Brick-built houses follow a long tradition of styles and methods of construction. The brickwork gives the building character and is the main loadbearing element. If you have to repair and renovate your home it is useful to understand the basic principles of its construction.

To support the weight of the structure, most brick-built buildings are supported on a solid base called foundations (see diagrams left).

External walls are loadbearing, supporting roof, floors and internal walls. Cavity walls comprise two leaves braced with metal ties; older houses have solid walls at least 225mm (9in) thick. Bricks are laid with mortar in overlapping bonding patterns to give the wall rigidity. A damp-proof course (DPC) just above ground level prevents moisture rising. Window and door openings are spanned above with rigid supporting beams called lintels.

Internal walls are either nonloadbearing divisions which are made from lightweight blocks, manufactured boards or timber studding, or loadbearing structures of brick or block.

Ground floors are either solid concrete or suspended timber types. A damp- proof membrane (DPM) is laid between walls where a floor is concrete. With timber floors, sleeper walls of honeycomb brickwork are built on oversite concrete between the base brickwork; a timber sleeper plate rests on each wall and timber joists are supported on them. Their ends may be similarly supported, let into the brickwork or suspended on metal hangers. Floorboards are laid at right angles to joists. First-floor joists are supported by the masonry or hangers.

Pitched (sloping) roofs comprise angled rafters fixed to a ridge board, braced by purlins, struts and ties and fixed to wall plates bedded on top of the walls. Roofs are usually clad with slates or tiles to keep the rain out.