The Ultimate Guide; Things to Check Before Buying a Brick!
“Since ancient times about 5000 years ago, people started using bricks which are made up of burnt clay for building walls and pavements.”
These Bricks are the first alternative to stones and play an important role in the construction.
There are different types of Bricks;
1. Red Bricks.
2. Fly Ash Bricks.
3. Concrete Blocks.
4. Sand Lime Bricks.
5. Fireclay Bricks.
“190*90*90*mm and 190*90*40mm is a common size, and the size may vary if we include the mortar joints.”
- Red Bricks;
These bricks are mostly used in India for our traditional architecture, schools and universities, government buildings and sports stadiums.
2. Fly Ash Bricks;
These bricks are obtained from the burning of waste material such as coal in powerhouses and industries. This solved the problem of clearance of waste material and brought in stronger and more uniform bricks.
3. Concrete Blocks;
These bricks are made up of cement, sand and lightweight aggregates formed in molds and then cured and these bricks are also known as concrete blocks. These bricks are manufactured in different patterns and usually colored with iron oxide pigment on the surface.
4. Sand Lime Bricks;
These bricks are usually known as white bricks with good acoustic insulation and are made up of lime instead of cement because these bricks use a selected amount of sand, casts in molds and cured.
5. Fireclay Bricks;
These bricks are made from the heat-resistance materials like aluminum, silica, bauxite, and magnesia and also known as Refractory bricks.
#Advantages of Brick Construction;
There are many advantages when bricks are used as part of the construction.
1. Aesthetic: Bricks offer natural and a variety of colors, including various textures.
2. Strength: Bricks offer excellent high compressive strength.
3. Porosity: The ability to release and absorb moisture is one of the most important and useful properties of bricks, regulating temperatures and humidity inside structures.
4. Fire protection: When prepared properly, a brick structure can give a fire protection maximum rating of 6 hours.
5. Sound attenuation: The brick sound insulation is normally 45 decibels for a 4.5 inches brick thickness and 50 decibels for a 9-inch thick brick.
6. Insulation: Bricks can exhibit above normal thermal insulation when compared to other building materials. Bricks can help regulate and maintain constant interior temperatures of a structure due to their ability to absorb and slowly release heat. In this way, bricks can produce significant energy savings — more than 30 percent when compared to wood construction.
7. Wear-resistance: A brick is so strong that its composition provides excellent wear resistance when compared to wood.
#How to check the quality of bricks?
If you want to know the properties of good quality of bricks that you can refer to the following points;
• The Bricks should be uniform and bright in color.
• Bricks should possess sharp and right-angled corners with plane faces.
• Bricks should be fine, dense, and uniform in texture.
• Good bricks are fire-resistant.
• Crushing Strength should be as high as possible.
• Hollow and Light-weight bricks provide good sound insulation.
• They should have low thermal conductivity.
Different types of bricks vary from the typical building bricks for their specifications, shape and special purpose for which they are made and Brick cutting Machines are used to break down the big blocks into the bricks that are then used for construction.
