Special bricks work around the world

There are many building made with bricks around the world, some make it into unique arrangement and bonding. Below are some of those buildings, let follow our step and travel around the world...

Temple in Ayutthaya Historical Park, Thailand 

The Ayutthaya historical park covers the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, which was founded by King Ramathibodi in 1350 and was the capital of the country until its destruction by the Burmese army in 1767. 

Decorative Tudor brick chimneys, Hampton Court Palace UK

Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London; it has not been inhabited by the British royal family since the 18th century.

The Great hall, Lincoln's Inn, London

Lincoln's Inn is one of London's four Inns of Court. These are legal societies with the power to call people to the bar. Though very old (the gateway leading from Chancery Lane dates back to the 1500's), Lincoln's Inn is still very much in use today by the legal profession. 

Great Wall, China

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces.

Gate City Arc de Triomf, Ancient Building in Barcelona, Spain

Arc de Triomf is a main access gate that has the arch structure in the city of Barcelona, Spain. Arc de Triomf was built in 1888 with bricks made up neatly with a reddish color with an arch in the middle like a gate. The gate of the city of Barcelona on the front has a decoration in the form of stone sculpture as a form of welcome to other nations. 

Bricks Bonding

Bricks may be laid in a difference types of 'bonds' or patterns. In single-thickness walls, these are purely decorative, but, in double-thickness walls, they strengthen the wall by connecting the layers. Difference types of bonding will have difference appearance and function. 

WHAT IS FLEMISH BOND?
Flemish bond is the most common bonding found in early-18th-century buildings is Glazed-headed Flemish Bond, in which the exposed headers are burned until they vitrify with a black glassy surface. Other variants are Monk bond and Wessex Bond, the latter with three stretchers between each header. This is easier to lay than full Flemish Bond and produces a less intense, but nevertheless "pretty" brickwork face.Flemish bond, also known as Dutch bond, has throughout history been considered the most decorative bond, and for this reason was used extensively for dwellings until the adoption of the cavity wall. It is created by alternately laying headers and stretchers in a single course. The next course is laid so that a header lies in the middle of the stretcher in the course below. This bond is two bricks thick. It is quite difficult to lay Flemish bond properly, since for best effect all the perpendiculars (vertical mortar joints) need to be vertically aligned. If only one face of a Flemish bond wall is exposed, one-third of the bricks are not visible, and hence may be of low visual quality. This is a better ratio than for English bond, Flemish bond's main rival for load-bearing walls.

There are at least 6 buildings built of Flemish Bond Brickwork in and around the Historic Village of Menangle in New South Wales, Australia. The buildings include the Anglican Church, the Historic Menangle School, Gilbulla and three houses on Station Street.

appearance of flemish bond

The view of flemish bond

IT IS TIME TO DIY AGAIN!

Lets try to DIY a garden wall. We choose flemish bond because they are more decorative and can be made more so with half brick insertions.  

What you need?

1. String line

2. Bricks

3. Bricklaying trowel

4. Hammer

5. Mortar

6. Spirit level

String lines are set and check the level

The steps to follow!!!

1. First lay a foundation strip before building the wall.

2. Fasten string lines on pegs and stretch the string line across the foundation strip.

3. Dry-lay the brick to give you an idea of how the brick wall will look.

4. Start by laying the first corner brick from the left side. Lay the shorter end of the brick (header) facing you. 

5. Next, lay two stretcher-bonded bricks (long side of the bricks) side by side, facing you.

Second course of brickwork

6. Lay another header brick. Don’t forget to leave a 1 cm (3/8 in) gap between each brick.

7. Finish dry-laying the first course of bricks, alternating the header and stretcher.

8. When you are sure of this first course, re-lay the bricks.

9. This time, fill in the gaps between the bricks with 1 cm (3/8 in) mortar joints.

10. Check if the course is level with a spirit level.

11. For the second course of brickwork, lay the brickwork at the header end if your first course was a stretcher course, and vice versa.

12. To complete the wall, alternate the headers and stretchers in every 

course.

Flemish bond with difference colour of bricks

Other types of bonding

Monk bond

Monk bond

Monk bond is a variant of Flemish bond, with two stretchers between the headers in each row, and the headers centred over the join between the two stretchers in the row below.It was commonly used in the region around the Baltic Sea until turn of 13th and 14th centuries, then it was gradually replaced by Flemish bond.

