Time for another MissPres Architectural Word of the Week. As we move right along through the alphabet, you can check out our past words here. Have you been keeping an eye out for these elements like I have? Our images this week are from the MDAH HRI database, so if you want to learn more you can head on over to the HRI database and look them up!
This week’s word is brought to you by the letter N for “Nogging” as defined by Cyril M. Harris’s Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture
Nogging: (ˈnä-giŋ) Brickwork carried up in panels between timber quarters; the filling of brickwork between members of a frame wall or partition.
Nogging is speculated to have originated for all kinds of reasons some being; fire proofing or fire blocking, temperature insulation, sound insulation, pest control, or structural strengthening. The 1899 “A Treatise On Architecture And Building Construction Vol2: Masonry. Carpentry. Joinery” states that Nogging was being used at that time for fire blocking, sound proofing, and pest control. Our examples this week show Nogging used as a hidden building element and as a decorative non-structural element. Can any MissPresers out there share an example of Nogging from your neck of the State? Keep your eyes out for some Nogging this week and stay tuned for the next MissPres Architectural Word of the Week!
Categories: Bay St. Louis, Books, Eupora, Historic Preservation, Jackson
Preservation in Mississippi 
Here are a couple of pics of Nogging at Lakeport. I bet Belmont at Wayside, MS has the same.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/WTkLKngMZu78E8-gAEP4wdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/F7XLj0IOWtwhkxOHtQL-19MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink
This what our Technical Report says:
An important discovery made during restoration was the brick nogging found between the floor joists at
the base of the first floor walls. Nogging was used in home construction during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. Typically built of bricks and mortar, stone was sometimes used in place of brick.
The primary purpose of nogging was to guard against house fire. In both braced frame and balloon frame
construction, fire in the walls was a serious threat. In these types of construction, the openings on the
insides of the walls would permit fire to pass quickly through the house. The brick nogging served as an
obstruction to prevent the fire from spreading so rapidly. Nogging also prevented rodents and other
unwanted intruders access into the wall cavities. Brick nogging was found inside the interior as well as
exterior walls of Lakeport house. This may be an indication that the primary purpose of the nogging for Lakeport house was to prevent rodent access.
Click to access Technical%20Report%209.Braced%20Frame%20Construction%202.pdf
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Wow thanks for sharing the Technical Report! Very Informative. The photos are great also. Since Belmont is a brick structure I’m not sure how the Nogging would have worked, but I am pretty unfamiliar with the building
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Good point. Maybe in the interior walls. I don’t think anyone has looked at Belmont very closely.
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Brick Nogging in a wood frame building stands out to the eye where Brick Nogging in a frame wall of a Brick Building might be a little on the sly. Do you know if Belmont is ever open for tours?
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My husband and I are owners of an interesting little house in an interesting little town. The history of the town has tons of mystery ,so the house fits in. It is a saddlebag story and a half with brick jogging throughout in a flood plain of which we are restoring. It came with a single sorry near twin minus the bogging. Here are a few pictures of the start of restoring.
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