Soldier course or not?

[600rob]

Needing to brick across the horizontal gap across the top of my fire place after removing what once was a arch.
Does it matter whether I use a soldier course or not?
I mean does the soldier course the serve an actual function other than cosmetic? Is it structurally necessary?

Will be using a steel support lintel across the gap anyway but just wondering if there's any other significant difference between a soldier and a conventional course?

 

[23vc]

Purely for aesthetics

 

[Charlie George]

Purely cosmetic.

 

[johnny2007]

Purely for show

 

[^woody^]

Just for attention.

 

[600rob]

Cheers all

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

The tops and bottoms of bricks aren't intended to be visible and are often ugly and/or a different colour to the face.

The purpose of a soldier course is that the face and underside will both be faces of the bricks rather than the less pretty underside.

 

[^woody^]

The tops and bottoms of bricks aren't intended to be visible and are often ugly and/or a different colour to the face.

The purpose of a soldier course is that the face and underside will both be faces of the bricks rather than the less pretty underside.

The purpose of a soldier course is that it is the modern alternative to a flat arch.

 

[noseall]

flat arch.

Sounds like a paradox.

 

[^woody^]

Sounds like a paradox.

Don't shoot the messenger

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

The purpose of a soldier course is that it is the modern alternative to a flat arch.

It's not a flat arch. It has absolutely no inherent strength.

A soldier course needs a lintel, just the same as if it was normal courses of bricks. It doesn't provide any support, in fact it's probably weaker than normal courses.

The main reason it exists is so that the underside of the opening is a face of the brick, one that's intended to be visible. The other reason is that they look a bit more interesting.

The top and bottom of some bricks look just about acceptable, in which case you can do as you prefer. Others look terrible or are a completely different colour, in which case a soldier course is needed over a lintel. Sometimes a different brick is used, just to make things more interesting or possibly to match a more frost resistant brick that's also used as a soldier at the bottom of the window opening, where water may collect if there's no window sill.

 

[^woody^]

It's not a flat arch. It has absolutely no inherent strength.

SMH

Modern ALTERNATIVE

 

[Dereekoo]

It's not a flat arch. It has absolutely no inherent strength.

It must have some inherent strength as bricks with no mortar binding them together would collapse immediately if a supporting plank was removed but a binded soldier course would possible stay in place for a while before it collapses, of course the span would have a significant influence on how long it stayed in place - just saying. Perhaps worthwhile inherent strength is the correct term?

SMH

SMH??? you in to text jargon?

 

[^woody^]

SMH??? you in to text jargon?

The correct phrase is

"Are you down with it?"

HTH.

 

[^woody^]

It must have some inherent strength as bricks with no mortar binding them together would collapse immediately

A course of soldiers can self support using the exact same principles as what holds an arch up, although with more reliance on friction, and spans are limited due to other forces at play the greater the span.

It's possible to support a limited number of bricks laid in stretcher bond over an opening by wedging the joints using the same principle.