a margin of safety. The load on the wall multiplied by the "mistakes" of designers and builders may be excessive (pictured).

The processes of destruction of the wall do not always appear immediately, it happens years after the completion of construction.

Block house with wall thickness 180 mm.

House design principles minimum thickness walls are clearly visible in the following photos. In the construction of a house with thin walls, elements of monolithic reinforced concrete are widely used.

The simple architectural form of the house allows the use of commonly available materials for construction and helps to optimize construction costs.

The house has 114 m 2 useful area and is designed for a family of 4 -5 people. The attic has three bedrooms and a bathroom.

On the ground floor along the southern facade with large windows there is a spacious living room combined with a dining room and a kitchen. In the other part there is an office, a bathroom and a technical room.

Silicate blocks were used for laying the exterior walls of the house. Wall thickness 180 mm. Thin walls increase usable area at home.

The house is designed in such a way that it has no interior load-bearing walls. Inside the house there is a load-bearing beam that rests on two columns inside and two columns built into the masonry of the outer walls. The beam itself and the columns are made of monolithic reinforced concrete. This solution allows you to perform a free layout of the premises on the floor.

To increase the resistance of the walls to loads, there is a monolithic reinforced concrete belt at the level of the first floor ceiling. A section of the wall with wide, high windows and narrow piers on the southern facade is also made of monolithic reinforced concrete.

The roof of the house rests on a monolithic reinforced concrete belt over the walls of the attic. In the attic walls of the attic, on which the mauerlat of the roof rests, reinforced concrete columns are arranged. The need for a device in the outer walls of the columns is due to the fact that these walls do not have cross-links inside the attic. Absence transverse walls allows you to perform a free layout of the attic space.

Formwork for the installation of a monolithic column in the outer wall of the house. The column serves as a support for the load-bearing beam inside the house.

Formwork for monolithic columns along the edges of wide window openings.

In the background, formwork for columns inside the house is visible. The two columns inside are on the same axis as the columns built into the outer walls.

The ceilings in the house are prefabricated-monolithic often ribbed and are on the same level with the monolithic reinforced concrete belt of the walls.

A monolithic ceiling, made integrally with a monolithic belt of walls, creates, together with the walls, a single and solid spatial structure - the frame of the house.

Attic walls of the attic with a height of 1.3 m., on which the roof Mauerlat rests, are reinforced with monolithic columns built into the masonry.

Formwork for the installation of monolithic columns and attic wall belts.
Southern facade of the house with openings for tall large windows. Inside, a monolithic beam is visible, which rests on two columns inside and two columns built into the masonry of the outer walls.

The rafters of each roof slope at the top rest on a truss, the ends of which, in turn, lie on opposite gable walls of the attic. This decision made it possible to abandon the intermediate racks of the ridge beam. As a result, the space inside the attic is free for planning. Roof slope angle 42 o.

Foundation of the house- monolithic reinforced concrete slab with a thickness of 250 mm. The foundation slab rests on the insulation layer. The formwork is fixed from a heater. Along the perimeter of the foundation, under the blind area, insulation boards are laid. This solution eliminates the freezing of the soil under the foundation.

Wall thickness 200-250 mm of brick or blocks, it is certainly advisable to choose for a one-story house or for the upper floor of a multi-story house.

A house with two or three floors with a wall thickness of 200-250 mm. build when available finished project tied to the ground conditions of the construction site, qualified builders, and an independent technical supervision behind construction.

In other conditions, for the lower floors of two-three-story houses, walls with a thickness of at least 350 mm.

To ensure the strength and stability of a private house with a minimum wall thickness, the installation of a monolithic reinforced concrete belt has become the standard. The belt is placed along the top of the external and internal load-bearing walls on each floor of the house. Beams and floor slabs, roof Mauerlat must be connected (anchored) with metal ties to a reinforced concrete belt on the walls of the house.

