Identify Upright Brickwork and Plan a Sound Soldier Course

A soldier course brick stands on end, with its longest dimension vertical and its long, narrow finished face exposed. A soldier course is a row of bricks in that position. It can mark an opening or form a decorative band, but the name describes orientation, not structural support: an upright row above a door or window is not automatically a self-supporting lintel. These orientation terms follow the Brick Industry Association’s masonry terminology guide.

For a straight course, calculate the layout from the width of the exposed upright face—not from the brick’s length or usual bed width. The tool below checks that arithmetic. It does not size a lintel, verify an arch or establish whether existing masonry is safe to remove.

Enter the number of whole soldiers, measured face width and joint width; add end joints only if your layout includes them.

Identify a Soldier by Its Face and Orientation

An ordinary stretcher brick can be pictured turned upright without changing which finished face is visible. Its length now runs vertically, while the dimension that was its height becomes the horizontal width of the soldier face. That distinction matters both when naming existing work and when ordering or setting out replacements.

Vertical joints alone do not identify a soldier course. Look at the direction of the brick’s length and the surface presented to the viewer. A sailor also stands on end, but exposes the broad surface normally used as the bed. A rowlock exposes the short end rather than the tall, long face of a soldier.

Position	How the Brick Sits	Exposed Face
Soldier	On end; length vertical	Long, narrow finished face
Sailor	On end; length vertical	Broad, usual bed surface
Stretcher	On its usual bed; length horizontal	Long, narrow finished face
Rowlock	On its long, narrow side	Short end face

A sailor therefore looks wider than a soldier made from the same rectangular brick. Do not transfer a sailor layout directly to a soldier course merely because both rows have upright units. Their exposed widths differ, so the number of bricks and the joint layout can differ too.

A soldier course is not a complete wall-bond pattern. It can sit within a wall whose surrounding courses use running bond or another arrangement. Record the upright feature separately from the surrounding bond when describing a repair. “Running-bond wall with a soldier course above the opening” is more useful than treating the upright band as the bond of the entire wall.

Above an Opening, Establish What Carries the Load

A straight row of upright bricks does not become a lintel simply because it is called a soldier course. Support might come from steel, reinforced masonry, concrete or a properly designed masonry arch. The visible arrangement and the load-carrying arrangement are separate questions.

A lintel carries loads above an opening. Its selection requires load and serviceability checks, not a rule based only on brick appearance. The BIA guidance on structural steel lintels explains these principles. It is an older technical note; project design must follow current applicable local requirements rather than treating the note as a universal specification.

For an existing opening, consult drawings where available and have the actual support assessed before removing bricks or cutting joints extensively. A drawing is useful evidence, but the question for a repair remains what is present and carrying the masonry now. Do not let a neat, apparently straight course stand in for that assessment.

Sagging, displaced or loose masonry calls for prompt professional assessment. Keep clear of loose overhead work rather than testing it by hand. Repointing can renew deteriorated joints in stable work; it cannot establish the capacity of an unidentified lintel or correct a support problem merely by making the face look continuous.

A Flat Underside Does Not Rule Out an Arch

A jack arch can have little or no rise. A functioning masonry arch transfers loads through its units to the supports at either end, producing horizontal as well as vertical reactions. Some arches instead rely on steel support. The BIA arch guidance distinguishes these arrangements.

That means a flat-looking window head cannot be classified safely from its underside alone. Equally, an arch-like pattern is not proof that the masonry is acting as an unsupported arch. Before reconstruction, establish whether the feature is an arch, supported decorative brickwork or another designed arrangement.

Record any cut or tapered units and the joint geometry before dismantling approved work. These details belong to the feature’s arrangement, not just its appearance. The straight-row calculator above is deliberately unsuitable for arch design: it adds face widths and joints but does not evaluate unit shape, reactions or support.

Keep Lintel Drainage Open During Repairs

In a veneer or cavity wall, support and drainage must be considered together. Flashing over the lintel collects water and directs it outward through weeps, as described in the BIA lintel guidance. Do not fill intended drainage openings while making the course look neat.

This is a specific moisture-control arrangement, not a claim that every historic soldier course has the same wall construction. Establish the wall type and the details present at the opening. Where flashing and weeps are part of the assembly, the repair needs to preserve their drainage function as well as the visible brickwork.

A continuous-looking finish is not the objective if achieving it closes an intended outlet. Agree which openings are drainage features before pointing begins, rather than deciding that every gap at the head of the opening should receive mortar.

