Building Materials

Types of bricks

In the construction industry, there are many types of bricks. But, today we will mainly focus on 3 bricks which are CLAY BRICKS, CALCIUM SILICATE BRICKS and CONCRETE BRICKS. Each of them have different physical properties. The different physical properties of bricks will influence the choice of bricks used for low or high rise building.

Clay bricks

Properties: Have high compressive strength, and fired to sufficiently high temperature can withstand compressive strength.Porosity helps to regulate the temperature of the inside building by release and reabsorb moisture by capillary effect.

The durability of clay bricks is depend on the amount of soluble salts, present in the bricks and the firing temperature.

 Calcium silicate bricks

Properties: Strength of calcium silicate bricks is comparable to to clay bricks. However, they can't achieve the extremely high strength of engineering clay bricks.

The water absorption of calcium silicate bricks is generally higher than clay bricks.

Calcium silicate bricks have satisfactory durability and they cant contact with sewage and exposed to strong acids.

                                                      

Concrete bricks

Properties: Concrete bricks are harder, more difficult to cut than clay or calcium silicate bricks

How to prevent cracks in brickwork ???
Bricks are  the most material used on construction and housing industry. But, sometimes the bricks will crack with the mortar due to the weather influence or the material problem. So, how to prevent it occur?

Brick expansion joint
Brick is a construction material, it will change the volume with the change of the temperature. It will expand due to the moisture and the absorption of water. Using expansion joint in your brickwork, will separate your bricks into small segments, and will behave separate from other segments. The expansion joints will reduce brick cracking by changes in temperature, moisture, and so on.

Bricks vertical joint
Every joint in brickwork is different. There are different condition from one scene to another. So, dun treat all joints in the same ways. Good rule of thumb for the vertical joint in the brickworks are placed 25 every 25 feet. Vertical joints should be located at corners, offsets, setbacks, opening, wall intersection, and long walls.

Bricks horizontal joint
During construction process, remove the temporary shims to hold the angle in position while horizontal joint be located at underneath the shelf-angle.

How to repair the brick crack repair???
Brick crack is very serious things, it will affected the stability of the building even the building will collapse. With a few simple steps you can repair the crack, avoiding the expense of replacing the entire wall

1. Safety first
   Wear a pair of googles to protect your eyes.and the mask to protect ur face to avoid inhaling bits of brick or mortar, then remove the pieces of broken brick with a sledgehammer and chisel.  Slightly expand the crack in the brick with the chisel. Clean all the debris with a wire brush. Ready to fill the part of the crack,
2. Mix the mortar 
   Following the instruction of the package to mix the mortar, spread a little mortar on a scrap of corrugated cardboard and allow it to dry to test the colour. you can take some colouring mix with the mortar to match the previous mortar's colour.
3. Get the prefect shade
   When you have achieved the desired mortar shade, wet the crack down throughly with a garden hose. This should remove any lingering debris and moisten the repair site 
4. Fill the crack
   Fill the crack with mortar by a small trowel. Pack the mortar in firmly, tapping it down into the depth of the break and ensure the surface as even as possible.
5. Finish it
   Once the gap is solidly filled with mortar,  Mortar jointer will finish the surface of the mortar. The jointer should be used to make the joints, the area between the bricks.
6. Left to cure
   When finished the surface, allow the repaired area to cure.
7. Moisten each day
   During the curing process, you will need use water to lightly moisten at patched area in several times of day.
8. Finishing touch
   Optionally, you may finish the mortar-filled cracks by painting the repaired area to match the surrounding wall.