providing a fixing for joinery is to build in wood slips the thickness of a joint and 412 in. wide. When suitable provision for fixing has not been made, wood plugs are driven into the joints of the bricks. Great care must be taken in driving these in the joints of reveals or at the corners of walls, or damage may be done.
Fig. 14.
The name “brick-ashlar” is given to walls faced with ashlar stonework backed in with brickwork. Such constructions are liable in an aggravated degree to the unequal settling and its attendant evils pointed out as existing in walls built with different qualities of bricks. The outer face is composed of unyielding stone with few and very thin joints, which perhaps do not occupy more than a hundredth part of its height, while the back is built up of bricks with about one-eighth its height composed of mortar joints, that is, of a material that by its nature and manner of application must both shrink in drying and yield to pressure. To obviate this tendency to settle and thus cause the bulging of the face or failure of the wall, the mortar used should be composed of Portland cement and sand with a large proportion of the former, and worked as stiff as it conveniently can be. In building such work the stones should be in height equal to an exact number of brick courses. It is a common practice in erecting buildings with a facing of Kentish rag rubble to back up the stonework with bricks. Owing to the great irregularity of the stones, great difficulty is experienced in obtaining proper bond between the two materials. Through bonding stones or headers should be frequently built in, and the whole of the work executed in cement mortar to ensure stability.
Not the least important part of the bricklayer’s art is the formation of chimney and other flues. Considerable skill is required in gathering-over properly above the fireplace so as to conduct the smoke into the smaller flue, which itself requires to be built with precision, so that its capacity may not vary in Chimneys and flues.different parts. Bends must be made in gradual curves so as to offer the least possible resistance to the up-draught, and at least one bend of not less than 60° should be formed in each flue to intercept down-draughts. Every fireplace must have a separate flue. The collection of a number of flues into a “stack” is economical, and tends to increase the efficiency of the flues, the heat from one flue assisting the up-draught in those adjoining it. It is also desirable from an aesthetic point of view, for a number of single flue chimneys sticking up from various parts of the roof would appear most unsightly. The architects of the Elizabethan and later periods were masters of this difficult art of treating a stack or stacks as an architectural feature. The shaft should be carried well above the roof, higher, if possible, than adjacent buildings, which are apt to cause down-draught and make the chimney smoke. When this is found impossible, one of the many forms of patent chimney-pots or revolving cowls must be adopted. Each flue must be separated by smoke-proof “withes” or divisions, usually half a brick in thickness; connexion between them causes smoky chimneys. The size of the flue for an ordinary grate is 14×9 in.; for a kitchen stove 14×14 in. The outer wall of a chimney stack may with advantage be made 9 in. thick. Fireclay tubes, rectangular or circular in transverse section, are largely used in place of the pargetting; although more expensive than the latter they have the advantage in point of cleanliness and durability. Fireplaces generally require more depth than can be provided in the thickness of the wall, and therefore necessitate a projection to contain the fireplace and flues, called the “chimney breast.” Sometimes, especially when the wall is an external one, the projection may be made on the back, thus allowing a flush wall in the room and giving more space and a more conveniently-shaped room. The projection on the outside face of the wall may be treated as an ornamental feature. The fireplace opening is covered by a brick relieving arch, which is fortified by wrought-iron bar from 12 to 34 in. thick and 2 to 3 in. wide. It is usually bent to a “camber,” and the brick arch built upon it naturally takes the same curve. Each end is “caulked,” that is, split longitudinally and turned up and down. The interior of a chimney breast behind the stove should always be filled in solid with concrete or brickwork. The flooring in the chimney opening is called the “hearth”; the back hearth covers the space between the jambs of the chimney breast, and the front hearth rests upon the brick “trimmer arch” designed to support it. The hearth is now often formed in solid concrete, supported on the brick wall and fillets fixed to the floor joists, without any trimmer arch and finished in neat cement or glazed tiles instead of stone slabs.
Fig. 15.
Tall furnace chimneys should stand as separate constructions, unconnected with other buildings. If it is necessary to bring other work close up, a straight joint should be used. The shaft of the chimney will be built “overhand,” the men working from the inside. Lime mortar is used, cement being too rigid to allow the chimney to rock in the wind. Not more than 3 ft. in height should be erected in one day, the work of necessity being done in small portions to allow the mortar to set before it is required to sustain much weight. The bond usually adopted is one course of headers to four of stretchers. Scaffolding is sometimes erected outside for a height of 25 or 30 ft., to facilitate better pointing, especially where the chimney is in a prominent position. The brickwork at the top must, according to the London Building Act, be 9 in. thick (it is better 14 in. in shafts over 100 ft. high), increasing half a brick in thickness for every additional 20 ft. measured downwards. “The shaft shall taper gradually from the base to the top at the rate of at least 212 in. in 10 ft. of height. The width of the base of the shaft if square shall be at least one-tenth of the proposed height of the shaft, or if round or any other shape, then one-twelfth of the height. Firebricks built inside the lower portion of the shaft shall be provided, as additional to and independent of the prescribed thickness of brickwork, and shall not be bonded therewith.” The firebrick lining should be carried up from about 25 ft. for ordinary temperatures to double that height for very great ones, a space of 112 to 3 in. being kept between the lining and the main wall. The lining itself is usually 412 in. thick. The cap is usually of cast iron or terra-cotta strengthened with iron bolts and straps, and sometimes of stone, but the difficulty of properly fixing this latter material causes it to be neglected in favour of one of the former. (See a paper by F. J. Bancroft on “Chimney Construction,” which contains a tabulated description of nearly sixty shafts, Proc. Civ. and Mech. Eng. Soc., December 1883.)
The work of laying bricks or tiles as paving falls to the lot of the bricklayer. Paving formed of ordinary bricks laid flat or on their edges was once in general use, but is now almost abandoned in favour of floors of special tiles or cement paving, the latter being practically non-porous and therefore more Brick paving.sanitary and cleaner. Special bricks of extremely hard texture are made for stable and similar paving, having grooves worked on the face to assist drainage and afford good foothold. A bed of concrete 6 in. thick is usually provided under paving, or when the bricks are placed on edge the concrete for external paving may be omitted and the bricks bedded in sand, the ground being previously well rammed. The side joints of the bricks are grouted in with lime or cement. Dutch clinkers are small, hard paving bricks burned at a high temperature and of a light yellow colour; they are 6 in. long, 3 in. wide, 112 in. thick. A variety of paving tile called “oven tiles” is of similar material to the ordinary red brick, and in size is 10 or 12 in. square and 1 to 2 in. thick. An immense variety of ornamental paving and walling tiles is now manufactured of different colours, sizes and shapes, and the use of these for lining sculleries, lavatories, bathrooms, provision shops, &c., makes for cleanliness and improved sanitary conditions. Besides, however, being put to these uses, tiles are often used in the ornamentation of buildings, externally as well as internally.
Mosaic work is composed of small pieces of marble, stone, glass or pottery, laid as paving or wall lining, usually in some ornamental pattern or design. A firm bed of concrete is required, the pieces of
