What is a Wall?
A wall is a vertical structural component, constructed from various materials such as brick, concrete, stone, glass, wood, plywood, cinder blocks, or steel sheets, that defines an exact area and serves as a physical barrier or divider between spaces, creating rooms. It provides safety, protection, and shelter, and can be found in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, as well as outdoor environments. Walls are primarily classified into outer (exterior) and inner (interior/partition) walls. They offer security, privacy, and insulation from noise and weather, and can be decorative or functional, serving various purposes like defining boundaries, supporting roof structures, or providing a surface for artwork or signage. The design and construction of a wall vary depending on its purpose, location, and materials used, and they may be load-bearing or non-load-bearing, incorporating features like windows, doors, and decorative elements.
Types of Walls Used in Construction:
Load Bearing Walls
A load-bearing wall, also known as a bearing wall, is a structural element that carries the weight of a building from the roof and upper floors, including structural members like beams, slabs, and walls on above floors, all the way to the foundation. It supports the total weight of the structure above, transferring the load directly to the foundation, ensuring stability and support. Without these walls, the building would collapse. Load-bearing walls typically contain concrete, masonry, or heavy-duty wood framing and are designed to carry the vertical load, including their own weight. They are often perpendicular to floor joists or ridges and can be used as interior or exterior walls. If a wall doesn’t have any walls, posts, or other supports directly above it, it is more likely to be a load-bearing wall. A wall directly above a beam is also a load-bearing wall. These walls are typically over one another on each floor, and inside the house, they tend to run the same direction as the ridge.
Non-Load Bearing Walls
A non-load-bearing wall, also known as a partition wall or curtain wall, is a lightweight wall that does not support the weight of the building’s roof or floors above it. Instead, it holds up only itself and acts primarily as a divider of interior spaces, creating rooms, offices, or storage areas. These walls are framed structures, often built lighter than load-bearing walls, and can be made of materials like plasterboard, plaster, or wood framing. They can be relocated or removed without endangering the building’s structural integrity or stability. Non-load-bearing walls can also limit sound transfer and provide seclusion, and they serve as a weather barrier and allow natural light to penetrate the building, enhancing energy efficiency. Though they do not provide gravitational support for the property, they must be appropriately installed to ensure safety and stability.
Retaining Walls:
A retaining wall is a structural element that acts as a barrier to hold soil or other materials on sloped or uneven terrain, allowing the soil to be restrained to a slope that would not usually keep it stable. Its primary goal is to hold soil behind it, preventing erosion and creating usable land on uneven sites. It is used in landscaping and construction to stabilize slopes, create level building sites, improve outdoor environments, control water runoff, and manage drainage.
Retaining walls can be constructed from various materials, including concrete blocks, poured concrete, stone, brick, timber, or gabion baskets filled with rocks. They can be gravity walls, which rely on their weight and the friction between the wall and the soil, or reinforced walls, which use steel bars or mesh and concrete to add tensile strength and improve stability.
The design and construction of a retaining wall depend on various criteria, including the wall’s height and width, the type of soil or material to be held, drainage requirements, and the soil’s load-bearing capacity. Proper drainage and construction techniques ensure a retaining wall’s long-term durability and effectiveness. They are commonly used in landscaping projects, creating terraced gardens, and defining property boundaries on sloped terrain, and are essential in terracing landscapes and controlling slope hazards.
Cavity Walls:
A cavity wall is a type of wall construction consisting of two separate layers or leaves (wythes) of masonry, typically brick or block, known as the internal and external leaves. These leaves are separated by a cavity, usually 50-100mm wide, designed to prevent water penetration to the inner leaf. This cavity acts as a barrier against moisture, preventing the spread of dampness to the building’s interior, and provides space for insulation, enhancing energy efficiency. It also reduces weight on the foundation. Cavity walls offer better thermal insulation than solid walls due to the air-filled space, reducing heat transmission and achieving a 50 percent lower heat flow rate. They also provide sound insulation and are fire-resistant.
Economically, they are often cheaper than solid walls. Commonly used in modern construction and required to comply with building regulations in many countries, cavity walls are preferred for their resistance to water penetration and improved thermal insulation.
Shear Walls:
A shear wall is a vertical element, typically constructed from reinforced concrete, masonry, or wood, designed to resist lateral forces such as wind and seismic stresses acting on a building structure. It functions as a vertical cantilever beam, supported at the ground, carrying vertical loads along with columns. Shear walls carry horizontal stresses to a building’s base, providing stiffness in their direction. They are frequently located in a building’s core or perimeter and are connected to its floor and roof systems. Their construction and implementation are simple, and they are symmetrically placed to minimize negative twisting effects, ensuring no stability problems. Shear walls resist lateral stresses through bending, tension, and compression. Their design involves considering various factors, such as the building’s location, height, occupancy type, and expected loads. It is crucial to ensure that shear walls are properly anchored to the foundation and that the connections between the walls and other building elements are strong enough to transfer the lateral loads. They are especially important in large and high-rise buildings and provide an excellent structural system to resist earthquakes.
