A very important thing is behind those big skyscrapers we see today, and the name of that special thing is Bricks. These bricks have contributed the most to shaping these beautiful buildings, and what we throw as a mere piece of stone is actually the king of the construction world. A brick is building material used to make walls, pavements, and other elements in construction industries.
Traditionally, the term brick referred to a unit composed of clay, but it is now used to denote rectangular units made of clay-bearing soil, sand, and lime, or concrete materials. Bricks can be joined together using mortar, adhesives, or by interlocking them. If bricks had not been discovered, it would have been difficult to imagine such big buildings. There are different types of bricks used in Construction. Let’s have a look…
Types of Bricks used in Construction
Bricks are only a small name, but many of its special secrets are hidden behind it. There are many types of bricks used in construction, let’s know about them in detail.
1. Sun-Dried or Unburnt Clay Bricks
As the name implies, sun-dried are types of bricks used in construction that are less durable and used for temporary structure making. These bricks are prepared mainly three steps, i.e., clay, molding, and drying. After molding, bricks are dried using heat from sunlight. Therefore, they are not that much strong, and they have less water and fire resistance.
2. Burnt Clay Bricks
As the name suggests, these bricks are of good quality, but sometimes, they also consist of some defective bricks. Keeping this in view, it is divided into four parts –
3. First-class Bricks
Does exactly what it says on the tin. These are premium bricks, and they are molded by table-molding and burnt in large kilns. Therefore, these bricks contain standard shape, sharp edges, and smooth surfaces; also, these are costly as compare to other classes.
4. Second Class Bricks
These kinds of bricks are also superior but just moderate in class as compared to first-class bricks, and they are molded by a ground molding process. Their surface seems a little bumpy and does not have sharp corners. But there strength and durability are equal to first-class, which makes it special.
5. Third Class Bricks
It is known by the name, these are poorer quality bricks just like unburnt bricks, uneven in shape, less strength, and durability. These are not suitable for rainy areas, that’s why they are used for inside creativity. They are ground-molded type bricks and burnt in clamps.
6. Fourth Class Bricks
It is counted in the worst, and the worst quality bricks and these bricks are not useful in building making. They are crushed and used as aggregates in the manufacturing of concrete. They are obtained by over burning, that is why they can break easily and not suitable for construction purposes.
7. Fly Ash Bricks
Fly ash bricks are manufactured using fly ash and water. The most important thing about these kinds of bricks is they have better properties than clay bricks and greatly resistant to freeze. These bricks contain a large amount of calcium oxide mixtures, which is the main constituent in cement production. The advantages of these bricks are they have high fire insulation, a uniform size that is useful in making cement brick walls, better joints, and plasters.
8. Concrete Bricks
These bricks are manufacturing by using concrete, and the main ingredients are cement, coarse aggregates, and water. The main advantage of these concrete bricks is that they play an important role in construction industries, reduce the quantity of mortar, and, most important, can be manufactured into different colors as pigmented.
9. Engineering Bricks
These bricks have high compressive strength and used basements where chemical or water attacks are prevalent and for damp proof courses. These bricks are useful where frost resistance, acid resistance is required. Engineering bricks are used for high load-bearing walls, and for damp proof courses.
So here, we learned about some popular types of Bricks, which gave us detailed information about this precious stone. Let us now look at some of its advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of Using Bricks in Construction
Bricks play a major role in construction and project management; also, it has some special advantages. Let’s take a look.
1. As the size and shape of bricks are uniform and perfect so, it does not need skilled labor for construction as it can easily be placed.
2. Bricks are light in weight, and hence handling is very easy.
3. Bricks can easily be available everywhere in cities or even in rural areas and do not require any kind of heavy transportation, as they are light in weight.
4. One more important advantage of bricks are thinner walls can easily be constructed with bricks.
5. In the brick masonry construction, mortar joints are thin and perfect, so the construction cost is even reduced, which is the best advantage.
6. Brick is better fire and weather-resistant as compare to stone.
7. Bricks suffer very less destruction during any kind of heavy storms.
8. As they have better thermal mass than various other building materials, so it has the ability to regulate the temperature, and this is the reason bricks are found to be the best choice in home construction also.
9. Bricks are recyclable and can be used in other project management, such as landscaping.
Disadvantages of Bricks in Construction Project Process
The following are some disadvantages of using bricks in the Construction Project.
1. If we pay attention to the strength and durability, brick proves to be back here as compare to stone masonry.
2. Brick masonry needs plastering and colour washing, which increases the cost.
3. In the rainy season, brick absorbs the water, and there is a possibility of dampness.
4. The most important thing, their colour tends to fade with time and quality decreases.
5. Cleaning the brick walls is a very difficult task as they cannot be clean by a simple piece of cloth.
6. They take up a lot of time and effort to process and use in construction.
7. Bricks cannot be used in high seismic and sensitive zones, and the reason we all know, they have less tensile strength.
8. Brick floors could even develop bacteria, which is very unhygienic for kids who just started walking and crawling.
Conclusion
This file summarizes the world of bricks and their important and informational types. Brick act as a Greek God of construction industries. Without this, the world of people’s dreams never takes shape, and the dream of building a dream house may not come again in dreams. The bricks give shape to these skyscrapers, and for this reason today, the names of such big buildings are recorded in some famous books.
But there is only a small thing behind it, and that is brick, a brittle piece of stone. A brick is a man-made building material used to make walls and make places to walk. This file also concludes about something untold and unresolved advantages and disadvantages of Bricks, which gave us deeper and better knowledge of Bricks.