Brick Wall Bonds and Wythes

Brick masonry is built from individual bricks set in mortar to form walls. A key unit in this system is the wythe, which is a vertical layer of bricks one brick thick. Inside a wythe, bricks can be arranged in different courses, or rows, to build the wall.

The most common course is the stretcher ...

The simplest brick masonry wall has one single wythe with a stretcher course.

In this arrangement, the brick's longer edge runs horizontally, with its face parallel to the direction of the wall.

A wythe is a vertical stack of bricks with a thickness of one unit, while a course is a horizontal layer of bricks or any masonry units.