3.4 Foundation Walling

• Materials for foundation walling (bricks, blocks, stones, mortar)
• Setting out a masonry wall from profile boards
• Bonding in masonry, and constructing a foundation wall
• Tools for masonry foundation walling

• select materials for foundation walling
• set out a foundation wall from profile boards
• construct a masonry foundation wall in a given bond
• appreciate the importance of foundation walls in a building

“How do you select suitable materials for foundation walling?”

“Why is bonding necessary in masonry?”

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1. What a foundation wall is
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The part of the wall between the concrete strip and ground floor level, and the three things it has to do.
2. Natural stone for foundation walling
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Dressed and undressed building stone, its properties, and how to judge whether a stone is fit to build with.
3. Concrete blocks
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Solid and hollow blocks, what decides their quality, and two site tests anyone can make.
4. Burnt clay bricks
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The three faces of a brick, why its proportions make bonding work, and telling well-burnt from under-burnt.
5. Selecting materials for foundation walling
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The criteria that decide between stone, block and brick, and answering the first inquiry question.
6. Mortar and what it does
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The four functions of mortar, common mixes, and why mortar should be weaker than the units it joins.
7. Mixing mortar
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   How mortar is mixed, how to judge the right consistency on the trowel, and why the dry mix comes first.
8. The mason's hand tools
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Trowel, spirit level, line and pins, and builder's square: what each does and how to look after them.
9. Gauge rod, plumb bob and the rest of the kit
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The tools that keep a wall true over its whole height, and why the gauge rod is the one people leave out.
10. Why bonding is necessary
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    What happens to a wall with continuous vertical joints, and the single rule that produces every bond.
11. Stretcher bond
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    The simplest bond, why it suits blocks, and its one limitation.
12. English bond and Flemish bond
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Two bonds that tie a thicker wall together across its width, and when each is used.
13. Bonding at a corner
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How units lap round a quoin in alternate directions, and why the corner is where a bond is really tested.
14. Junctions and stopped ends
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Bonding an internal wall into an external one, and closing the end of a wall so the bond still works.
15. Transferring the setting out into the trench
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Re-stringing the lines from the profiles, plumbing the wall face down onto the concrete, and checking again.
16. Building the corners first
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Why corners are built up before the wall between, how they are racked back, and the line strung between them.
17. Building to the line
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How a unit is laid to the line, the two common errors, and the sequence for laying each unit.
18. The four checks on every course
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Level, plumb, gauge and square: what each catches, and why they are made as you go.
19. The damp proof course
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How water rises through masonry, where the damp proof course goes, and why it must be continuous.
20. Backfilling around the foundation wall
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Filling both sides in compacted layers, letting the mortar set first, and grading the ground away.
21. Defects in foundation walling
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    The common defects, the piece of work that caused each, and why most show up only after the building is finished.
22. Building a foundation wall: the whole process
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    The nine stages with their checks, and the answers to both inquiry questions for the sub-strand.