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Wall

The two types of walls are load-bearing, which supports the weight of floors and roofs, and non-bearing wall, which at most supports its own weight

Load-bearing wall
The wall of masonry is thickened in to the forces it has to : its own load, the load of floors, roofs, persons, etc., and the lateral of arches, vaults, wind, etc., that may cause it to or buckle.
Its can often be at the top, because accumulate towards the base; in high this is done by interior and exterior setbacks at the floor level of upper stories. that must resist lateral forces are either along the whole length or at particular points where the is concentrated. The latter method is called buttressing.
Doors and weaken the of the wall and divert the forces about them to the parts on either side, which must be thickened in proportion to the of the opening. In buildings, windows -unless they are very small- must be placed one the other so as to leave vertical masses of wall them to transfer loads directly to the ground.
The number of that can be used depends on the of the and the in the wall. Walls in light, structures and in construction may have a function also. But the nature of the material admits other means of resisting forces than the increase of mass.
The placement of walls is determined by the type of support for floors and roofs. The support is the , which must be to walls at both ends; consequently, its maximum permissible establishes the distance between bearing walls. All floors and coverings are most easily supported on , parallel walls except the .
Non-bearing wall
Excluding the independent garden variety, the wall appears only where loads are by other members, as in heavy and other skeletal structures. Modern and reinforced-concrete require exterior walls only for and sometimes dispense with them on the ground floor to permit easier . Since the wall rests or hangs upon of the frame, it becomes a curtain ; and admits treatment in any durable, material. Traditional materials are often used, but light walls of glass, plastic, metal , wood products, etc., can be equally . This freedom of choice extends also the form of walls and offers greatly expanded opportunities for creative .
Taken and adapted from Encyclopedia Britannica