Construction Cost Estimating

      

The functionalities of different types of masonry walls

The Masonry Basics: Masonry belongs to the segment of the construction that comprises of brick, concrete block, structural clay tile, and stone. These materials are retained jointly with mortar. Mortar for masonry is not cement mix, the material can be applied for sidewalks, patios, or driveways. Mortar mix is formed with lime, sand, and gypsum with exact ratios. Conversely, cement mix includes stones in the sand and there is no lime.

Definition of Masonry Walls: Masonry walls are the most long lasting section of any building or structure. Masonry is formed with mortar as a coupling material having singular units of blocks, stones, marbles, rocks, solid squares, tiles, and all that. Mortar is a mixture of restricting material with sand. Restricting materials range from concrete, lime, soil or any other constructing materials.

The Masonry projects and the unit works are performed for several reasons like building constructions, boundaries to detach property line and house wall for structural application.

Types of Masonry Wall: Masonry walls provide good strengths and longevity to the structure as well as sustain indoor and outdoor temperature and safeguard the buildings from the external forces. Based on the motor mix materials, the following types of masonry walls found in building constructions.

Types or Categories:

? Load bearing masonry wall
? Reinforced masonry wall
? Hollow/Cavity masonry wall
? Composite masonry wall
? Post-tensioned masonry wall

Load bearing Masonry Wall: Depending on the nature of loads, this type of masonry wall is categorized as Load Bearing and Non-load Bearing walls.

Load bearing wall stands for a wall that sustains a load enforcing on it depending on weight constructing and the work of foundation structure. Normally, this type of wall is mainly applied for large buildings as for example housing or tall buildings construction work. The main ingredients are brick, concrete block, or stone. Load bearing wall can easily transmit weight from root to the foundation. This type of wall is based on the types of buildings and their number of stories which are examined to the proper thickness to tolerate the weight over them. Load bearing walls are adaptable and considered the traditional framed structure of constructing buildings. The load bearing walls are reinforced or unreinforced masonry walls.

Non-load bearing walls Non load bearing walls don?t carry any load of the main RCC / roof structure of the building. These walls are built up just to operate as partition among several rooms or as exterior covering of a building. In RCC or steal framed buildings, all the vertical load of the roofs is sustained by RCC columns and all or most of the walls are non load bearing.

Reinforced Masonry Wall: Reinforced masonry walls may come as load bearing walls or non-load bearing walls. When reinforcement is provided in walls, it facilitates to resist tension forces and intense compressive loads. The un-reinforced masonry walls are susceptible to cracks and failure against heavy compressive loads and throughout earthquakes. They have little strength to resist lateral forces throughout deep rain and wind. Cracks are also formed in un-reinforced masonry walls because of earth pressure or differential settlement of foundations.

To get rid of such issues, reinforced masonry walls are employed. Reinforcement in walls is provided at desired spacing both horizontally and vertically. The size of reinforcement, their quantity and spacing are settled on the basis of the loads on the walls and structural conditions.

Hollow/Cavity Masonry Wall: The cement blocks are used to build up hollow masonry walls. The purpose of this type of masonry walls is to control dampness from penetrating the building. It develops a hollow area among the exterior and interior of masonry walls. Cavity wall will help in controlling climate. Modern masonry walls are built up with hollow masonry units or both combined hollow and solid masonry units.

Solid walls are systematically testified with metal ties, masonry investments or by collective reinforcement.

Composite Masonry Walls: Composite Masonry walls are constructed by amalgamating two or more building materials like stones and bricks or hollow bricks and bricks. This type of masonry wall is mainly constructed to minimize overall cost of construction and enhance the stability of the structure by arranging materials of superior quality and good workmanship in the faces. Composite masonry walls can make the appearance of a structure better by covering up the substandard works by applying standard quality of material in the required positions. This type of walls is recommended since it is reasonable and optically appealing.

Post-tensioned Masonry Wall: Post-tensioning gives a supplementary axial load to masonry structures and consequently improves the resistance strength against lateral force. This type of wall contains some unique features like greater in-plane strength and lacking of residual post-earthquake wall displacements. Post-tensioning is frequently utilized in bridges, elevated slabs (parking structures and residential or commercial buildings), residential foundations, walls, and columns. The designers can apply this method to provide buildings and structures with clear open spaces facilitating more architectural freedom.

The functionalities of different types of masonry walls