**Types of Walls**:
– Defensive Wall: Originally referred to defensive walls and ramparts.
– Building Wall: Supports roofs, floors, and ceilings, enclosing a space as part of the building envelope. Provides shelter, security, and utilities. Falls into framed and mass-wall categories, conforming to local building and fire codes.
– Curtain Wall: Non-load-bearing facades providing decoration, finish, and historical preservation.
– Precast Wall: Manufactured in a factory and shipped ready for installation. Faster and potentially lower cost compared to other wall types.
– Mullion Wall: Structural system carrying the load of the floor slab on prefabricated panels around the perimeter.
– Partition Wall: Separates rooms, not load-bearing, made of various materials like glass, timber, or metal framing for temporary works.
– Knee Wall: Supports rafters or adds height in top-floor rooms, found in 1+1/2-story houses, provides support for a half story.
– Cavity Wall: Made with a space between two skins to inhibit heat transfer.
– Pony Wall: Short walls like half walls, stem walls, and cripple walls.
– Demountable Wall: Falls into three main types: glass walls, laminated particle board walls, drywall.
– Retaining Wall: Resists movement of earth, stone, or water, used in areas with rocky soils for farming or building support.
**Functional Walls**:
– Solar Energy: Trombe wall acts as a heat sink, used in passive solar building design.
– Shipbuilding: Bulkheads separate major compartments on a ship, while partitions separate cabins.
– Boundary Wall: Includes privacy walls, boundary-marking walls, and town walls, differentiated from fences by thickness and opacity.
– Border Wall: Constructed to limit movement across borders, examples include the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall.
– Shared Wall: Neighboring properties share and are governed by legal regulations, can separate apartment or hotel rooms.
– Portable Wall: Divides open spaces into smaller rooms, found in schools, churches, convention centers, hotels, and corporate facilities.
– Temporary Wall: Easily removable or demolished, constructed with sheet rock, metal, or wood, also known as pressurized walls or temporary pressurized walls.
**Materials for Walls**:
– Brick Walls: Common for durability and aesthetic appeal.
– Concrete Walls: Provide strength and resistance to weathering.
– Stone Walls: Offer natural beauty and longevity.
– Timber Walls: Sustainable and versatile.
– Glass Walls: Provide transparency and modern design elements.
**Construction Techniques**:
– Load-Bearing Walls: Support the weight of the structure above them.
– Cavity Walls: Have inner and outer layers with a gap for insulation.
– Reinforced Walls: Use steel bars to enhance strength.
– Precast Walls: Manufactured off-site and installed later.
– Drywall Systems: Use gypsum panels for interior walls.
**Importance of Walls**:
– Privacy and Security: Provide privacy and security to occupants.
– Soundproofing: Reduce noise transmission between spaces.
– Insulation: Improve energy efficiency by reducing heat loss.
– Decoration: Enhance the aesthetic appeal of buildings.
– Structural Integrity: Ensure stability and integrity of a structure.
The article's lead section may need to be rewritten. (December 2017) |
A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including:
- Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the superstructure or separate interior rooms, sometimes for fire safety
- Glass walls (a wall in which the primary structure is made of glass; does not include openings within walls that have glass coverings: these are windows)
- Border barriers between countries
- Brick walls
- Defensive walls in fortifications
- Permanent, solid fences
- Retaining walls, which hold back dirt, stone, water, or noise sound
- Stone walls
- Walls that protect from oceans (seawalls) or rivers (levees)
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Definition from ChatGPT:
Wall:
A wall is a solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. It can be made of various materials such as brick, concrete, or wood, and is typically used to divide spaces, provide privacy, or support a building.