Brick Wall Expansion Joint Spacing

As mentioned in the expansion joints discussion the design of control joint spacing and location is the responsibility of the designer.

Brick wall expansion joint spacing.

Table 1 empirical control joint spacing for concrete masonry walls. The amount of expansion depends on firing characteristics of the masonry units but is typically not more than 0 10 inches in 25 ft. Expansion joints are placed in clay masonry walls to allow room for the wall to expand. For walls containing masonry parapets consider the parapet as part of the masonry wall below when determining the length to height ratio if it is structurally connected by masonry materials.

For brickwork without openings space no more than 25 ft 7 6 m o c. For unrestrained masonry such as parapets and free standing walls vertical joint spacing should be reduced to 5 6m centres. Scj wi x ei 0 09 where scj control joint spacing m wi width of expansion joint m and ei. When no joint reinforcing is used national concrete masonry association ncma tek 53 design of concrete masonry for crack control recommends spacing control joints in straight wall sections without openings no farther apart than twice the height of the wall 40 feet maximum.

Assuming a 0 0009 expansion factor the spacing of vertical control joints will depend on the joint capacity to expand or contract. Expansion joints should also be located below shelf angles to account for vertical expansion of brick. Vertical expansion joints in brick veneer. Thus for a 10 foot high wall control joints should be.

When spacing between vertical expansion joints in para. Joint positions will also be impacted by the type of brick the change in height of external materials the placement of windows and door openings the location of wall ties and the bed joint reinforcement. With respect to horizontal expansion joints for vertical movement the outer leaf should be supported at. So if you have 12 metres between joints then the joint should be 16mm 12m 4 30 16mm.

Guidance for spacing and location of control joints can be found in the national concrete masonry association ncma tek note 10 02c control joints for concrete masonry walls empirical method 2010. The rst movement joint approximately half the stated joint spacing from the corner see diagram 3. When accent bands of other materials such as precast or concrete masonry units are included in a wall it may be prudent to include a bond break or slip joint between the two dissimilar materials if their coefficients of expansion are. For brickwork with multiple openings consider symmetrical placement of expansion joints and reduced spacing of no more than 20 ft 6 1 m o c.

In theory an expansion joint could be located at the corner but this would a ect the buttressing o ered by the return wall unless the masonry was suitably tied in accordance with an engineer s design. This can be determined from the properties of the sealant applied in the joint as follows.