walls and masonry
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| Q | pier |
| A | A masonry pier is essentially a column. When the length of a wall is less than 3 times its thickness it is called a pier or column. They can be used to support vertical loads such as the reactions from steel beams. They can also be used to stiffen walls against horizontal loads. In the latter case they are constructed integrally with the wall. close |
| Q | masonry |
| A | brickwork, blockwork or stonework. close |
| Q | cavity wall |
| A | The most common method of constructing the external walls of modern houses, using two leaves of masonry (normally brickwork for the outer leaf and concrete blockwork for the inner leaf. The cavity between the two leaves (around 50mm wide in older houses and 100mm wide in new developments) prevents rain penetrating into the building. The two leaves are tied together with wall ties. close |
| Q | lateral restraint |
| A | This tern crops up quite often with residential buildings. Lateral restraints are the effective horizontal effective ties provided to a roof structure by internal walls and any floors / ceilings. close |
| Q | padstone |
| A | A padstone is the part of a wall directly beneath a steel beam. They are normally constructed from engineering bricks, or if the beam reactions are very heavy, then they may be constructed from concrete. They have a much higher compressive strength than concrete blockwork and they enable the reactions from the beam to be spread over a larger area. close |