Red brick: characteristics and tips for choosing

Production features

Red brick can be called a strategic material, therefore its production process is strictly regulated by national standards. Today they are guided by GOST 7484-78 and GOST 530-95.According to regulatory documents, uses clay with a minimum content of marl and sulfate as a raw material. Mining is carried out by the open method, and brick factories are mainly located near the deposits. As a rule, the clay has a reddish tint, so the finished material is called red brick, although its official name is ceramic brick. In the production process, colored pigments can be added to the mass, and then the finished brick will have the wrong terracotta color. The hue of the product is highly dependent on the characteristics of the raw materials, therefore, bricks of different colors are obtained from clay obtained in different fields.

The clay mass is formed on belt presses, and the homogeneity of the composition and the absence of voids is achieved through the use of shakers. This is followed by drying and firing. Raw bricks are dried in a chamber or tunnel .The first option involves drying the blanks in a room where the temperature and humidity parameters change in the required sequence. The tunnel method of drying involves the passage of raw trolleys through zones with different microclimates. The result is almost the same.

The mass is burned in furnaces at temperatures of 950-10500C until part of the vitreous phase in the product reaches 8-10%.It is with these parameters that the brick acquires the best indicators of strength. Properly baked brick gives a clear sound when struck and has a reddish-brown tint. If it is not burned, the color will be closer to the mustard, and the sound upon impact will be deaf. Burned brick can be recognized by melted edges and a dark core.

The properties of the finished brick also depend on what method of forming was chosen:

• plastic method of forming involves the manufacture of bricks from a clay mass with a moisture content of 15-30%.The product is obtained by extrusion. For the production of hollow samples involve vacuum installations. Billets are dried in the chamber and burned in kilns or tunnels. This brick is more frost-resistant and recommended for building a house;
• dry and semi-dry method of forming .In this case, clay mass is used with a lower moisture content( about 7-12%, it all depends on the characteristics of a particular production), raw brick is made from it by pressing under pressure up to 15 MPa. Drying is absent altogether or is abbreviated. The final stage is roasting. In terms of performance, such a brick is slightly inferior to a brick of plastic molding, but differs in more accurate geometry. In this way, facing ceramic bricks are usually produced.

Ceramic brick is used when laying the foundation, in private construction during the construction of load-bearing walls and partitions, outbuildings and garages. The facing type of brick is widely used in the finishing of facades, and also sometimes used for interior decoration.

Advantages and disadvantages of ceramic brick

The raw materials used to make red brick, and the production technology itself, allow us to speak about the mass of the advantages of this material :

• environmental friendliness .The composition includes almost one clay, and this is a natural raw material;
• aesthetics and variety of .The market offers a wide range of red bricks of various sizes, shapes and colors. The facing brick can have a relief surface so that it will be possible to realize any idea;
• excellent thermal and sound insulation qualities ;
• high level of resistance to negative atmospheric conditions( sunlight, frost, moisture, temperature changes) and biological factors( fungus);
• durability;
• fire resistance;
• relatively affordable price.

There are no material deficiencies in , except that it has a solid weight, so you have to take care of creating a solid foundation, but it's worth it. Sometimes builders complain about the lack of durability of the material or inaccurate geometry, but all this is due to violations in the production technology. To buy a quality brick, it is better to take it from proven and reputable manufacturers and sellers. Residents of the Central Federal District can recommend the products of Kashirsky Brick Plant LLC, located in the village of Ozherelje, Moscow Region. Kashira brick is made from the use of raw materials from its own deposits, which allows you to monitor the quality at all stages and offer buyers minimum prices.

Ordinary and facing bricks

Depending on the scope of use, ceramic bricks are divided into two types:

• is ordinary, it is also building or ordinary;
• facial, or facing, or front.

