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Brick

Bricks are one of the oldest types of building blocks. They are an ideal building

material because they are relatively cheap to make, very durable, and require littlemaintenance. Bricks are usually made of kiln-baked mixtures of clay. In ancienttimes, bricks were made of mud and dried in the sun ; modern bricks are madefrom concrete , sand and lime, and glass . The physical and chemical characteristicsof the raw materials used to make bricks, along with the temperature at which theyare baked, determine the color and hardness of the finished product. Bricks aremade in standard sizes, are usually twice as long as they are wide and, since most

bricklaying is done manually, are made small enough to fit in the hand. Bricklayersuse a trowel to cover each brick with mortara mixture of cement, sand,and water . The mortar hardens when dry and keeps the bricks in place. Bricks arearranged in various patterns, called bonds, for strength.

Brick - History

Archaeologists have found bricks in the Middle East dating 10,000 years ago.Scientists suggest that these bricks were made from mud left after the rivers in thatarea flooded. The bricks were molded by hand and left in the sun to dry. Structureswere built by layering the bricks using mud and tar as mortar. The ancient city of Ur (modern Iraq) was built with mud bricks around 4,000 B.C. the Israelites made

bricks for their Egyptian rulers. These bricks were made of clay dug fromthe earth , mixed with straw, and baked in crude ovens or burned in a fire. Manyancient structures made of bricks, such as the Great Wall of China and remnants of Roman buildings, are still standing today. The Romans further developed kiln-

baked bricks and spread the art of brick making throughout Europe .

The oldest type of brick in the Western Hemisphere is the adobe brick. Adobe bricks are made from adobe soil , comprised of clay, quartz, and other minerals , and baked in the sun. Adobe soil can be found in dry regions throughout the world, butmost notably in Central America, Mexico , and the southwestern United States. ThePyramid of the Sun was built of adobe bricks by the Aztecs in the fifteenth centuryand is still standing. In North America , bricks were used as early as theseventeenth century. Bricks were used extensively for building new factories andhomes during the Industrial Revolution . Until the nineteenth century, raw materialsfor bricks were mined and mixed, and bricks were formed, by manual labor. Thefirst brick making machines were steam powered, and the bricks were fired

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with wood or coal as fuel. Modern brickmaking equipment is powered bygasand electricity . Some manufacturers still produce bricks by hand, but the majorityis machine made.

Brick - Types of Brick

Some bricks are made for specific purposes and are made of certain raw materials,formed in a particular shape, or with added special textures or glazes. Common

brick is the everyday building brick. They are not made of special materials, anddo not have special marks, color, or texture. Common brick is typically red andsometimes used as a "backup" brick, depending on the quality. Face brick is often

applied on top of common backup brick. Face brick can be obtained in a variety of colors, has a uniform surface appearance and color, is more durable, and is gradedaccording to its ability to withstand freezing temperatures and moisture. Refractory

bricks are made from fireclaysclays with a high alumina or silica content or nonclay minerals such as bauxite, zircon, silicon carbide, or dolomite. Fireclaysare heat resistant and are used in various types of furnaces, kilns, andfireplaces. Calcium silicate bricks are often made in areas where clay is not readilyavailable. Glazed bricks are made primarily for walls in buildings such as dairies,hospitals, and laboratories, where easy cleaning is necessary.

Bricks may be made from clay , shale , soft slate, calcium silicate , concrete, or shaped from quarried stone.

Clay is the most common material, with modern clay bricks formed in one of three processes - soft mud, dry press, or extruded .

Manufacturing of BricksMud bricks

The soft mud method is the most common, as it is the most economical. It startswith the raw clay, preferably in a mix with 25-30% sand to reduce shrinkage. The

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the locations at which the bricks are loaded, fired, and unloaded gradually rotatethrough the trench.

Dry pressed bricks

The dry press method is similar to mud brick but starts with a much thicker claymix, so it forms more accurate, sharper-edged bricks. The greater force in pressingand the longer burn make this method more expensive .

Extruded bricks

With extruded bricks the clay is mixed with 10-15% water (stiff extrusion) or 20-25% water (soft extrusion). This is forced through a die to create a long cable of material of the proper width and depth. This is then cut into bricks of the desiredlength by a wall of wires. Most structural bricks are made by this method, as harddense bricks result, and holes or other perforations can be produced by the die. Theintroduction of holes reduces the needed volume of clay through the whole

process, with the consequent reduction in cost. The bricks are lighter and easier tohandle, and have thermal properties different from solid bricks. The cut

bricks are hardened by drying for between 20 and 40 hours at 50-150 C before being fired. The heat for drying is often waste heat from the kiln .

Calcium silicate bricks

The raw materials for calcium silicate bricks include lime mixed with quartz ,crushed flint or crushed siliceous rock together with mineral colourants . Thematerials are mixed and left until the lime is completely hydrated, the mixture isthen pressed into moulds and cured in an autoclave for two or three hours to speedthe chemical hardening. The finished bricks are very accurate and uniform,although the sharp arrises need careful handling to avoid damage to brick (and

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brick-layer). The bricks can be made in a variety of colours, white is common but pastel shades can be achieved.

It is very common in Sweden, especially in houses built or renovated in the '70s.Here it is referred to as "Mexitegel" (en: Mexi[can] Bricks).

In India these are known as Fly ash bricks, manufactured using the Falg process.

