What is a rubble wall?
Rubble walls are used to serve as borders between the property of one farm from the other. A great advantage that rubble walls offered is that when heavy rain falls, their structure would allow excessive water to pass through and therefore, excess water will not ruin the products.
Why are rubble walls important?
Rubble walls are not built for aesthetics’ sake but because they serve an important function in valleys. They mark boundaries, modify slopes into terraces, retain soil in the fields, and shelter trees and crops from strong winds.
Did Victorian houses have cavity walls?
Builders and architects started to experiment with cavity or ‘hollow walls’ from early in the Victorian period. Initially the development of the hollow wall was to provide as much protection as possible from the elements, especially driving rain, together with enhanced stability and economy of materials.
How do you remove foam cavity wall insulation?
The process tends to begin with the removal of bricks at the bottom of the wall to create pockets. Holes will then be drilled in the external wall in strategic positions. Using a cavity wall extraction system, the old insulation material will be sucked out of the wall. The remnants will then be collected in large bags.
What can rubble be used for?
Broken materials, such as concrete slabs, rubble, bricks and ceramics, can be crushed and sold or given away as hard-core for building roads, as coarse aggregate for concrete or as filler material in other construction projects.
What is random rubble masonry wall?
Rubble masonry, also known as rubblework, is the use of undressed, rough stone, generally for the construction of walls. Random rubble walls involve stones of varying sizes and joint widths with small wedge-shaped fillets bedded into the mortar between them.
Do stone built houses have cavity walls?
Houses built with stone walls may have a cavity BUT these cavities are likely to be unsuitable for standard mineral fibre, cavity wall insulation.
What are the issues with rubble filled cavity walls?
The usual practice of providing “needles” to support the wall above an opening is unsatisfactory, as rubble falls from the sides of the opening, leading to instability in the area adjacent to the new work. Rubble in-fill material is very susceptible to damage from water penetration and frost action.
Can a general builder clear a cavity of debris?
I’ve thought about doing it myself but don’t feel confident about removing bricks from the wall in case it causes any sort of collapse! Hi there a general builder would be able to do this for you however its a simple task for yourself to , as you said remove the bricks peridically and clear the cavity of debris.
Why are through stones used in cavity walls?
Through stones were installed to tie the two wall structures together and improve stability. This photograph showing damage caused to stonework through the incorrect use of an OPC cement-based strap pointing.
How is a pilot hole drilled in a wall?
When using the mechanical method to tie thick rubble-filled walls, a small and discrete pilot hole is drilled from the near-side wall, across the rubble infill and into the remote layer of wall.