Reinforced Brick Walls:
A reinforced brick wall is a type of wall constructed with bricks and strengthened with rebar to deal with tensile forces. Reinforcement is required throughout the wall in both horizontal and vertical planes, with bars positioned at specific intervals according to design and engineering criteria, particularly in locations with significant wind loads or seismic activity. Bricks are placed around the reinforcement, and mortar holds everything together. Hoop iron reinforcement, often dipped in tar to increase rust resistance, is used in various situations. Reinforced brick walls are utilized in commercial, industrial, and residential construction for applications such as retaining walls, garden walls, and other structures, and are noted for their durability, strength, and resilience to weather and other environmental variables.
Core Walls:
A core wall is a structural element, typically reinforced concrete, used in building construction to strengthen and stabilize a building’s frame. It is a vertical load-bearing member extending from the foundation to the roof, functioning as both a shear wall and a column. Placed at the center of the building, it serves as a backbone for the structure and is designed to resist external lateral forces, such as wind and earthquakes, as well as to distribute the vertical loads from the building’s weight to the foundation. It is also built precisely in the center of the building to withstand the torsion effect. The placement and size of the core wall depend on the building’s height, shape, and function.
Precast Walls:
A precast wall is a concrete wall manufactured in a factory or precast yard by pouring concrete into reusable molds or forms, which can be customized to create various shapes, sizes, textures, and finishes. These walls are cured in a controlled environment before being safely transported to the construction site and lifted into place.
The primary goal of erecting precast walls is to expedite the construction process. They are used to construct buildings, bridges, tunnels, and other structures. Precast walls offer several advantages over traditional cast-in-place concrete walls, including faster installation, higher quality control, reduced labour costs, and improved durability and resilience.
These walls can be designed as a blind divider or façade that does not carry any weight but must resist parallel loads. They can also be designed to meet various structural, thermal, acoustic, and aesthetic requirements, reinforced with steel or fiber reinforcement, insulated with foam or other materials, and finished with various coatings or treatments to enhance their appearance and performance.
Brick Masonry Walls:
A brick masonry wall is constructed using mortar and bricks laid in a pattern, employing materials such as burnt clay bricks, sand-lime bricks (calcium silicate bricks), concrete bricks, fly ash clay bricks, and firebrick. These walls have been utilized in building construction for thousands of years due to brick’s versatility and durability. They can be load-bearing and are used in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings.
The wall’s thickness can vary, with 20cm walls typically used for exterior applications and 10cm walls for interior partitions. The bond between the bricks ensures that the wall’s weight is distributed evenly, providing stability.
Brick masonry walls are known for their durability, attractiveness, fire resistance, insulation, and low maintenance. However, they are also characterized by a longer construction time and higher building costs.
Panel Walls:
A panel wall is a non-load-bearing wall constructed between two supported columns or pillars. The panel is secured using both nails and adhesive. Panelling design options include rustic, boards, and frames. The panelling itself can be made from hardwoods or inexpensive pine. It’s recommended to paint the space before installing panel walls.
Veneered Walls:
A veneered wall is a wall where an outer layer, typically brick or stone (with brick being the most common), is used as a facing material. This facing is only one wythe thick. It is a lightweight construction method that became prevalent when building codes began requiring insulation in interior walls. Veneered walls require less construction time compared to solid walls.
Faced Walls:
A faced wall is a wall in which the masonry facing and backing, constructed of two different materials, are bonded together so that they exert common action and perform the same function under load. This construction creates a streamlined look and is relatively easy to install.
Boundary Walls:
A boundary wall is a cast-in-place or prefabricated construction, functioning as a wall or fence, that marks the edge or limits of a property, serving as a boundary or fencing for immovable property. It is typically constructed to provide privacy and security, preventing unauthorized property entry. It can also be defined as an enclosure built on or adjacent to a cadastral property border, sometimes with additional structures like spikes, barbed wire, razor wire, or electric fences for enhanced security. Boundary walls can be made from various materials, including brick, concrete, wood, and metal. The height and design vary depending on purpose, location, and local building codes, and in some cases, they may be required by local laws or regulations, particularly for commercial or industrial properties.
Parapet Walls:
A parapet wall is the uppermost reach of a wall, extending over the roof level, and also a low wall running along the edge of a roof, balcony, terrace, or bridge, typically no higher than waist height. It’s designed to provide a barrier that prevents people from falling off the edge and to give a certain amount of protection to balconies, roofs, gutters, and house walks. Parapet walls serve various purposes and can be fashioned in different shapes to achieve the desired façade. They can be made of various materials, including brick, stone, concrete, and metal, and may feature openings or decorative designs, such as balustrades or cornices.
