For many people in places like Tulsa, using bricks to build houses might be a bit grandiose, and some might think that finding someone to do one's masonry repair in Tulsa could be harder than finding a normal contractor to fix concrete walls. However, it is undeniably true that bricks have their own set of applications that could be completely different from generic concrete. And bricks, understandably, have their own pros and cons. So the question persists: To brick, or not to brick? That is the question. If you’re a homeowner who wants to add a little upgrade to your house, or if you’re planning on buying a new house or getting one built and you’re considering to mix bricks into your designs, then here are some common types of bricks — together with their usage, advantages, and disadvantages.
Do take note, however, before you continue, that this article’s focus is on the types of bricks based on their shapes, sizes, and overall quality. You may also classify bricks based on the raw materials they’re made of, but that’s for another day.
Bricks by Shapes:
- Air bricks - bricks with holes which are usually for ventilation. These bricks are used for suspended floors and cavity walls. A disadvantage to this is that the spaces they create on the surface usually cause heaters to utilize higher energy and therefore yield higher bills, but it is not encouraged for people to block those cavities.
- Brick Veneers - these are thin slabs of bricks which are much lighter than one that is full-sized. They are mainly used for cladding and aesthetic purposes. So if you only want the looks of the bricks but still go for concrete as a base for your house, brick veneers would be your perfect choice. They’re much lighter, much easier to install, and much less expensive than full-sized bricks. However, it does hold a disadvantage against heavy rain and moisture since water can be trapped between the veneer and the surface it’s mounted on.
- Bullnose and Cownose Bricks - these are normal bricks with their sides curved for added aesthetics or for gentler corners. Bullnose bricks have one of their corners curved, while cownose have curves for both corners on one side curved. Unfortunately, these bricks are known to easily chip away and may be costly if you’re going to use a whole bulk of them. But just as any brick, replacing a damaged bullnose or cownose is much easier than, say, getting a whole wall of concrete repaired.
- Hollow Bricks - They are lightweight bricks that’s around 20-25mm thick, and are used for partitioning. Brick contractors in places like Tulsa would spend less energy, less effort, and less time mounting them, and you would spend less money on construction and maintenance. That being said, it is perhaps not ideal to use this type of brick for the main walls of your house, since they lack the strength that solid bricks or a steel-reinforced concrete wall would have.
Bricks by Quality
Bricks are generally categorized into two: burnt and unburnt. Unburnt bricks are dried under the sun; this is the type that was first used by ancient civilizations such as Egypt thousands of years ago. Nowadays, burnt bricks are more commonly used, and they are further classified into four based on quality:
- First Class - These bricks should be free of saline deposits and have been thoroughly burnt, with uniform color and a regular shape. They must be free of any flaws and impurities. First class bricks are the strongest of all four categories, with compressive strength that shouldn’t be less than 140 kg/cm2 and enough absorption resistance that it won’t absorb more than 20% of water if submerged for an entire day. They are well-suited for any sort of construction, including exterior walls and even flooring.
- Second Class - These bricks are slightly behind first class bricks, such that they have some impurities as well as irregularities in shape, size, and color. These brick are also much weaker than first class bricks, having a compressive strength of 70 kg/cm2 at the very least. It also absorbs more water at 22%. Because of these slightly greater vulnerabilities, they are better used for exterior works with plastering as well as for interior works, but not for flooring.
- Third Class - Not as well-burnt and therefore not as strong as the first and second class bricks, but hold a generally uniform hue of reddish-yellow. Shapes and sizes are much more inconsistent. Their compressive strength is only between 35-70 kg/cm2 and absorption between 22-25 percent. They are used in ordinary types of construction, and should be used for consistently dry areas.
- Fourth Class - Now you might assume that these are the weakest bricks of all four categories but that’s not actually the case. Bricks under these categories have a compressive strength that’s almost never below 150 kg/cm2 and absorption as well as porosity that’s generally low. This is due to the fact that they are usually overburnt. Unfortunately, that’s also why they are unfit for most building constructions since they are usually distorted and have irregular sizes. Therefore, they are generally used as a coarse aggregate material for road construction, foundations, and flooring.
In conclusion…
If you’ve decided to have a house made of bricks, whether partially or fully, these are the matters that you could first discuss with your trusted brick contractors in Tulsa, OK before starting the construction. This is so that you can make sure which bricks could be used for which part of your house, and if they are strong and pretty enough for those areas.