SOLID WALLING

Solid walling is built both externally and internally, mainly to enclose areas and
support the weight of the floors and roofs of building. It is also built externally,
purely to retain earth.
Many years ago, stone was commonly used in the construction of solid walling.
The stone, obtained from the quarries and cut to workable sizes, was mainly
limestone, sandstone and granite. The art of building stone walling is called
masonry, and this broadly consists of rubble work and ashlar work. The stones
in rubble work are of various and irregular sizes and are roughly prepared, and
the joint vary in width, whereas the stones in ashlar work are carefully squared
and prepared and laid to courses, and the joints are regular in width.
Nowadays, solid walling is generally constructed of either bricks, precast
concrete blocks or in-situ concrete. Bricks are blocks of clay moulded to
suitable sizes whilst in a plastic form, and the burnt to harden to give them
strength to carry a load and durability against the weather, when forming part
of a wall.
Bricks are produced in standard sizes, making them easy to handle and ideal
for laying in regular bonds to give a wall maximum strength. An example of one
of those bonds is shown in Fig. 3. Bricks are also produced in many different
colours and with various finished, particularly those used for decorative
purposes.
Precast concrete blocks are made by pouring unset concrete into a mould and
allowing it to harden. The sizes of the bocks vary considerably according to
their requirements, and the quality of the concrete also varies according to the
load to be carried by the blocks, when forming part of a wall. These blocks,
especially lightweight blocks, are being used in increasing numbers nowadays,
partly because less skilled labour is required in building with them and partly
because walling can be erected far quicker than with bricks.
In-situ concrete walling, like precast concrete block walling, is being used more
these days than years ago, mainly because of the speed of erection. The unset
concrete is simply poured between formwork to the required thickness of the
wall, as shown in Fig. 4. The walling is constructed in sections, the same
formwork often being used several times. When this type of walling is used in
cellars and basements, where it is often in contact with the ground, the
external face of the wall is usually treated with several coats of a tar or
bitumen substance, with or without felt, to resist dampness. An additional
precaution against dampness is to incorporate a waterproofing admixture,
properly proportioned, to the cement, sand, and water before the concrete is
mixed.

As with precast concrete blocks, the quality of the concrete in the walling
largely depends on the load to be carried and the particular position of the
walling. Where heavy loads to be carried or dampness exists, as with cellar or
basement walls, a denser concrete is necessary, and this is obtained principally
by increasing the quantify of cement, by the use of sound hard aggregate, by
vibrating the concrete, and by conforming strictly to the correct proportions of
all materials in the concrete.