How to make load-bearing walls only 190 thick mm.,

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Exterior load-bearing walls should, at a minimum, be designed for strength, stability, local collapse and resistance to heat transfer. To find out how thick should a brick wall be , you need to calculate it. In this article, we will consider the calculation bearing capacity brickwork, and in the following articles - the rest of the calculations. Not to miss the exit new article, subscribe to the newsletter and you will find out what the thickness of the wall should be after all the calculations. Since our company is engaged in the construction of cottages, that is low-rise construction, then we will consider all calculations for this category.

carriers walls are called that perceive the load from floor slabs, coatings, beams, etc. resting on them.

You should also take into account the brand of brick for frost resistance. Since everyone builds a house for himself, at least for a hundred years, then with a dry and normal humidity regime of the premises, a grade (M rz) of 25 and above is accepted.

When building a house, cottage, garage, outbuildings and other structures with dry and normal humidity conditions, it is recommended to use hollow bricks for external walls, since its thermal conductivity is lower than that of solid bricks. Accordingly, in the heat engineering calculation, the thickness of the insulation will turn out to be less, which will save cash when buying it. Solid brick for external walls should be used only if it is necessary to ensure the strength of the masonry.

Reinforcement of masonry allowed only in the case when the increase in the grade of brick and mortar does not allow to provide the required bearing capacity.

An example of the calculation of a brick wall.

The bearing capacity of brickwork depends on many factors - on the brand of brick, brand of mortar, on the presence of openings and their sizes, on the flexibility of the walls, etc. The calculation of the bearing capacity begins with the definition of the design scheme. When calculating walls for vertical loads, the wall is considered to be supported by hinged-fixed supports. When calculating walls for horizontal loads (wind), the wall is considered to be rigidly clamped. It is important not to confuse these diagrams, since the moment diagrams will be different.

Choice of design section.

In blank walls, the section I-I at the level of the bottom of the floor with the longitudinal force N and the maximum bending moment M is taken as the calculated one. It is often dangerous section II-II, since the bending moment is slightly less than the maximum and is equal to 2/3M, and the coefficients m g and φ are minimal.

In walls with openings, the section is taken at the level of the bottom of the lintels.

Let's look at the section I-I.

From a previous article Collection of loads on the wall of the first floor we take the obtained value of the total load, which includes the loads from the floor of the first floor P 1 \u003d 1.8t and the overlying floors G \u003d G P + P 2 +G 2 = 3.7t:

N \u003d G + P 1 \u003d 3.7t + 1.8t \u003d 5.5t

The floor slab rests on the wall at a distance a=150mm. The longitudinal force P 1 from the overlap will be at a distance a / 3 = 150 / 3 = 50 mm. Why 1/3? Because the stress diagram under the support section will be in the form of a triangle, and the center of gravity of the triangle is just 1/3 of the support length.

The load from the overlying floors G is considered to be applied in the center.

Since the load from the floor slab (P 1) is not applied in the center of the section, but at a distance from it equal to:

e = h / 2 - a / 3 = 250mm / 2 - 150mm / 3 = 75 mm = 7.5 cm,

then it will create a bending moment (M) in section I-I. Moment is the product of force on the shoulder.

M = P 1 * e = 1.8t * 7.5cm = 13.5t * cm

Then the eccentricity of the longitudinal force N will be:

e 0 \u003d M / N \u003d 13.5 / 5.5 \u003d 2.5 cm

Since the load-bearing wall is 25cm thick, the calculation should take into account the random eccentricity e ν = 2cm, then the total eccentricity is:

e 0 \u003d 2.5 + 2 \u003d 4.5 cm

y=h/2=12.5cm

When e 0 \u003d 4.5 cm< 0,7y=8,75 расчет по раскрытию трещин в швах кладки можно не производить.

The strength of the masonry of an eccentrically compressed element is determined by the formula:

N ≤ m g φ 1 R A c ω

Odds m g and φ 1 in the section under consideration, I-I are equal to 1.