Coursing
Coursing is the vertical brick module: a 76 mm brick plus a 10 mm joint makes an 86 mm course, the unit sills, heads and wall heights are set out to land on.
Ask Chalkline about this →Coursing is the vertical module of a masonry wall: one masonry unit plus one mortar bed joint. For the standard Australian brick (230 x 110 x 76 mm work size to AS/NZS 4455.1), a course is the 76 mm brick height plus a 10 mm mortar joint, giving a nominal course height of 86 mm. Wall heights, and the heights of sills, heads, and openings, are set out in whole courses so they land on a joint line rather than cutting bricks across the wall.
Bricklayers control coursing with a gauge rod, a marked timber batten, so every course lands on the gauge and the wall stays level and consistent across the job. Designing to coursing matters: set a window head at a height that falls mid-brick and the bricklayer either cuts a course (slow and ugly) or fudges the joints, which shows. Vertical dimensions that are multiples of 86 mm, and horizontal dimensions that suit the brick length plus joint, keep the brickwork clean and cut-free.
On a typical job the floor-to-sill, sill-to-head, and head-to-slab heights are all chosen to suit coursing, and the gauge is checked against the damp-proof course and any flashing or weep-hole (perpend) course. See bricks: clay vs concrete and AS 3700.
Also known as: Brick coursing, course height, vertical gauge.
Category: Masonry / Setting out.
Related
See also
References
- AS/NZS 4455.1:2008 Masonry units, Standards Australia (verified 2026-05-08)
- AS 3700 Masonry structures, Standards Australia (verified 2026-05-08)
Last updated: 2026-05-30. Verified: 2026-05-08. Quarterly review for currency.