Stretcher bond

stretcher bond

Stretcher bond, also known as running bond, consists of bricks laid with only their long narrow sides (their stretchers) showing, overlapping midway with the courses of bricks below and above. It is the simplest repeating pattern, but, since it cannot be made with a bond to the bricks behind, it is suitable only for a wall one-half brick thick, the thinnest possible wall.Such a thin wall is not stable enough to stand alone, and must be tied to a supporting structure. It is common in modern buildings, in particular as the outer face of a cavity wall, or as the facing to a timber or steel framed structure. Stretcher bond is now used in building garden and boundary walls that are "stand alone" by incorporating a layer of steel brick-reinforcing mesh, laid every three or so courses, thus acting as headers in tying the two leaves together.

English bond

English bond

This bond has two alternating courses of stretchers and headers, with the headers centered on the stretchers, and each alternate row vertically aligned. There is a variant in which the second course of stretchers is half offset from the first, giving rise to English cross bond or Dutch bond.

American bond

American Bond

By one definition, Common, American, or Scottish bond has one row of headers to five of stretchers. The number of stretcher courses may vary from that, in practice. For example, the brick Clarke-Palmore House in Henrico County, Virginia, has a lower level built in 1819 described as being American bond of 3 to 5 stretcher courses between each header course, and an upper level built in 1855 with American bond of 6 to 7 stretcher courses between each header course.

Rat-trap bond

Rat-trap bond(Corner)

Rat-trap bond, also known as Chinese bond, is a type of garden wall bond similar to Flemish, but consisting of rowlocks and shiners instead of headers and stretchers (the stretchers and headers are laid on their sides, with the bed face of the stretcher facing outward). This gives a wall with an internal cavity bridged by the headers, hence the name. The main advantage of this bond is economy in use of bricks, giving a wall of one-brick thickness with fewer bricks than a solid bond. The bond also gives the advantage that both skins are tied together. Rat-trap bond was in common usage in England for building houses of fewer than 3 storeys up to the turn of the 20th century and is today still used in India as an economical bond, as well for the insulation properties offered by the air cavity. Also, many brick walls surrounding kitchen gardens were designed with cavities so hot air could circulate in the winter, warming fruit trees or other produce spread against the walls, causing them to bloom earlier and forcing early fruit production.

Rat trap bond ( T-joint)

Guidelines for checking the quality of bricks

Concrete Bricks Wall

Neglecting to hire a qualified builder is a big mistake. You should ensure that quality products and tools used for construction. Here are some guidelines which can help you in checking their quality.

• The first and the foremost thing you check is their appearance or size. They should be uniform in size with sharp edges and angles. The bricks must be smooth and rectangular in shape. This is because the accurate size and shape of the bricks ensures a neat work.
• The bricks should not have any cracks, chips, and warpages. They must be free from large particles of limestone and lumps of any other organic matter.
• Good quality bricks are hard and well burned. One of the easy ways to assess the brick quality is to strike two bricks together. A hard ringing sound ensures that the bricks are strong enough for any ordinary work. Remember that a dull sound ascertains that the brick is soft or shaky.
• The other major thing you need to consider is the level of water absorption by the brick. Weighing the brick before and after immersing it in water for 24 hours, helps you to know the absorption rate. The average water absorption should not be more than 20% of the brick’s own dry weight. Good quality bricks absorb not more than 5% and hence are best suitable for foundation and outside walls.
• When a scratch is made on brick surface with a finger nail, it should not leave any impression on the surface. This indicates that the brick is hard enough.



Clay Bricks Wall

• The brick should not break when dropped from a height of 1m. When you drop a light-weight and a heavy brick from the same height, the heavier one is found to break more easily. So light-weight bricks are mostly preferred.

Both the appearance and strength of the building are affected by the bricks. Considering the quality of bricks used for your home construction is therefore very important to attain a better structured and strong building.

DIY your own Clay Brick in 6 steps

This clay brickmaking guide will show you how to make clay bricks in six simple steps.

Red clay bricks have been in use for quite some time now. You will usually find this procedure is mainly for building adobe. Bricks cover up the major portions of the building walls. Continue reading to discover the six steps involved in clay brickmaking:

• Soil testing: You need to test the soil from which you plan to prepare the brick. The proportion of sand to clay in the soil should not be more than 50% (minimum 30%). But how to test that? A simple method is to mix 10 teaspoons of the soil to a glass of clean water, stir it completely, and keep it overnight. You will see two clear layers of clay and sand. From the size of each layer you can find out the proportion.

