A rowlock is a brick laid on its edge with the end, or header, face exposed, commonly used as a course to cap a wall, form a sill, or slope water away from a horizontal masonry surface.
A rowlock course is often set at a slight angle, or with a sloped mortar bed, specifically so rainwater sheds off instead of pooling on a flat surface. That's why rowlocks show up as window sills, on top of low garden and retaining walls, and as the sloped cap on brick planters and columns. The narrow exposed face and the angled bed joint both take more skill to lay cleanly than a standard flat course, and a rushed rowlock is one of the first details that gives away sloppy work.
A rowlock course is one of the hardest-working parts of a wall in this climate, because it's often the first horizontal surface that catches rain and snow directly. If the slope is wrong or the mortar joints below it aren't tooled tight, water sits on top of the rowlock, soaks down into the wall below, and freezes all winter, which is exactly the mechanism that pops brick faces apart over a few seasons. We check rowlock slope and joint condition on every chimney and wall inspection.
More masonry vocabulary from the glossary.
The services where this term comes up.
Chelo's Brick & Stone serves Hillsville, Galax, Wytheville, Fancy Gap, and Independence, VA. Call for a straight answer and a free on-site estimate.
