MATERIALS: Masonry

Aggregate
Crushed stone, gravel, or sand added to cement to make concrete.

Ashlar
Cut, squared building stone finely dressed on all sides adjacent to other stones. Requires only very thin mortar joints.

Random ashlar uses rectangular stones in discontinuous courses. Coursed ashlar uses rectangular stones of the same height in each horizontal course, but each course may vary in height. Broken rangework arranges ashlar units into horizontal courses of varying heights, which may be divided into horizontal groups at various intervals.

Belt course
A horizontal course in a masonry wall which is of different color, texture, or size.

Concrete
An artifical, stonelike building material made by combining cement with aggregate and adding sufficient water to cause it to set and bind the materials together. There are various mixtures to meet specific performance requirements. It is also commonly reinforced by placing steel mesh or rods before pouring into the forms.

Dressed stone
A stone masonry unit which has been squared and shaped for precise fit with other stones. Undressed stone has naturally rough and irregular shapes.

Joint
The place where two masonry units meet, often bound together by mortar.

Masonry
Construction method using units such as stone, brick, and concrete block which are usually joined with a binding agent such as mortar. Mortar is a mixture of lime and/or pulverized clay (cement) with very fine sand and water. Less often, the units are held in place by their own weight, especially with very large stones. Also includes concrete construction.

Reinforced concrete
Concrete which gains added strength by placing wire mesh or rods into the formwork before the concrete it poured.

Rubble
Rough, irregular stone fragments used in construction of a wall or wall surface.

A random rubble wall has discontinuous courses and may include smaller garrets, small stones used to wedge larger ones into position or fill gaps. A coursed rubble wall is more organized and built to a level course at various intervals. A squared rubble wall is built of roughly squared stones of varying size which are brought to level courses every third of fourth stone.

Rustication
Ashlar masonry having the visible surfaces raised or textured in contrast to the finely dressed joints.

Page created: 24-Feb-1999
Last modified: 24-Feb-1999