The building materials market is very diverse, manufacturers constantly offer customers new technologies for building and finishing buildings, but there are materials that have not lost their relevance and demand for centuries. Among them is a brick. There are a great many types of brick, it may differ in size, composition, purpose. In today's article, we will try to figure out what a double brick is, as well as what advantages and disadvantages it has in comparison with other types.
What is a double brick
According to the method of application, bricks are divided into ordinary and facing. The second option suggests that the stones have an attractive appearance, they are lined with the outer part of the walls to add aesthetics to the house. Ordinary brick is the main building material for the construction of load-bearing walls and interiorpartitions. There are a great many types of it. A standard single brick with dimensions of 65120250 mm (hwd) is considered traditional. However, the main disadvantage of this stone is that building a house from it is a very laborious process. You can reduce the time required for construction if you use an enlarged stone, that is, a double brick, the dimensions of this building material are 138120250 mm.
As you can see from the parameters, the main difference between such a stone is precisely the height. And if an ordinary single brick can be solid and hollow, then manufacturers make a double brick mostly hollow, or, as it is also called, slotted. That is, voids are visible in the middle of the stone, which make up a different percentage value calculated from the total area of the brick.
What is an enlarged brick
As already mentioned above, a double brick does not have a particularly large assortment. The main parameter that allows the buyer to make a choice is the composition of the material. Ceramic brick is a time-honored classic. Red stone is used everywhere, buildings made of it are durable, beautiful, in addition, they are distinguished by excellent noise and heat insulation. It is easy to breathe in a brick house in summer, and in winter it is warm and cozy. Double ceramic brick, like standard size stone, is made of clay, it is this material that provides the special physical properties and appearance of this building material.
Manufacturers offer builders not only simplerectangular shaped stone, they also create grooved bricks. This is the so-called porous version, due to the special shape of the masonry made of such material is greatly simplified, and the consumption of cement mortar is significantly reduced.
Double silicate brick is the same size as ceramic brick, it is only hollow due to its significant weight. It is made from sand and lime. It should be borne in mind that it is not suitable for the construction of any objects, so silicate brick should be avoided for the construction of furnaces, basements, as well as those buildings that will be subject to high humidity.
Pros and cons of increased building materials
Perhaps the only downside to blame on a double brick is the price. Yes, indeed, the cost of one enlarged stone is an order of magnitude higher than that of an ordinary ordinary brick, and even more so for a porous one. But with a more detailed calculation, it turns out that the total cost of funds for the construction of enlarged bricks does not so much exceed the estimate calculated for the construction of ordinary single stone. The main reason justifying this statement is that double bricks will need to be purchased an order of magnitude less in quantitative terms. Other benefits include:
- Savings in foundation construction. The enlarged brick is hollow, and its mass is lower than that of a solid one, which means that there is no need to build the most powerful foundation for the building.
- The time spent on laying walls is reduced by 4-5 times.
- Another plus is that you will need less mortar, which means savings on cement, sand, their delivery and auxiliary workers.
Double brick laying
What makes a double brick stand out is the size, but for the construction process, this parameter does not have a special role. The technology of laying such a brick is not fundamentally different from any other. In this case, it is not so much the dimensions of the stone that are important, but its internal content. So, due to the presence of voids in the brick, a thicker masonry mortar should be kneaded, if the cement mixture turns out to be very liquid, it will spread through the cracks. This will significantly increase the consumption of the solution per square meter and cause the wall to retain heat worse. The air gaps in the brick are not just created to save raw materials, they allow air to circulate freely inside the wall, which ensures its heat and noise insulation.