• Prepare the mold: Wooden (ideally beech wood) planks and nails are used to prepare brick molds. The standard size of a brick is 14” x 10” x 4”. You can make molds for single brick as well as multiple bricks.

• Prepare the clay: Dig the required amount of soil and ship it to the brickmaking site. Test if the soils need to be mixed with some additional amount of sand. Remember the sand plays an important role for removing the brick from the mold. Mix a sufficient amount of water to the soil to make it clay. The clay should be solid enough to hold its shape, but at the same time it should be liquid enough to fill in the mold.

• Sun drying: The raw brick should be kept on dry sand in the sun for drying by solar energy. This is an important step for making adobe brick. Leave the brick until all the exposed edges become white. After that turn them on their edges. This whole process may take at least three weeks. The final moisture content of the adobe clay brick will be around 10-15%. At this point, the adobe bricks will be ready to use.Make the raw brick: Pour the prepared clay into the mold and let it set for half an hour. After that it should easily come out from the mold as raw brick.

• Fire Drying: In case you want to make fired red clay bricks, you need to cure the brick in a oven (kiln) under 1800 degrees Fahrenheit temperature for seven more days.

Reference: Written by:  Suvo • Edited by: Lamar Stonecypher , Updated Sep 22, 2010 

machine to make bricks

flow chart of how machine working to make bricks

Some Picture of Bricks

Fly Ash Bricks

Concrete Bricks

Engineering Bricks

Sand Lime Bricks

Burnt Clay Bricks

Bricks

A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history. There are several types of bricks to be used in construction site. We are going to introduce some types of bricks and their properties.

Bricks Types

• Sand Lime Bricks (Calcium Silicate Bricks)
• Engineering Bricks
• Concrete Bricks
• Fly ash Clay Bricks
• Common Burnt Clay Bricks

Common burnt clay bricks

Common burnt clay bricks are formed by pressing in molds. Then these bricks are dried and fired in a kiln. Common burnt clay bricks are used in general work with no special attractive appearances. When these bricks are used in walls, they require plastering or rendering.

Sand Lime Bricks

Sand lime bricks are made by mixing sand, fly ash and lime followed by a chemical process during wet mixing. The mix is then molded under pressure forming the brick. These bricks can offer advantages over clay bricks such as:

• Their color appearance is grey instead of the regular reddish color.
• Their shape is uniform and presents a smoother finish that doesn’t require plastering.
• These bricks offer excellent strength as a load-bearing member.

Engineering Bricks

Engineering bricks are bricks manufactured at extremely high temperatures, forming a dense and strong brick, allowing the brick to limit strength and water absorption. Engineering bricks offer excellent load bearing capacity damp-proof characteristics and chemical resisting properties.

Concrete Bricks

Concrete bricks are made from solid concrete. Concrete bricks are usually placed in facades, fences, and provide an excellent aesthetic presence. These bricks can be manufactured to provide different colors as pigmented during its production.

Fly Ash Clay Bricks

Fly ash clay bricks are manufactured with clay and fly ash, at about 1,000 degrees celcius. Some studies have shown that these bricks tend to fail poor produce pop-outs, when bricks come into contact with moisture and water, causing the bricks to expand.

Bricks Advantages

There are many advantages when bricks are used as part of the construction. The following list presents some of the most common advantages when using bricks instead of other construction materials.

i) Aesthetic

- Bricks offer natural and a variety of colors, including various textures.

ii) Strength

- Bricks offer excellent high compressive strength.

iii) Porosity

- The porosity of bricks in attributed to its fine capillaries. The ability to release and absorb moisture is one of the most important and useful properties of bricks, regulating temperatures and humidity inside structures.

iv) Fire Resistance

- When prepared properly a brick structure can give a fire protection maximum rating of 6 hours.

v) Sound Insulation

- The brick sound insulation is normally 45 decibels for a 4.5 inches brick thickness and 50 decibels for a nine inch thick brick.

vi) 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. This way bricks can produce significant energy savings, more than 30% of energy saving, when compared to wood.

vii) Wear

- A brick is so strong, that its molecular composition provides excellent wear resistance.

viii) Efflorescence

- Efflorescence forms on concrete structures and surfaces when soluble salts dissolved in water are deposited and accumulated on surfaces forming a visible scum.

ix) Durability

- Brick is extremely durable and perhaps is the most durable man-made structural building material so far.

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