In masonry, an outbond brick or stone is laid so that its longest dimension runs parallel to the face of the wall. This creates a stretcher course, which provides longitudinal strength to the wall but requires tying to the inner wythes using perpendicular inbond bricks.
Make sure you tie those outbond courses back to the blockwork every five rows.
A wall built entirely of outbond bricks is technically just a veneer or a single-wythe wall unless tied mechanically to a backup wall.
Also heard as
- stretcher
Do not mix it up with
- Inbond: Outbond lays the brick parallel to the wall face, while inbond lays it perpendicular to tie wythes together.
Related terms
Inbond
Describes a masonry unit laid with its longest dimension extending into the thickness of the wall.
Wythe
A continuous vertical section of a masonry wall that is one unit thick.
Stretcher bond
A masonry pattern where bricks are laid lengthwise with vertical joints offset by half a brick in each successive course.