The clay has long been used for construction and finishing. With the development of technologies and the emergence of new opportunities, fundamentally new building materials have entered the market. That's just for their production use the same clay, but achieve much better characteristics of the final product.
What does ceramic brick consist of?
Obtain raw materials for production by the old method in quarries. The principle of manufacture itself remained unchanged, only technologies were perfected. After the clay enters the plant, it begins laying it in the extruder and getting the blanks. In the future these blanks will be cut and sent for roasting. Quality products that can withstand competition consist of small fractions.
It is extremely difficult to receive such raw materials, as there are few quarries, and to remove the necessary layer without mixing it is obtained by a single-bucket excavator. The rotary machine mixes the layers, the clay is sent to the production with different fractions. This makes the process of calcination such a jewelry business: you need to choose the right temperature, so that the fusible particles are associated with refractory, and the mixture has the necessary characteristics in the future.
It is considered to be a separate ceramic clinker brick . The process of its production is not fundamentally different. But only special refractory grades of clay are used. This refractoriness after completion of all stages provides the highest strength and frost resistance. The clinker is used as a finishing variant, less often it becomes an ordinary one. Lay a wall of clinker expensive, but it is justified for structures designed for high loads.
Ceramic brick - the pros and cons
You will not find a single building material that could boast of exceptional advantages or disadvantages. There are always two sides of the coin. This is how things are in our case, the house of ceramic bricks is "contradictory": it has a whole list of strengths, but there are absolutely pleasant surprises. Knowing all the characteristics, it's easier to decide the choice and to understand if this is the right decision.
Ceramic brick - the pros
Clay holds the palm tree among raw materials for building and finishing material for a reason. At competent processing of a product turn out reliable and strong, at them excellent characteristics. Ceramic brick for walls during construction will please with such qualities:
- Ceramics easily withstands all the manifestations of the external environment: wind, rain, sun rays and even hailstones are not terrible to it. If you need to get a wall or part of a house that can resist mechanical damage, boldly give preference to clinker ceramic bricks. It is sometimes used as a decoration of tracks, so that the wall will remain in its original form for several decades.
- The walls in the house are well insulated from external noise and retain heat. The air was a reliable and absolutely free soundproof solution. It is in the voids of ordinary construction materials and gives such characteristics to the wall.
- Ceramic brick practically does not absorb moisture. This is achieved by the density of the structure, it simply becomes a barrier to penetration of any moisture. The importance of this feature is that it directly affects the ability of the wall to keep heat in the cold season. Moisture gets a minimum amount, as a result, there is no destruction when it freezes.
- Do not forget about the ecological safety of ceramic bricks for masonry walls. In the manufacturing plants, after a full cycle, there are almost no emissions into the atmosphere, after construction, the house is also safe for humans.
Ceramic brick - cons
As in every barrel of honey, sometimes there is a spoonful of honey, and for all its advantages ceramic tile brick has minor drawbacks. In the eye rush figures on the price tag in the building store. When you are looking for a quality product with the characteristics you need, you have to agree with a high price. For the production of brown ceramic bricks with a red shade of dye may not be needed.
But to get other colors that are not characteristic of clay, one has to take coloring substances. As a result, the buyer plays in the lottery: it is difficult to guess whether the supplier is diligent or whether he used dyes that are safe for health. If your design idea involves finishing with white ceramic bricks, there is no point in saving. Building material itself is expensive, and make it cheaper due to pigments.
Ceramic brick for exterior decoration
It is not necessary to build a wall of ceramics in order to obtain sufficient protective qualities for the house. Ceramic bricks are actively used for facade cladding . Quite expected in this matter, the buyer is interested not only in strength and thermal insulation, but also in decorative components. Slightly reduce the weight, increase the thermal insulation properties allow emptiness. The ceramic brick differs for facing the house with precision facets, an ideal surface and a nice looking look. As for the decorative side of the question, the buyer can choose a suitable design for himself. Among the possible effects on the surface of ceramic bricks, manufacturers offer the following options for facing:
- The simplest solution, but not the cheapest one, is a brick with an ordinary flat surface (the option is durable, the color range of ceramic bricks is from gray to dark brown);
- the wall is much more interesting with textured effects on the surface (imitate the texture of wood or stone, beautiful patterns - all this is appropriate in small quantities on arches or parts of the building);
- Effective decorative engobed ceramic brick differs in white shade and opacity of the surface (a layer of colored white clay is applied to the base of the raw material, which gives the effect of an artificial stone);
- Glyuzirovanny brick tiles have a glossy ceramic surface, which is obtained after the application of a layer of low-melting glass and subsequent firing;
- in this list necessarily add a red ceramic brick clinker, made from the already familiar to us refractory clay.
Types of ceramic bricks
In the issue of building a wall of ceramic bricks, the chosen colors will play a secondary role. It is much more important to choose the type of ordinary or building bricks correctly. Above it was mentioned that inside the brick can be empty or filled. Both types are used in the construction industry, each has its own characteristics and recommendations for specific buildings.
Ceramic full bricks
Completely filled brick can boast of enviable strength, ability to withstand the strongest loads. It is used wherever thermal conductivity and sound insulation are required, and a constant load is planned. The weight of each unit is about 4 kg, which must be taken into account when building on some types of soil. All listed qualities of solid ceramic brick will be relevant for the construction of the socle, laying out fireplaces and stoves. Builders build from it the foundations and cellars.
Ceramic hollow bricks
Air inside can significantly increase the thermal insulation properties, but at the same time reduces the strength. This is the case when the use of hollow ordinary ceramic brick as a facing is allowed. And this is by no means the only option where such characteristics are useful. Ceramic brick with voids is perfect for building walls of buildings up to three floors.
The house will turn out to be warm, and its cost will decrease. It is quite successful to build partitions up to 120 mm thick, they are not heavy and qualitatively retain sound insulation. Even garages or similar structures are successfully built from hollow building materials. But all this will work provided that the buildings are far from water. The moisture is absorbed more strongly, and in due course the construction starts to be destroyed because of the water inside the voids. Do not welcome the use of hollow ceramic bricks and in the construction of stoves. It simply does not allow the heat to disperse throughout the room.