Construction brick is used to create the foundation, the construction of load-bearing walls and partitions. Small chips are allowed on it, but the geometry of the samples must be accurate. After the erection of the wall and partitions, an ordinary brick requires lining. The material is usually made full-bodied, but there are also hollow samples - they are used to create non-bearing partitions. In size it can be single, one and a half, double, etc., let's talk about this separately.

face brick is more interesting in terms of diversity. It is used for decorating the facade, can be used in interior decoration. As a rule, these are hollow bricks that weigh less and have improved thermal insulation properties. The facing brick should have exact geometry and uniform color. As for the shade, the natural color of ceramic bricks is quite beautiful and noble, so you can not even look in the direction of tinted samples. If you want something original and extravagant, then you can find colored bricks .Coloring is carried out in bulk by adding pigment, so that the original shade will persist for a long time.

The facing brick differs not only color, but also type of a surface. In its simplest form, it will be ideally smooth, perhaps with .This is a traditional and proven option. If desired, you can move away from the classics and choose one of the following surface types :

• relief .At the desired end of the still unfired brick form a three-dimensional pattern using a stencil. After processing in the furnace, the drawing remains, and the strength of the brick does not change at all;
• Engobed .An engobe, a layer of ceramics with an admixture of metal oxides, which are responsible for creating a particular shade, is applied to the dried but not yet burnt brick. In a furnace under the action of high temperatures, the engobe fuses with the clay mass of the brick. As a result, there is a complete solid product with an interesting shade. Engobe sometimes is applied only to a part of the butt, forming a spectacular color transition;
• glazed .If, instead of engobe, glaze is applied, then as a result you can get a brick with a smooth shiny surface, which possesses not only excellent aesthetic qualities, but also additionally protects the material from moisture.

Facing bricks are produced not only in the standard parallelepiped shape - figured bricks are presented in a wide range. It can have rounded corners, cuts and waves, there are wedge-like, trapezoidal and many other patterns, the shape of which is difficult to describe. These elements are necessary for the spectacular design of window and door openings, corners and floors of the house.

Hollow and solid bricks

The performance of a brick largely depends on the type of its internal structure. Ceramic bricks can be corpulent and hollow. Full-bodied , as the name implies, does not contain voids and has a minimum number of pores. Due to this, excellent indicators of strength and frost resistance are achieved. Solid brick is necessary to create foundations and load-bearing walls. The absence of pores and holes leads to high thermal conductivity, therefore, solid ceramic brick necessarily requires insulation. As a rule, an ordinary brick is fulfilled with solid brick, but there are also full-bodied cladding products.

To reduce weight, save raw materials and increase the insulating qualities in the mass make holes. They can be round, rectangular or slit-shaped, arranged vertically or horizontally, through, or closed on one side. Some of these holes in ceramic brick sometimes reaches 45%.

hollow brick is used for masonry partitions, at least - when creating lightweight exterior walls. An exception is a brick with horizontal voids, it can not be used in the laying of load-bearing walls due to its low mechanical strength - under the weight it is able to simply deform and break. Usually, facing bricks are made in hollow design.

Separately, we note porous brick , in which, besides the holes, there are also pores. They are obtained by adding the mixture to the clay mixture and burning it out during the process in the furnace. Enough large pores remain in the mass, which become the key to improved thermal insulation qualities. Porous brick has a large size, walls are built very quickly from it, and in terms of thermal conductivity, the material is almost close to foam concrete, wood, and gas silicate. In this brick there are special channels where the vertical reinforcement is poured. Such technology allows to build warm houses in seismically hazardous zones.

A parameter such as , density, is associated with the porosity index and the presence of voids. For corpulent bricks, it reaches 1600-1900 kg / m3, and for the face brick it is about 1300-1450 kg / m3.