Strength And Quality Of Brick

182. An architect should, if possible, examine the brick to be used in a building before they are laid in the wall, and they should meet the following requirements:

1. They should be sound, free from cracks or flaws, and from stones and lumps of any kind, especially pieces of lime .

2. The bricks must be uniform in size, with sharp angles and edges, and thesurfaces true and square to each other; this insures neat work.

3. Good building brick should be quite hard and well burned. A simple, andgenerally satisfactory test for common brick is to strike two of them together, or tostrike one with the edge of a mason's trowel; if the brick gives a ringing sound it isgenerally sufficiently strong for any ordinary work. A dull sound shows the brick is soft or shaky.

4. The quantity of water absorbed is also important. A good brick should notabsorb more than one-tenth its weight in water. A good test is to weigh the brick first, then immerse it in water for twenty-four hours, and weigh it again. From theincrease in weight the percentage of water it has absorbed may be found. Very softunderburned brick often absorb from 25 to 35 per cent. of water. Weak, light-red

brick, often used in filling the interior of walls, will absorb about 20 to 25 per cent., while the very best brick may absorb not more than 5 per cent., and should, if

possible, be used for outside walls and foundation walls and piers.

5. Brick that are suitable for piers and the foundations of heavy buildings shouldnot break under a crushing load of less than 4,000 pounds per square inch.

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6. The transverse strength of a brick is quite as important as the crushing strength.A good brick, 8 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 2 1/2 inches thick, should not

break under a center load of less than 1,600 pounds, the brick lying flat, supportedat each end only, and having a clear span of 6 inches, and a bearing at each end of

1 inch. A first-class brick will carry 2,250 pounds in the center and not break. Testshave been made with brick that carried 9,700 pounds before breaking.

USE OF BRICK

Bricks are used for building and pavement . In the USA, brick pavement was found

incapable of withstanding heavy traffic, but it is coming back into use as a methodof traffic calming or as a decorative surface in pedestrian precincts . For example,in the early 1900s, most of the streets in the city of Grand Rapids , Michigan were

paved with brick. Today, there are only about 20 blocks of brick paved streetsremaining (totalling less than 0.5 percent of all the streets in the city limits).

Bricks are also used in the metallurgy and glass industries for lining furnaces . Theyhave various uses, especially refractory bricks suchas silica , magnesia , chamotte and neutral ( chromomagnesite )refractory bricks . Thistype of brick must have good thermal shock resistance, refractoriness under load,high melting point, and satisfactory porosity . There is a large refractory brick industry, especially in the United Kingdom , Japan and the United States .

In the United Kingdom, bricks have been used in construction for centuries. Untilrecently, almost all houses were built almost entirely from bricks. Although manyhouses in the UK are now built using a mixture of concrete blocks and other materials, many houses are skinned with a layer of bricks on the outside for aesthetic appeal.

In the UK a redbrick university is one founded and built in the Victorian era, oftenas a technical college . The term is used as differentiation from older, more classics -oriented universities.

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Brick Made Buildings

Shebeli Tower

Shebeli Tower is a historical tower in Damavand , in Tehran Province of Iran .

Standing approximately 33 ft tall (10 m), the structure is a roofed octagon tombof Sheikh Shebeli, a Sufi mystic.

The Chilehaus

The Chilehaus (Chile House) is a ten-story office building in Hamburg , Germany ,a prime example of brick architecture of the 1920s

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The Alhambra The Alhambra (Arabic : -Al , amr' , literally "the red one"), the completeform of which was Calat Alhambra ) -Al-Qal'at al , amr' , "thered fortress"), is a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14thcentury by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus , occupyingthe top of the hill of the Assabica on the southeastern border of the cityof Granada , now in the autonomous community of Andalusia , Spain .

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The Great Mosque of Samarra

The Great Mosque of Samarra is a 9th century mosque which is located inthe Iraqi city of Samarra . The mosque was commissioned in 848 and completed in851 by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil who reigned (in Samarra) from 847 until861.

The Great Mosque of Samarra was at one time the largest mosque in the world;itsminaret , the Malwiya Tower, is a vast spiralling cone (snail shaped) 52 metershigh and 33 meters wide with a spiral ramp.

The mosque had 17 aisles, and its walls were panelled with mosaics of dark blueglass. It was part of an extension of Samarra eastwards.

On April 1, 2005, the top of the Malwiya minaret was damaged by a bomb.Insurgents reportedly attacked the tower because U.S. troops had been using it as alookout position. The blast removed pieces of brick from the top of the minaretalong its spiral ramp.

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The art and architecture of the mosque was influential; stucco carvings within themosque in floral and geometric designs represent early Islamic decoration.Additionally, the mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, Egypt was based on the Samarramosque in many regard .

The Frauenkirche

The Frauenkirche was constructed from red brick in the late Gothic style withinonly 20 years. The building is designed very plainly, without rich Gothic

ornaments.The Late Gothic brick building with round chapel wreath is 109 metres (358 ft)long, 40 metres (130 ft) wide, and 37 metres (121 ft) high. Contrary to awidespread legend that says the two towers with their characteristic hood areexactly one meter different in height, they are almost equal: the north tower is98.57 metres (323.4 ft), the south tower, on the other hand, is only 98.45 metres

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(323.0 ft), 12 centimetres (4.7 in) less. The original design called for pointed spiresto top the towers, much like Cologne Cathedral , but those were never built becauseof lack of money. Instead, the two domes were built during the Renaissance , andare mismatched stylistically with the rest of the building. But this way they have

become a distinctive landmark of Munich

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