STONE MASONRY

Masonry
 Masonry may be defined as the construction of
building units bonded together with mortar.
 The building units may be stones, bricks, or precast
blocks of concrete.
 When stones are used as the building units we
have stone masonry.
 Masonry is normally used for the construction of
foundations, walls columns and other similar
components of the building.
 It performs variety of functions such as (i)
supporting loads (ii) subdividing space (iii)
providing thermal and acoustic insulation. Etc.
 Definition of terms
 1. Course: A course is a horizontal layer of masonry
units. Thus, in stone masonry , the thickness of course
will be equal to the height of the stones plus
thickness of one mortar joint.
 2.Header: A header is a full stone unit or brick
which is laid that its length is perpendicular to the
face of the wall. Thus , the longest length of a
header lies at right angles to the face of the work.
 3. Stretcher: A stretcher is a full stone unit or brick
which is so laid that its length is along or parallel to
the face of the wall. Thus, the longest length of
stretcher lies parallel to the face of the work.
 4.Natural Bed: Stones are obtained from rocks
which have distinct planes of divisions along which
the stones can easily be split. This plane is known as
natural bed.
 5. Through stone: A through stone is a stone header.
Through stones are place at regular interval. If the
thickness of the wall is small, through stone may be
of length equal to the full width of the wall.
 6. Sill: The bottom surface of a door or window
opening is known as Sill.
 7. Lintel: It is a horizontal member of stone, brick ,
wood, steel or reinforced concrete, used to support
the masonry and the super-imposed load above an
opening.
 8.Plinth: Plinth is the horizontal projecting
course of stone or brick, provided at the base of
the wall above the ground level.
 9.Plinth Course: It is the uppermost course of
the plinth masonry.
 10.Column : It is a vertical load bearing
member of masonry, which is constructed in an
isolation from the wall and whose width does
not exceed four times its thickness.
 11.Pier: Pier is an isolated vertical mass of
stone or brick masonry to support beams,
lintels arch etc.
Classification of Stone masonry
 Depending upon the arrangement of stones in the
construction, degree of refinement used in shaping
the stone and finishing adopted, stone masonry
can be classified as follows:
(a). Rubble Masonry
(b). Ashlar Masonry
In the rubble Masonry , the blocks of stone that are
used are either undressed or comparatively roughly
dressed. The masonry has wide joints, since stones of
irregular sizes are used. Rubble masonry are of
following types.
 (a) Random Rubble -----------(i) Uncoursed
(ii) Built to course

(b) Square Rubble -------------(i) Uncoursed

(ii) Built to courses
(iii) Regular Coursed

(c ) Miscellaneous types --------(i) Polygonal walling

(ii) Flint walling

(d) Dry Rubble masonry

Random Rubble Masonry: Uncoursed
 This is the roughest and cheapest form of
stone walling. In this type of masonry , the
stones used are of widely different sizes.
 Since the stones are not of uniform size
and shapes, greater care and ingenuity
have to be exercised in arranging them in
such a way that they adequately distribute
the pressure over the maximum area
and at the same time long continuous
vertical joint are avoided.
Random Rubble: Built to courses
 The method of construction is the same as above
except that the work is roughly leveled upto
form courses varying from 32 -45 cm thick
 All the courses are not of same height.
 This form of masonry is better than Uncoursed
Random Rubble Masonry.
 For the construction of this type of
masonry,quoins are built first and line is
stretched between the tops of quoins.
Square Rubble: Uncoursed
 Square Rubble Masonry uses stones having straight
bed and sides. Stones are usually sqaured and
brought to hammer dressed.
 This also known as square snecked rubble.
 The stones with straight edges and sides are
available in different sizes.
 They are arranged on face in several irregular
pattern.
 Good appearance can be achieved by using
risers( a large stone, generally through stone) , leveller
(thinner stones) and sneck or check (small stone) in
a pattern , having their depths in the ratio 3 : 2 : 1
Square Rubble: Built to Course
 This type of masonry also uses the same stones
as used for uncoursed Square Rubble. But the
work is levelled up to courses of varying
depths. The courses are of different heights.
 Each course may consists of quoins, jamb stones,
bonders and throughs of same height ,with smaller
stones built in between them upto the height of the
larger stones to complete the course.
Square Rubble: Regular coursed
 In this type of masonry , the wall consists of
various courses of varying heights, but the
height of stones in one particular course is same.
Polygonal walling
In this type the stones are hammer finished on face to
an irregular polygonal shape.
 These stones are bedded in position to show face
joints running irregularly in all directions.
 2 types of polygonal walling may be there. In the first
type the stones are only roughly shaped, resulting in
only rough fitting. Such a work is known as rough
picked.
 In the second type the faces of stones are more
carefully formed, so that they fit more closely
such a work is known as close picked work.
Flint Walling
 Stones used in this masonry are flints or cobbles
which vary in width and thickness from 7.5 -15
cm. and in length from 15 -30 cms.
 The stones are extremely hard but they are brittle
and therefore may break easily.
 The face arrangements of the flints may be either
coursed or uncoursed or built to courses.
Dry Rubble Masonry
 Dry Rubble Masonry is that rubble
masonry, made to courses in which mortar
is not used in the joints.
 This type construction is cheapest and
requires more skill in construction.
 This may be used for non load bearing
walls such as compound wall etc.
Ashlar Masonry
 Ashlar masonry consists of blocks of accurately dressed stone
with extremly fine bed and end joints.
 The blocks may be either square and rectangular shape.the
height of stone varies from 25-30cm.
 The height of blocks in each course is kept equal but it is not
necessary to keep all the courses of the same height.
 ashlar masonry may be subdivided into the following
categories.
 1) Ashlar fine tooled
 2) Ashlar rough tooled
 3) Ashlar rock,rustic or quarry faced
 4) Ashlar chamfered
 5) Ashlar block in course
 6) Ashlar facing
ASHLAR FINE TOOLED
 This is the finest type of stone masonry work.
Each stone is cut to regular and required size and
shape so as to have all sides rectangular.
 The beds, joints and faces are chisel dressed such
that all waviness and uneveness is completely
removed and a fairly smooth surface is
obtained.
 Headers and stretchers are laid alternatively in
each course.
 Thickness of the mortar joint should not be
more than 5mm.
Ashlar rough tooled
 In this type of masonry the beds and sides of each
stone block are finely chisel dressed just in the
same manner as for Ashlar fine tool.
 Thickness of the mortar joint should not be more
than 6 mm
Ashlar rock faced
 In this type of masonry the exposed face of a stone
is not dressed but is kept as such so as to give
rock facing.
 Each stone block is maintained true to it’s size, with
perfectly straight side faces and beds and truly
rectangular in shape.
 Thickness of mortar joints may be upto 10mm
Ashlar Chamfered
 This is special form of rock faced
Ashlar masonry in which the strip
provided around the perimeter of the
exposed face is chamfered at an
angle of 45 degrees by means of a
chisel to a depth of 25mm due to
this a groove is formed in between
adjacent blocks of stones.
 Around this bevelled strip another
strip of 15 cm is dressed with the
help of chisel.
Ashlar Block in course
 This type of masonry is intermediate between
rubble masonry and ashlar masonry.
 The faces of each stone are hammer dressed and
the height of blocks is kept the same in any
course. depth of courses may vary from 15-30 cm
Ashlar Facing
 Ashlar facing masonry is provided along with brick or
concrete block masonry, to give better appearance.
 The sides and beds of each block are properly dressed
so as to make them true to shape.
 The backing of the wall may be made in brick
masonry.