Almost anyone can now become the owner of a private house: there are so many opportunities that it is difficult for people to choose. You can build a house with your own hands, contact a construction company, buy a finished house or a log house. You can even order the construction of a turnkey house, if financial possibilities allow.
But with the choice of material, many developers find it difficult. For example, how to decide whether to build a wooden house or a brick one? Brick and wood are classic materials, known in Russia for many centuries, but now their range has become much richer. Brick in construction is used red (ceramic), white (silicate), limestone, etc. Even clay "raw" is in demand, but the fields of application are different. As for wood, there are a lot of building materials from it today. And yet, more than half of residential buildings in Russia are built of brick. Here we will briefly talk about some of the properties of bricks necessary for building a reliable home.
A key indicator is strength, or the ability of a brick to withstand loads. It is designated by marking from M 75 to M 300. The mass of a brick is directly related to its strength: the stronger, the heavier. For the construction of the foundation of low-rise buildings, grades M 150-175 are usually taken, and for walls - M 100-125.
No less important is frost resistance, indicated by the F mark: brick walls must withstand freezing and thawing moisture without the formation of noticeable cracks. The number next to the letter indicates how many times the material can freeze and thaw without being damaged. The choice of brick for this indicator (from F 15 to F 100) depends on climatic conditions, but F 50 is used in most Russian regions.
The next important parameter is water absorption. Silicate brick absorbs moisture more actively (from 15%), ceramic - to a lesser extent (6-14%). Wear resistance depends on the level of water absorption.
Many people think that it is difficult to make a brick house warm. It also depends on the type of product. It is hardly worth building a house from silicate material, but ceramic brick retains heat to the maximum.
Low thermal conductivity is one of the properties of hollow (slotted) bricks (up to 45% of voids). For this reason, and also because of the low cost, it is popular with private developers. However, it is not worth building the whole house from hollow bricks: the material is not very strong. For load-bearing walls and other structures that can withstand high loads, it is not suitable. With success, you can use hollow brick for partitions, verandas, lightweight structures, various utility rooms and fences.
The main advantages of brick are strength and fire resistance, affordable price. With the modern richness of the choice of this material on the market, brick houses can be cheaper than wooden ones. Next, we briefly consider the advantages and disadvantages of the main types of building bricks - ceramic (red) and silicate (white).
In the production of ceramic bricks, two main methods are more often used. The first is plastic molding (molding from raw clay, followed by firing in a kiln). This technology is considered classical. It is used more widely than the second method - semi-dry pressing. In the latter case, bricks are molded from wet (not wet) crushed clay. Such products look more even and neat, but they resist the accumulation of moisture worse. This is how hollow bricks are made now.
Porous brick, often referred to as "warm ceramic", is also popular with developers: its thermal conductivity is almost half that of conventional ceramic. This quality of the product is achieved by adding fast-burning fillers, so when building houses, you can do without heaters. The need for insulation depends not only on the thickness of the wall, but also on the coefficient of thermal conductivity of the brick: this indicator is determined by the density, voidness and porosity of the product. The level of thermal conductivity is different for different manufacturers, so you need to take into account the climate and possible heating costs. In the central regions of Russia, it is possible to build a house with a wall thickness of 380 mm without insulation, but this will increase heating costs. With a thickness of 640 mm, additional insulation is not required. In any case, the final decision remains with the developer. The advantages of ceramic bricks include:
1) environmental friendliness;
2) the ability to retain heat to the maximum;
3) resistance to low temperatures;
4) high strength;
5) the possibility of erecting rather complex structures.
Also, ceramic bricks are characterized by low water absorption. It can be used in construction very widely: to build walls and partitions, plinths and chimneys, fences, gazebos, etc. The disadvantages of the material are usually associated with the use of low-quality raw materials in production. These are broken geometry of products, lime inclusions (accumulate moisture), white stains (efflorescence). The latter can occur both due to defects in the products themselves, and due to non-compliance with the technology by builders - for example, a low-quality mortar.
Now about silicate brick. This type is made from a mixture of lime and quartz sand. In our country, it has been used in construction for a very long time and often: in many cities there are microdistricts almost completely built of silicate brick. Houses made of it have been standing for more than half a century, and developers continue to actively use the material in the construction of new buildings of various types.
Of course, silicate brick has noticeable disadvantages. For example, it does not hold heat well, but it accumulates moisture well. These properties make it impractical to use it without exterior finish and thorough insulation. These problems are solved with the help of modern types of exterior decoration of buildings: hinged facades, cladding (facing bricks, facade tiles, etc.), siding, etc. But the advantages of the products are undoubted: excellent frost resistance, strength and even geometry in almost any conditions. Sand-lime brick walls are stable, so that supporting structures are rarely used during their construction.