English and Flemish bond corner wall

English bond corner (1 brick thick wall)

Courses alternate between a header course and a stretcher course. At a corner, the header course on one wall continues as the stretcher course on the return wall, so the arrangement swaps in the next course.

• Course 1: wall A shows headers: the quoin header, then a queen closer (to give the quarter-brick lap), then headers. The side of the quoin header shows on wall B as a stretcher, and wall B continues with two rows of stretchers.
• Course 2: the arrangement is reversed: wall B shows the quoin header, queen closer and headers, while wall A shows stretchers in two rows.

COURSE 1 - PLAN (not to scale)        COURSE 2 - PLAN
      <------ wall A ------>               <------ wall A ------>
  +---+-+---+---+---+---+            +-------+-------+-------+
  |   | |   |   |   |   |            |  Hq   |   S   |   S   |
  |Hq |Q| H | H | H | H |            +-------+-------+-------+
  |   | |   |   |   |   |            |   Q   |   S   |   S   |
  +---+-+---+---+---+---+            +-------+-------+-------+
  |   |   |                          |   H   |
  | S | S |   wall B                 +-------+   wall B
  |   |   |                          |   H   |
  +---+---+                          +-------+
  | S | S |                          |   H   |
  +---+---+                          +-------+
 Hq = quoin header, Q = queen closer, H = header, S = stretcher

ELEVATION (face of wall A)
 +---+-+---+---+---+---+---+
 |Hq |Q| H | H | H | H | H |   header course
 +---+-+-+-+---+---+---+---+
 |   S   |   S   |   S   |     stretcher course
 +-------+-------+-------+

Elevation: the face shows alternate courses of headers and stretchers; the vertical joints (perpends) of every second course lie one above the other.

Flemish bond corner (1 brick thick wall)

In each course, headers and stretchers alternate. A queen closer is placed after the quoin header, and the header of each course sits over the centre of the stretcher below. In a 1-brick wall the headers go right through the wall, and each face stretcher is backed by another stretcher.

COURSE 1 - PLAN (not to scale)            COURSE 2 - PLAN
       <-------- wall A -------->              <------ wall A ------>
  +---+-+-------+---+-------+          +-------+---+-------+---+
  |   | |   S   |   |   S   |          |  Hq   |   |   S   |   |
  |Hq |Q+-------+ H +-------+          +-------+ H +-------+ H |
  |   | |   S   |   |   S   |          |   Q   |   |   S   |   |
  +---+-+-------+---+-------+          +---+---+---+-------+---+
  |   H   |                            | S | S |
  +---+---+   wall B                   |   |   |   wall B
  | S | S |                            +---+---+
  |   |   |                            |   H   |
  +---+---+                            +-------+

ELEVATION (face of wall A)
 +---+-+-------+---+-------+---+
 |Hq |Q|   S   | H |   S   | H |   course 1
 +---+-+-+---+-+---+---+---+---+
 |   S   | H |   S   | H |   S     course 2
 +-------+---+-------+---+------

Elevation: headers and stretchers alternate in every course, and each header lies over the centre of the stretcher below.

Points of difference:

• English bond has a full header course in every alternate course, which ties the two faces of the wall together, so it is stronger; Flemish bond has headers and stretchers in every course.
• Flemish bond gives a better appearance on the face, but it is slightly weaker and needs more bats (cut bricks), so it is a little costlier to build.
• English bond needs less skill; Flemish bond needs more care and supervision to keep the pattern correct.