Plum blossom masonry method

If you don't know much about architecture, especially the old brick walls, you definitely don't understand the plum blossom method. The plum blossom brick is an important wall-building method, also known as the sandbag brick-building method. Simply put, it is a brick-building method that uses two straight bricks and a Ding brick in between. The biggest advantage is its strong stability. There are many other masonry methods similar to the plum blossom masonry method. Let’s take a closer look at them below.

(a) One-by-one brick laying method (full top and full strips), which consists of a layer of straight bricks and a layer of top bricks laid alternately, with the vertical joints between the upper and lower layers staggered by 1/4 of the brick length. This method of masonry provides secure staggered joints between each layer, better wall integrity, small variations during operation, easy to master, and easy to control the straightness of the wall during masonry. However, the vertical joints are not easy to align, and bricks have to be cut at the corners of the wall, T-joints, door and window openings, etc., so the masonry efficiency is subject to certain restrictions. When building a 24-wall wall, the bricks in the top layer have two sides exposed on the wall surface (also called more exposed bricks), so higher quality requirements are placed on the bricks. This method of masonry is widely used in masonry, and there are two types of wall forms: one is that the brick layers are aligned up and down (called cross joint), and the other is that the brick layers are staggered by half a brick (called riding joint). When adjusting the staggered joints in this masonry method, you can use the 'inner seven-point head' or the 'outer seven-point head', but the 'outer seven-point head' is more common (What is the inner seven-point head, what is the inner seven-point head).

(2) Three-by-three bricks method: It is made by alternating three layers of straight bricks and one layer of top bricks. The overlap of the upper and lower bricks is 1/2 brick length. At the same time, the top brick layers of the eaves wall and the gable are required not to be in the same layer to facilitate the overlap.

This method of masonry uses fewer exposed bricks, and also requires fewer bricks to be cut at the corners, T- and cross joints of the wall, and door and window openings, thus improving work efficiency. However, since there are more layers of bricks, the flatness of the back wall is difficult to control. When the bricks are wet or the mortar is thin, the layers of bricks are difficult to lay flat and are easily squeezed out, affecting the quality. The compressive strength of the wall built by this method is close to that of the one-vertical-one-vertical method, and its tensile and shear mechanical properties are stronger than those of the one-vertical-one-vertical method.

In addition, when using the 'seven-point head' to adjust the staggered joints at the head corners, the 'inner seven-point head' is usually used on the top brick layer.

(3) Plum blossom method (also called sandbag method): In the same brick layer, one straight brick and one diagonal brick are laid at intervals (this is not limited to corners), and the vertical joints between the upper and lower layers are staggered by 1/4 of the brick length. The top brick must be in the middle of the straight bricks. In this masonry method, the internal and external vertical joints of each layer can be staggered, so the overall compressive resistance is better, the wall surface is easy to control to be flat, and the vertical joints are easy to align, especially when there are differences in the length and width ratios of the bricks, the vertical joints are easy to control. Because the top and straight bricks are laid alternately, and it is easy to make mistakes during operation, it is more labor-intensive, and the tensile strength is not as good as the "three straight and one top" method. Because of its neat and beautiful appearance, it is mostly used in building exterior walls.

When this kind of masonry method uses a "seven-point head" to adjust the staggered overlap at the head and corner, an "outer seven-point head" must be used.

In addition to the types of brick wall masonry introduced above, there are also five-straight-and-one-D, three-three-one, full-straight, full-D, two-flat-and-one-side, and hollow wall methods.

The five-straight-one-D-brick masonry method is basically the same as the three-straight-one-D-brick masonry method, except that two more layers of straight bricks are laid between the two D-brick layers.

(IV) Three-three-one laying method (also known as three-seven seam method): three straight bricks and one top brick are laid alternately in the same brick layer. When stacking the upper and lower layers, the top brick of the upper layer should be laid in the middle of the second brick of the lower layer, and the overlapping length of the upper and lower layers of bricks is 1/4 of the brick length. This method of masonry makes the front and back walls smoother, saving plastering materials. A lot of bricks need to be cut during construction, especially for the short wall between windows, where it is inconvenient to lay out the bricks. Therefore, the work efficiency is slower than that of the "three straight and one top" method. Since the number of top bricks in the brick layer is small, the integrity is poor.

(V) Fully straight laying method (strip laying method), each layer of bricks is laid entirely with straight bricks, and the vertical joints between two layers are 1/2 brick length. This masonry method is only used for half-brick partition walls.

(6) Full-ding masonry method: Each layer is built entirely with top bricks, and the vertical seam between two layers overlaps to 1/4 of the brick length. This type of masonry method is generally used for circular buildings, such as water towers, chimneys, pools, round warehouses, etc.