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General: Name for fat base of wall

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  1.  
    • CommentAuthorwookey
    • CommentTimeJan 16th 2023
     
    Not really green, but I'm not sure where else to ask.

    Is there a name for the bulge on the sort of wall that is wider at the bottom, typically the bottom 0.5-1m, usually on fairly old buildings? Any of: the wall-type, the bulge itself, or the shelf/slope on top?

    Most bits of buildings have names, but I just failed to find one for this.
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeJan 16th 2023
     
    Entasis
    • CommentAuthorwookey
    • CommentTimeJan 17th 2023 edited
     
    That's a very good word Tony, which I had forgotten about, but it's not really right. That's about walls (more usually columns) that are thinner at the top and bottom than part way up (and vary smoothly). I'm talking about the base being stepped out, typically by one brick. Like this: https://www.pamphilonarchitects.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/AP01_Clunch-House-Cambridge_01.jpg

    I am impressed though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entasis
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeJan 17th 2023
     
    Plinth!

    Entasis in columns - the column's smooth curve actually bulges a bit to a max about quarter way up from bottom, then continues to curve in to a smaller diameter at top. The ancient Greeks did it that way because to the eye that's what made a column look straight and vertical, at a time when 'straight-and-vertical' had hardly even been invented! (because it doesn't exist in nature). The columns also leaned in at the corners - only the middle column was actually vertical. And all its 'horizontal' lines weren't actually straight but curved to droop at the corners. That's why modern attempts at posh 'Greek' porticos etc, ignorant of such subtleties to make it look subjectively right, often simply look naff.
  5.  
    I have a house with stone walls where the walls start of 80cm thick and by the time you are at 1st floor level the walls are 60cm. Whilst there is no step out but a gradual gradient perhaps the same word would apply - what ever that is.
    Maybe something to do with foundations since the increased thickness continues into the ground (by at least 30cm in my case).
  6.  
    Do you mean stepped footings as in Victorian buildings.

    https://fet.uwe.ac.uk/conweb/house_ages/elements/print.htm
  7.  
    Could be - except the stepped footing have the steps below ground whereas the picture wookey posted has the step above ground
  8.  
    Posted By: Peter_in_HungaryCould be - except the stepped footing have the steps below ground whereas the picture wookey posted has the step above ground


    Ahh, well in that case I think Tom has it with plinth.
    • CommentAuthorowlman
    • CommentTimeJan 17th 2023
     
    For PiH;
    I think in your case these walls used to be termed buttressed or battered walls. Frequently used in retaining walls or tall chimney stacks, but sometimes used for aesthetic purposed to give the impression of greater stability.

    For Wookey;
    A Victorian farmhouse near me has such walls in brick. Built on a gradient with the wider bit varying from about 400mm to 650mm above ground level. The base/wider bit is " I think " class B engineering brick and the top course reduction being shaped Plinth stretchers, occasionally called cant bricks; ( Tom is right I think ).
    Sometimes much wider base structure is obtained over more courses by a process called "tumbling in" e.g. external chimney stacks.

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