Question

If you are designing an interior nonbearing floor-to-ceiling masonry wall, would you specify a bond beam top course? Why or why not? Typically about how far can this wall span horizontally between cross walls, piers, columns, corners, etc.?

Answer

Usually you would not use a top course bond beam. It is typically not required by code, and if the floors are in place, it is impossible to fill with grout. Usually the space at the wall top is filled with compressible material in order to deal with floor deflection, sound transfer, and/or fire rating requirements. The typical horizontally spanning, nonbearing interior masonry wall length can be 36 times the wall thickness. Thus, a 6-inch (144-millimeter) thick wall can be about 18 feet (5.18 meters) long. Exterior walls and bearing walls have shorter allowable span lengths.