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Wavy walls use fewer bricks than a straight wall (2020)

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Re: Wavy walls use fewer bricks than a straight wall (2020)

#101

Post by Rumudiez »

qwertox wrote: post #32
secondcoming wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to use two brick width for stability.

Is that what we're doing? If I remember correctly, the walls around the houses in my childhood neighborhood were only one brick in width. Also walls around cemeteries and such, I could swear they are not double-width walls.

Those are just veneers. My grandfather was a professional brick and stone mason. You can tell if a brick wall is load bearing if it has alternating directions: every so many bricks you’ll see one or more that’s been rotated 90° to connect the layers together

Veneer, all the bricks are in the same orientation: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1b/65/ec/1b65ec6fdb488d3dab28...

Supporting wall, notice the alternating pattern: https://www.backwoodshome.com/bhm/wp-content/uploads/2015/12...

Re: Wavy walls use fewer bricks than a straight wall (2020)

#102

Post by gowld »

bin_bash wrote: post #89
nonethewiser wrote: post #64

I see this a lot in the rural US with wooden fences but had no idea why it was done, but I guess its for the same reason (stability). Apparently they've done it since the 1600s. https://www.louispage.com/blog/bid/11160/worm-fence-what-is-... Still, this seemed totally unecessary until I realized this mean they dont have to put any posts into the ground. No digging holes, which would be really nice when you're trying…

it's not for stability, it's because it doesn't require posts so it's cheap and quick

Lots of things "don't require posts so it's cheap and quick", but this version makes a stable wall.

Re: Wavy walls use fewer bricks than a straight wall (2020)

#104

Post by nottorp »

hammock wrote: post #61
vehemenz wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The extra space doesn't have to be fully wasted. You could plant bushes or small trees in the concave sections.

Applies to flat walls not wavy, but espalier,[1] a way to cultivate trees in tight spaces, is one of my favorite things ever. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espalier

Interesting, locally the same word is used for the structures used for cultivating climbing plants. Haven't really seen it done with trees.

Re: Wavy walls use fewer bricks than a straight wall (2020)

#105

Post by [deleted] »

DrBazza wrote: post #59
geeky4qwerty wrote: post #26

This feels a bit like diet clickbait... "use fewer bricks than a straight wall"* *A straight wall of the approximal strength and length of a wavy wall, not just length. My counter would be that from a practical perspective the amount of space wasted by the wavy design seems to negate the usefulness of the design. Probably makes the lawn crew dizzy when mowing it too!

The 'space wasted' on an estate of many hundreds, if not, thousands of acres is minimal. Given that often the bricks used were made and fired on site, it definitely saved on resources and labour. There's a stately home close to me that has a very short run of one of these walls, and the remains of the old brick kiln up on the hill side. If you know what you're looking for, you can also still see the hollows in the gr…

[deleted]

Re: Wavy walls use fewer bricks than a straight wall (2020)

#106

Post by pfdietz »

devilbunny wrote: post #97
pfdietz wrote: post #66

The labor to build such a wall may dominate the savings in brick. But if you're building a brick wall, maybe you don't care much about either. I wonder if this sort of structure could be built by 3D printing, say with concrete or even soil.

Labor is pretty much directly proportional to number of bricks placed. If you save on bricks, you save on labor. If that was your point, sorry for misreading you. In the era in which these were commonly used, bricks were largely made on-site or very nearby. So you saved on labor twice - once to make the bricks, and again to place them.

I was thinking of a comment in the John Cook link, where someone was saying these are fiddly to build compared to a conventional brick wall.

Re: Wavy walls use fewer bricks than a straight wall (2020)

#107

Post by tssva »

nonethewiser wrote: post #64

I see this a lot in the rural US with wooden fences but had no idea why it was done, but I guess its for the same reason (stability). Apparently they've done it since the 1600s. https://www.louispage.com/blog/bid/11160/worm-fence-what-is-... Still, this seemed totally unecessary until I realized this mean they dont have to put any posts into the ground. No digging holes, which would be really nice when you're trying…

The park service uses this type of fencing a lot.

Re: Wavy walls use fewer bricks than a straight wall (2020)

#108

Post by drtz »

bin_bash wrote: post #89
nonethewiser wrote: post #64

I see this a lot in the rural US with wooden fences but had no idea why it was done, but I guess its for the same reason (stability). Apparently they've done it since the 1600s. https://www.louispage.com/blog/bid/11160/worm-fence-what-is-... Still, this seemed totally unecessary until I realized this mean they dont have to put any posts into the ground. No digging holes, which would be really nice when you're trying…

it's not for stability, it's because it doesn't require posts so it's cheap and quick

But it is for stability. Try making a straight fence with no posts and see how stable it is.

Re: Wavy walls use fewer bricks than a straight wall (2020)

#109

Post by Retric »

DrBazza wrote: post #59
geeky4qwerty wrote: post #26

This feels a bit like diet clickbait... "use fewer bricks than a straight wall"* *A straight wall of the approximal strength and length of a wavy wall, not just length. My counter would be that from a practical perspective the amount of space wasted by the wavy design seems to negate the usefulness of the design. Probably makes the lawn crew dizzy when mowing it too!

The 'space wasted' on an estate of many hundreds, if not, thousands of acres is minimal. Given that often the bricks used were made and fired on site, it definitely saved on resources and labour. There's a stately home close to me that has a very short run of one of these walls, and the remains of the old brick kiln up on the hill side. If you know what you're looking for, you can also still see the hollows in the gr…

It cost even less labor to use minimal bracing for strait walls, these are curved for athletics.

I suspect they are imitations of curved fruit walls popular in the 1600’s before greenhouses took off.

Re: Wavy walls use fewer bricks than a straight wall (2020)

#110

Post by toast0 »

bee_rider wrote: post #73
turnsout wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is if you're selling sheep milk and you don't want to lose your flock.

I think that’s typically a job for fences, right? This sort of wall is, I think, just an aesthetic way of marking a property line/get some privacy.

Depends on how long you intend to keep livestock and what materials you have access to. Well built walls can last a lot longer than well built fences; but fences may be less costly initially. But it might also depend on how crafty/destructive your livestock is.
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