Building walls

A brick wall

Building walls have one main purpose: to support roofs and ceilings. Such walls most often have three or more separate components. In today's construction, a building wall will usually have the structural elements (such as 24 studs in a house wall), insulation, and finish elements or surface (such as drywall orpanelling). In addition, the wall may house various types of electrical wiring or plumbing. Electrical outlets are usually mounted in walls. Building walls frequently become works of art externally and internally, such as when featuring mosaic work or when murals are painted on them; or as design foci when they exhibit textures or painted finishes for effect. On a ship, the walls separating compartments are termed "bulkheads", whilst the thinner walls separating cabins are termed "partitions".

In architecture and civil engineering, the term curtain wall refers to the facade of a building which is not load-bearing but functions as decoration, finish, front, face, or history preservation.

Partition wall
A partition wall is a wall for the purpose of separating rooms, or dividing a room. Partition walls are usually not load-bearing. Partition walls may be constructed with bricks or blocks from clay, terra-cotta or concrete, reinforced, or hollow. Glass blocks may also be used. They may also be constructed from sheet glass. Glass partition walls are a series of individual toughened glass panels, which are suspended from or slide along a robust aluminium ceiling track. The system does not require the use of a floor guide, which allows easy operation and an uninterrupted threshold. Timber may be used. This type of partition consists of a wooden framework either supported on the floor below or by side walls. Metal lath and plaster, properly laid, forms a reinforced partition wall. Partition walls constructed from fibre cement sheeting are popular as bases for tiling in kitchens or in wet areas like bathrooms. Galvanized sheet fixed to wooden or steel members are mostly adopted in works of temporary character. Plain or reinforced partition walls may also be constructed from concrete, including pre-cast concrete blocks. Metal framed partitioning is also available. This partition consists of track (used primarily at the base and head of the partition) and stud (vertical sections fixed at 600mm centres). Internal wall partitions also known as office partitioning is made using plasterboard (drywall), or varieties of glass. Toughened glass is a common option as it is feasible however there is also low iron glass better known as opti-white glass which increases light and solar heat transmission. Wall partitions are constructed using beads and tracking which are either hung from the ceiling or fixed into the ground. The panels are inserted into the tracking and fixed. There are variations of wall partitions which include the level of fire resistance they have, and their acoustic performance rating.