Wall
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/* Walls in Popular Culture */
{{otheruses}}
[[Image:Brick wall old.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A brick wall]]
A '''wall''' is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into [[Room (architecture)|room]]s, or protects or delineates a space in the open air. There are three principal types of structural walls: building walls, exterior boundary walls, and retaining walls.
==Building walls==
Building walls have two main purposes: to support roofs and ceilings, and to divide space, providing security against intrusion and weather. Such walls most often have three or more separate components. In today's construction, a building's wall will usually have the structural elements (such as 2×4 studs in a house wall), [[Thermal insulation|insulation]], and finish elements, or surface (such as [[drywall]] or [[panelling]]). 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 [[mural]]s 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 "[[Bulkhead (partition)|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.
==Boundary walls==
[[Image:Stone_wall.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Stone wall of an English barn]]
Boundary walls include privacy walls, boundary-marking walls on property, and city walls. These intergrade into [[fence]]s; the conventional differentiation is that a fence is of minimal thickness and often is open in nature, while a wall is usually more than a nominal thickness and is completely closed, or opaque. More to the point, if an exterior structure is made of wood or wire, it is generally referred to as a fence, while if it is made of [[masonry]], it is considered a wall. A common term for both is [[Separation barrier|barrier]], convenient if it is partly a wall and partly a fence, for example the [[Berlin Wall]]. Another kind of wall/fence ambiguity is the [[ha-ha]] which is set below ground level, so as not to interrupt a view yet acting as a barrier to cattle for example.
[[Image:Olditalianwall.JPG|thumb|200px|left|An old Italian wall surrounded by flowers.]]
Before the invention of [[artillery]], many [[Europe]]an [[city|cities]] had [[city wall|protective walls]]. In fact, the English word "wall" is derived from Latin ''[[vallum]]'', which was a type of fortification wall. Since they are no longer relevant for defense, the cities have grown beyond their walls, and many of the walls have been torn down. Extreme examples of boundary walls include the [[Great Wall of China]] and [[Hadrian's Wall]]. A modern functional example was the [[Berlin Wall]], which divided Germany.
==Retaining walls==
[[Image:P5230470.JPG|thumb|200px|right|[[Dry-stone wall]] - Grendon]]
[[Image:Perfectwall.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[Ashlar]] wall - Inca wall at [[Machu Picchu]]]]
In areas of rocky soils around the world, farmers have often pulled large quantities of stone out of their fields to make farming easier, and have stacked those stones to make walls that either mark the field boundary, or the property boundary, or both.
[[Retaining wall]]s are a special type of wall, that may be either external to a building or part of a building, that serves to provide a barrier to the movement of earth, stone or water. The ground surface or water on one side of a retaining wall will be noticeably higher than on the other side. A [[dike (construction)|dike]] is one type of retaining wall, as is a [[levee]], a load-bearing [[foundation]] wall, and a [[sea wall]].
==Shared walls==
Special laws often govern walls shared by neighbouring properties. Typically, one neighbour cannot alter the common wall if it is likely to affect the building or property on the other side.
==Etymology==
It is notable that [[English language|English]] uses the same word to refer to an external wall, and the internal sides of a room. This is by no means universal, and many languages distinguish between the two. In German, some of this distinction can be seen between ''Wand'' and ''Mauer''.
==Walls in Popular Culture==
*Progressive/psychedelic rock band [[Pink Floyd]] have a concept album called ''[[The Wall]]''. This Wall is not real, but a metaphor for social barring.
*Social networking site [[Facebook]] uses a wall to log the scrawls of friends. Users have gone onto create more advanced versions of the original wall, such as the application [[SuperWall]].
==See also==
{{wiktionary|wall}}
{{commonscat|Walls}}
* [[List of walls]]
* [[Ashlar]]
* [[Curtain wall]]
* [[Dry-stone wall]]
* [[Fence]]
* [[Load-bearing wall]]
* [[Sleeper wall]]
* [[Stone wall]]
* [[Wallpaper]]
* As mentioned above, [[The Wall]] is an album by progressive/psychedelic rock band [[Pink Floyd]].
[[Category:Walls| ]]
[[Category:Property law]]
[[Category:Structural system]]
[[Category:Archaeological features]]
[[an:Paret]]
[[ay:Pirqa]]
[[br:Moger]]
[[bg:Стена (архитектура)]]
[[ca:Paret]]
[[cs:Zeď]]
[[cy:Mur]]
[[da:Væg]]
[[de:Mauer]]
[[es:Pared]]
[[eo:Muro]]
[[fr:Mur]]
[[ko:벽]]
[[id:Dinding]]
[[he:חומה]]
[[nl:Muur (bouwsel)]]
[[nds-nl:Mure]]
[[ja:壁]]
[[no:Vegg]]
[[nrm:Muthâle]]
[[pl:Mur]]
[[pt:Muralha]]
[[qu:Pirqa]]
[[ru:Стена]]
[[simple:Wall]]
[[fi:Seinä]]
[[sv:Mur]]
[[tl:Dingding]]
[[ta:மதில்]]
[[tr:Duvar (inşaat)]]
[[uk:Стіна]]
[[zh:墙]]