Stretcher Bond

Stretcher bond (also known as running bond) is the most common bond in modern times, as it is easy to lay, with little waste. Entirely comprised of stretcher bricks, set in rows (or "courses") that are offset by half a brick.

Running bond uses no header bricks, allowing for a thin wall of one layer (half of a 'brick' unit). Two such walls may be built close together with a gap between. The two "skins" are usually tied together at regular intervals using wall ties. For this reason this bond is sometimes known as "cavity wall bond", although it is possible to give the appearance of other bonds in a half-brick cavity wall, either through extensive brick-cutting or the use of purpose-made half-bricks. In some climates the cavity may be filled with cavity wall insulation.

Stretcher bond may also be used to build a single-wythe (one brick thick) wall without a deliberate cavity. In this case, wall ties are used to hold the two wythes together. The main advantage of this technique is that it allows walls with both faces visible, such as domestic dwarf walls, to be built using low-cost bricks that have only two fair faces, called "face bricks". Laying any such brick as a header would reveal a poorly finished header face on one side of the wall. These walls are also used in situations where stronger load bearing capacity is required than that given by a single stretcher bond wall with engaged piers.