Types Of Walls In Building Construction

What Is A Wall?

A wall is a structural component that divides a space into two areas (rooms) while providing safety and protection. Walls are mainly classified into two types: outer walls and inner walls.

The house is enclosed by outer walls for protection, while inner walls divide the enclosure into the needed number of rooms. Outer walls are also referred to as exterior walls, while inner walls are referred to as interior walls or partition walls.

Nowadays, walls can be composed of a variety of materials such as glass, wood, plywood, cinder blocks, steel sheets, and so on. As a result, depending on the material used to construct the wall, it can be classified into a variety of categories.

Types Of Walls In Building Construction

The various types of walls used in building construction are discussed below:

1. Load Bearing Wall

As the name implies, the entire building construction is supported by walls rather than columns. In general, loads from the slab are transferred to the beams, columns, and finally to the foundation.

The walls that carry the entire structure’s weight, including the self-weight of structural parts, are called load-bearing walls, whether on the outside or inside. The load-bearing form of the wall is built on a strip footing.

2. Non-Load Bearing Wall (Drop Wall)

This type of wall does not sustain floor or roof loads above it; hence it will not hold any of the structure’s weight. Inside the building, partition walls are the best example of this, as they are just built to divide rooms and have no structural integrity.

Without impacting the structure of the building, the non-load bearing wall can be removed or shortened. Non-load bearing walls are also known as filling walls or drop walls. These walls are typically 100mm to 125mm thick.

3. Shear Wall

A shear wall is built around the lift pit, water sump, or stairwell to retain the soil in place. Any shear wall is subjected to two pressures: wind pressure and soil pressure, or wind pressure and water pressure.

To counteract these forces, a shear wall is used. The lateral force exerted on the structure by wind, earthquake, or these walls carry any other lateral load. Concrete or masonry is commonly used in its construction, giving directional rigidity.

Shear walls construction and implementation are simple; it is symmetrically placed to minimize the negative twisting effects. There are no stability issues with the shear wall.

4. Retaining Wall

Retaining walls act as a supporting element, allowing the soil to be restrained to a slope that would not usually keep it stable on a steep or vertical slope. Depending on the requirements, the main goal of erecting a retaining wall at a specific place is to hold soil behind it.

Small landscape stone walls to encircle a garden to massive soil-retaining installations along a roadway covering mountainous sections are all examples of walls. The various types of retaining walls are:

• Gravity retaining wall,
• Reinforced Concrete retaining wall,
• Brick masonry retaining wall,
• Anchored earth wall,
• Stone made Retaining wall.

5. Cavity Wall

Two different wythes make up the cavity wall. Masonry is used to construct the wythes. Internal and exterior leaves are the names for such two walls. A hollow wall is another name for this type of structure.

On the foundation, they lower their weights. They have the same effect as soundproofing. Because the space is full of air and limits heat transmission, a cavity wall provides higher thermal insulation than a solid wall.

They have a 50 percent higher heat flow rate than solid walls. It is less expensive than other solid walls from an economic standpoint. It can withstand a fire. Noise is filtered through the cavity wall.

6. Brick Masonry Wall

Brick is a versatile and long-lasting building material; therefore, brick masonry walls have been employed in building construction for thousands of years with minor changes.

Burnt clay bricks, sand-lime bricks (calcium silicate bricks), Concrete bricks, Fly ash clay bricks, and Firebrick were used in its construction. The bricks of the wall are joined together using masonry.

The brick wall thickness could be 20cm or 10cm. A 20cm wall is used for the exterior walls, and a 10cm wall is used for inner walls.

7. Rubble Stone Masonry Wall

More or less, huge stones are grouped to bond so that the stones and the regular arrangement of stones extend along with the thickness of the wall while constructing a rubble stone masonry Wall.

The varieties of masonry walls are:

• Random rubble masonry
• Coursed rubble masonry of the first sort
• Coursed rubble masonry of the second sort

8. Core Wall

The construction of this wall begins at the building’s foundation and rises to the same height as the structure. This wall serves as a shear wall as well as a column.

It serves the same purpose as the shear wall in resisting external lateral forces such as wind, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. It is built precisely in the center of the building to withstand the torsion effect.

 9. Precast Wall

 Precast concrete walls are built by pouring concrete into a reusable wall mold or form, cured in a controlled environment before being transported safely to the construction site and lifted into place.

The primary goal of erecting precast walls is to expedite the construction process. These walls are designed as a blind divider or facade that does not carry any weight but must resist parallel loads.

 10. Parapet Wall

A parapet is the uppermost reach of a wall that extends over the roof level and gives a certain amount of protection to balconies, roofs, gutters, and house walks, among other things.

A parapet wall serves various purposes and can be fashioned in different shapes to achieve the desired façade.

11. Boundary Wall

A boundary wall is a cast-in-place or prefabricated construction that serves as a boundary wall or fencing for immovable property and comes in various designs.

It can also be defined as a wall, fence, or enclosure of a building built on or adjacent to a cadastral property border, with any extra structures, such as spikes, barbed wire, razor wire, or electric fences, affixed to or on top of the boundary wall for security reasons.

 12. Reinforced Brick Wall

This type of wall is built to deal with tensile forces exerted on the wall. Throughout the wall, reinforcement is required in both horizontal and vertical planes.

Hoop Iron Reinforcement is used in a variety of situations. This has been dipped in tar to make it more rust-resistant.

 13. Panel Wall

It is a non-load-bearing wall between two supported columns or pillars. Nails and adhesive are used to secure the panel. Rustic, boards, and frames are some of the paneling design options.

Hardwoods or low-cost pine can be used for paneling. Before putting up panel walls, it’s a good idea to paint the room.

 14. Veneered Wall

 This wall can be made of stone or brick. Brick is the most well-known veneered wall. The thickness of the wall is merely one wythe.

When building rules mandated insulation inside walls, it became the norm. It’s light in weight. Veneered walls require less time to build than solid walls.

 15. Faced Wall

It is a wall in which the masonry facing and backing of two different materials are bonded together so that they perform the same function under stress. It gives the impression of being more streamlined, and the fronted wall is simple to erect.

Also Read

Types Of Buildings

Types Of Structures

Types Of Retaining Wall

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