The shifting or masonry technique has developed a lot over the years, but several of the masonry used today came into being already in the Middle Ages, such as the monk joints. Laying masonry joints is a whole science. In different pattern combinations, the unassuming bricks become very beautiful. For all types of masonry work, it is important to lay the stones in such a way that the wall is bound together and becomes stable. This applies both when the wall is free-standing or anchored in a load-bearing frame.
– Regardless of whether the wall is joined with mortar or only laid ice cold wall, the stones must be laid with variation from shift to shift. This technology is many thousands of years old and is also preserved here in the Nordic countries. One such example of completed landscaping, which is almost 3,000 years old, is the Old Norse castle Torsburgen on Gotland.
– A distinction is made between three main types of masonry joints:
– Block joints that are laid with every other shift with only the cup surface outwards and every other with the running surface outwards.
– Cross joints are similar to block joints, but the treads end up on top of each other only in every other running shift. In monk dressings, both stones with a cup and a running surface are laid on the same shift. It is this technology that provides the opportunity for pattern variations in masonry.
– Monk dressings are sometimes also called gothic or polish dressings and are clothing dressings. During the Middle Ages, this type of dressing was very common, but during the Renaissance, cross-dressings were preferred. At the beginning of the 20th century, they wanted to create lively patterns in the masonry again and monk unions began to be used again.
The width of the wall varies partly with the type of brick and partly with the masonry technique. A half-stone wall in 3 M x 1 M brick is 87 mm while an equally wide wall in 250 x 120 mm limestone sandstone is 120 mm. The width measure is thus the same as the width measure of the stone.
A stone wall is common and is therefore as wide as the length of the brick. The stones are made with the dimensions mutually adapted to both length and width. Two bricks with the cup surface outwards thus give the same dimensions as the running surface of a stone. One can describe joint lubrication so that butt joints are covered – bound – by overlying stones. This displacement in the masonry must be done in accordance with certain rules. When masonry of a stone or even thicker walls, at least every fifth brick must be a binder and thus laid with the cup surface facing outwards. You must not build more than four shifts in a row, without cobblestones.
When masonry walls that are then to be plastered, the actual masonry joints are used. These include e.g. cross and block joints. Garments, i.a. monk joints, are used primarily for facade masonry. This type of joint has few binders and therefore saves some expensive facade bricks, at the same time as the facade gets a nice pattern.
– Nowadays it is common with so-called shell wall. This can be bricked completely without a binder and anchored in the load-bearing structure with wall staples – special stainless steel nails that are bricked into the joint. The most common is to build shell walls with only running shifts with 1/4, 1/2 or 1/3 displacement.
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The invisible but important part of the unit
Masonry joints, in their true sense, are not primarily a pattern in order to enhance the appearance of the wall. The variations of runners and binders in load-bearing wall constructions are absolutely necessary for the strength of the wall.
A distinction is made primarily between cut-through and uncut-cut joints. The former type is characterized in that the vertical impact joint runs through the entire masonry. Cut-through joints are used in all wall thicknesses.
The uncut joint has a 1/4 part displacement between the shells in the wall. This masonry technique is used primarily when the walls are to be thicker than a stone wall and when masonrying the duct walls in chimneys.
When calculating the height and length of the wall, the joint must also be taken into account. The ideal wall joint is 13 mm and it should never exceed 15 mm. A shift is the same as the height of the brick and a joint.
When calculating how the joint should run, one must also take into account the displacement of the stones at corners and angles. An overlying stone should always rest on at least two stones. In this way, the shock joints will not end up directly on top of each other either. One way to avoid this is to enter so-called. cross halves half-stones – in any shift.
If you masonry without regard to these rules and get butt joints directly on top of each other, this is called masonry in futs. According to an old masonry custom, you then have to offer the entire work team food.
Bricks with the same dimensions are matched to each other. Two stones with the cup surface outwards together with a joint give the same dimensions as the running side of a stone.
When masonry load-bearing walls, you can choose between cut-through or un-cut joints. In a cut-through joint, the vertical joint in the shift runs through the entire wall (top). In an unbroken connection – which i.a. used in walls that are thicker than a stone wall and in the duct walls in chimneys – the vertical joint goes in a zig-zag (bottom).
Worth knowing
– The design of the masonry joint is of great importance for the whole of the masonry. You can see the four most common types in the sketch on the right. Smooth joint (1), pressed, scratched joint (2), concave joint (3) and oblique joint (4).
– The easiest way to shape the joint is with a special joint spoon.
– Surface-mounted joints, which were common in the past, are not suitable for masonry outdoors as this increases the risk of frost damage in the mill.
– To further emphasize or dampen the joints in the masonry, you can choose a colored joint in a color that matches the bricks.
1. The masonry wall consists of bricks and joints.
Here is a 1-stone wall and what surfaces and joints are called: a) Intermediate joint, b) Lying joint, c) Running stone, d) Binder or copper stone, e) Cup, f) Shock joint, g) Run.
2. All monk joints are so-called clothing joints. 2-shift donut joints form pillar patterns of the cup surfaces, “standing cup”.
The pattern in a 4-shift donut band is repeated after, as the name implies, four shifts. The displacement of the cup is 1/4 stone.
4. In the large lightning joint, the cup is placed in the middle of the butt joint and in the middle of a tread. The pattern goes in zig-zag.
5. The small lightning bolt connection forms a ring pattern in the façade. The dressing is based on 1/4 and 1/2 displacement of the cup.
6. In a 10-shift donut joint, “running cup”, the cup is moved 1/4 stone (a petting ring) to the right
in each shift.
7. Polish or Gothic bandage is also a monk bandage. These are characterized by the fact that the cup and running surfaces are mixed in the same shift.
8. Wendish or Dutch units are also included in the monk units. Here, the mixed shifts are alternated with only cup shifts.
9. Cross-dressing is a so-called actual dressing and is used i.a. to walls which are then to be plastered.
10. Block bandage is an actual bandage where barrels and cup shifts are alternated. The stones always rest in the middle of the underlying impact joint.
11. American unit is also a real unit. Four running shifts and one cup shift form the pattern, which is quickly walled.
12. One of the most common joints in shell masonry is running joints with 1/2-stone alternating displacement.
13. All running joints are walled without a cup. Running joints with 1/4-stone alternating displacement is another variant of this.
14. If you move the running joint with 1/4 stone in one direction, the facade surface will have a completely different life.
15. “Wild” units are usually built, as the name implies, a little outside normal frameworks and traditions. Wall with 8-10 cups / m2 and never in futs.
16. Other pattern shifts are horizontal roller shifts. These are often used on windows sometimes instead of tin.