Match Historic Repairs to the Existing Course

Before choosing replacement materials, record brick dimensions, exposed faces, joint widths, joint profile and any cut or tapered units. Compare damaged areas with sound portions of the same feature—not just with a modern brick catalogue. The surviving course is the reference for how the repair should fit and read.

Measure the intended soldier face specifically. A replacement that seems similar when laid as a stretcher may not give the same upright width or exposed surface. Keep the observations tied to the orientation in which the replacement will be used, and distinguish measured unit dimensions from dimensions that include joints.

Joint width and joint profile are separate observations. A repair can follow the existing spacing yet still change the character of the course if its tooling differs. Record both before removing deteriorated mortar, while sound joints remain available for comparison.

For historic work, mortar compatibility comes before a convenient bagged mix. The National Park Service recommends replacement pointing mortar that matches the historic mortar’s color, texture and tooling, is softer and more vapor-permeable than the masonry units, and is no harder or less vapor-permeable than the historic mortar. Excessively strong or impermeable mortar can shift deterioration into the bricks.

Its Preservation Brief 2 also requires the cause of deterioration to be addressed before repointing. Matching the visible color alone does not meet that guidance. The proposed mortar must suit the masonry and the historic mortar, not merely produce an acceptable-looking joint on the day of repair.

If the course is stable and only its joints need repair, use the approach in brick pointing: when and how to repoint. If bricks have moved or support is suspect, repointing is not a substitute for structural repair. Settle that distinction before specifying the work, because replacing mortar and repairing the support answer different defects.

Set Out the Course Using the Upright Face Width

For new construction—or an approved reconstruction—measure the bricks in their intended orientation. Brick dimensions vary. For modular brick, nominal dimensions include an intended mortar joint; they are not the measurements of the units delivered. The BIA dimensioning guide distinguishes actual, specified and nominal sizes.

For the layout calculation, use the measured face width and add the proposed joints separately. Using a nominal dimension that already includes a joint, then adding another joint allowance, would count that allowance twice. The tool therefore asks for a measured brick face width rather than a nominal module.

Layout Dimension	Use for a Straight Soldier Course
Vertical brick dimension	Brick’s length
Horizontal face width	Brick’s usual height
Internal joints	One fewer than the number of whole bricks
End joints	Add only those specified at the ends

For example, assume measured bricks are 215 mm long, with a 65 mm-wide soldier face, and the proposed joints are 10 mm. Twelve whole soldiers with eleven internal joints occupy 890 mm. This is a layout example, not a prescribed brick size or joint width.

The straight-row length is the number of bricks multiplied by their face width, plus one fewer than the number of bricks multiplied by the internal joint width, plus any specified end-joint allowance.

The 215 mm length establishes the upright brick dimension in this example; it is not used to calculate the horizontal run. The 65 mm face width is the relevant horizontal measurement. Confusing those two dimensions produces a calculation for a different orientation, even if the arithmetic itself is correct.

Count Internal and End Joints Separately

A row of twelve whole bricks has eleven joints between those bricks. The example’s 890 mm result excludes end joints. If the detail includes a joint at either end, add its width separately; if it includes joints at both ends, add their combined width.

The calculator’s optional end-joint field is that combined allowance. It does not assume that two end joints exist or that they match the internal joints. Leave the allowance at zero only when the result you need excludes end joints. If the end condition has not been decided, the internal row length is useful, but it is not yet the complete dimension between the adjoining surfaces.

Compare the calculated run with the intended space before laying. A mismatch does not, by itself, say whether to change the joint width, introduce cuts or alter the detail. It identifies a layout decision that must be resolved. The calculator gives length, not approval for any particular adjustment.

Dry-Set the Whole Feature Before Laying

Dry-set the row or mark a full-size layout. Check both ends, corner returns and the course above; agree necessary cuts rather than hiding a mismatch in one oversized joint. A calculation based on whole units is a starting point for this check, not a substitute for seeing how the ends meet the adjacent work.

For a repair, compare the proposed layout with sound surviving sections. For new work, compare it with the approved detail. In either case, use the actual intended orientation throughout the check so that the face widths, end conditions and cuts refer to the same arrangement.

Do not extend this straight-course arithmetic to an arch. Unit shape, joint geometry and support need separate detailing, and the BIA arch guidance warns that fully filling mortar joints can be difficult in soldier-oriented arches. Identify the course first, establish its support next, and use the layout calculation only for the straight row it describes.