The relationship between brick walls and railings.
This explores the the relation between brick walls, the number of bricks between piers and how it effects the size of railings. The normal size for a metric brick in the UK is, 215mm long by 102.5mm deep by 65mm high. A nominal brick joint is 10mm. Knowing this it is now very predictable what size to expect between two brick piers when you count the bricks.
The initial railing drawings utilized the fixed-spacing system from our budget railing line. This approach provides a predictable upright bar count, allowing you to easily design your own custom railing while also illustrating the resulting end gaps when using the fixed-spacing method. But it is also useful if you are planning you own garden wall. I Will add extra information at the end to help
4 whole bricks between piers, would be 215mm x 4 along with 5 mortar joints at 10mm each, 50mm in total. Would result in a theoretical gap of 910mm. Some brick layers favour a larger gap. It can be occasionally useful to enlarge the mortar joints to stretch the wall.
This section features four and a half bricks between the piers. Observe the initial row of bricks directly beneath the soldier course: on the left, it begins with a full brick, whereas on the right, the pier is positioned to start at the midpoint of a brick.
The half brick adds an extra 102mm plus a 10mm mortar joint, increasing 910mm to 1022mm. This makes sizing remarkably predictable—so much so that receiving a photo of a wall without measurements is often enough to estimate dimensions for pricing purposes. However, manufacturing without precise dimensions is never advisable, as mortar joint sizes can vary.
Next in the sequence is 5 whole brick, which would result in a gap between piers of 1135mm.
5 and a half brick comes out at 1247mm, very close to a 4ft gap. What you might have noticed here is that when a half brick is used, We dont get a centre upright bar in the railing. In other words the upright bar count is an even number.
6 bricks between piers and a size of 1360mm
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The 6ft railing?
1810mm with 8 bricks between piers, this is theoretically the 6ft railing that so many online retailers sell, Its not even 6ft. In order to get 6ft or 1829mm the brick layer must use a 12mm mortar joint. Not the recommend 10mm by brick manufactures.
Using 8 and a half bricks results in a length of 1923mm, which is generally the ideal size to target. Assuming a fixed 100mm spacing between uprights, this dimension offers several distinct advantages. Most notably, it provides a central upright bar; having a middle upright makes it significantly easier to achieve a balanced and visually appealing design pattern. Ultimately, working with an odd number of upright bars proves to be much more manageable.
The second reason for this specific dimension relates to how steel is supplied in standard six-metre lengths. While you can yield three cuts from a bar with a minimal wastage of about 225mm—equating to roughly 4% waste—an 1830mm dimension yields the same three pieces yet leaves 540mm of leftover material, nearly 9% waste. Consequently, this optimized size proves to be significantly more efficient and environmentally friendly.
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