heart bond

A heart bond is a brickwork pattern where two header bricks meet at the center of the wall thickness, with their joint covered by a third header brick laid perpendicular to them. This creates a distinctive appearance at the wall face, where you see the ends of the covering header aligned with the center line of the wall. It differs fundamentally from English bond and Flemish bond because no single brick stretches the full depth of the wall as a header.

The pattern requires careful planning. In a typical wall 9 or 10 inches thick, two headers meeting in the middle leave a gap at their joint that must be closed by the covering header. This third brick sits in the next course, oriented perpendicular to the plane of the wall face, bridging the junction below it. The result is that the wall face shows rows of headers with a continuous center line of header joints, creating a subtle but visible linear effect running horizontally through the brickwork.

Why heart bond is used and where it fails

Heart bond appears occasionally in solid masonry construction where aesthetic uniformity at the face is desired without the structural commitment of a full English bond. It provides better transverse bonding than a simple stretcher-course wall, though less effective than true headers spanning the thickness. The pattern demands skilled laying because the three-brick sequence must align precisely across courses; misalignment in the middle course creates visible faults and weak planes.

The name reflects the position of the covering header: it sits at the heart or center of the wall, closing the meeting point of the two headers beneath it. Historic examples appear in late 19th and early 20th century brickwork, particularly in regions where labor was skilled enough to execute the pattern reliably. Modern construction has largely abandoned heart bond in favor of cavity wall systems with clear header-to-stretcher sequences, which are faster to lay and require less precision on site.