TABLE OF CONTENTS The first recorded brick masonry units were made by the Egyptians in 10,000 BC and the Romans used brick in many of their structures 2000 years ago. At the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is the first recorded use of mortar. Brick manufacture and use occurred in the mid 1600s and was patterned on English methods and practices. It was not until 1930, however, that cavity wall construction (as we know it today) was introduced into the United States from Europe as a means of controlling moisture. This method provides a physical separation between the inner and outer wythes to serve as a drainage cavity for water, which would be expelled through weep holes in the outer wythe.
Masonry today is primarily devoted to the construction of brick, block, structural clay products, and natural and cast stone. Walls can be basically categorized as load bearing or nonload bearing walls, cavity walls, veneer walls, and solid walls. No matter the type of material used or the method by which the masonry wall is constructed, two components remain crucial: mortar and wall reinforcement.
Mortar is the bonding agent that holds all of the masonry units together. Bond strength is the crucial element that differs from its close relative, concrete, where compressive strength is the most important physical property.
Mortar serves four functions:
It bonds the masonry units together and seals the space between them.
It allows for dimensional variations in the masonry units...