Brick Size

In construction, it is customary to focus on the dimensions of the standard( single) brick. This is a block having the shape of a parallelepiped, and the dimensions are 250 * 120 * 65 mm. A huge part of the ordinary and face brick is produced in this format. In addition, bricks of other sizes can be found on sale:

• one-and-a-half bricks , 250 * 120 * 88 mm, can significantly save time when laying massive structures;
• double brick , 250 * 120 * 138 mm, usually made hollow and used in lightweight masonry;
• narrow brick , 250 * 60 * 65 mm, is the format of the facing material;
• thin brick , 250 * 22 * ​​65 mm, approaches the format of tiles and is used only for cladding.

There are other less common brick formats, as well as sizes, produced only by a specific manufacturer. For example, the format brick “euro” has a thickness of 0.7 from the standard, modular - 1.3 from the standard

The brick size is regulated by domestic GOST 530-2007 and European standard EN 771-1: 2003.The same documents regulate possible deviations from the standard : in length - this is 4 mm, in width - 3 mm, in height - 2 mm. When buying, you can check a few bricks for the accuracy of the geometry. If the manufacturer has not flipped, then the laying can be done as quickly and simply as possible.

The main properties of ceramic bricks

Ceramic bricks are evaluated according to a number of characteristics:

• mark on the strength of shows how much load in kg can withstand 1 cm2 brick. If this indicator is 100 kg / cm2, then this is the M100 brand, if 150 kg / cm2 is M150, etc. Bricks of the marks M75-M100 are used for the construction of partitions and walls in low-rise buildings. For the foundations of country houses it is better to use M150 bricks, and for building the foundations of apartment buildings M200-M300 bricks are suitable;
• thermal conductivity depends on the number of pores and gaps in the brick. Solid brick has low thermal insulation properties, suitable only for the construction of load-bearing walls. Hollow ordinary brick can be used in the construction of low houses, it allows you to make the thickness of the walls much less;
• moisture absorption ceramic brick is low, which in particular due to its wide distribution in construction. Solid brick has a moisture absorption of 6-14%.However, when the room temperature drops to the level of outdoor moisture, it can penetrate into the pores of the material and crystallize, which gradually reduces the strength of the structure;
• The permeability of ceramic brick is about 0.14-0.17 Mg /( m * h * Pa), which is enough to create a normal microclimate in the room and remove excess moisture from it;
• frost resistance is expressed in freeze / thaw cycles. For the construction of load-bearing walls, it is better to take a brick with frost resistance F50, and if construction will be carried out in a difficult climate, then F75-F If facing brick will be used for wall finishing, then it must also have high frost resistance. Ankobed and clinker bricks in this respect show themselves best;
• fire resistance of ceramic brick is the highest among other building materials. He resists direct exposure to fire for more than 5 hours. For comparison, the same indicator for reinforced concrete - 2 hours, and for steel structures - generally 30 minutes. A ceramic ordinary brick withstands a maximum temperature of 14,000 ° C, and a clinker can withstand a temperature impact of 16,000 ° C;
• soundproofing .Brick extinguishes noise well. A brick wall of two bricks( 530 mm thick) is capable of holding up 60 dB of noise, and one brick of 50 dB.

Special types of ceramic bricks

Other types of bricks can be made from clay using a similar technology. Some features in the composition and nuances of the manufacturing process allow you to create a material with slightly different properties. It is customary to attribute to special types of ceramic bricks:

• fireclay refractory bricks are made from fireclay clay, a feature of which is the presence of refractory substances. Firing occurs at high temperatures, so the material eventually withstands up to 17000 ° C and is used for laying stoves and chimneys;
• clinker bricks are made on the basis of shale clays, which, like fireclay, are distinguished by refractoriness. In kilns, the temperature reaches 11,000 ° C, individual particles are sintered, and the voids are filled, so we can speak about the special strength and refractory properties of the material. Mark durability reaches M400.Clinker bricks are great for paving, cladding, decorating furnaces and chimneys.

In conclusion,

Finally, we note that when choosing a ceramic brick, carefully pay attention to the geometry, color and sound, which is obtained by tapping. The important role played by the name of the manufacturer, which is a kind of guarantee of quality.to save on such an important building material as brick means to sacrifice your own safety.