In the life of any person there comes a moment when the question arises of purchasing your own home. Someone is buying an apartment, and some are thinking about building a house away from the bustle of the city, the noise of cars and factories.
This article discusses the construction of a brick house: the pros and cons, the types of materials used in construction, application features, the positive and negative aspects of such a building.
Key Features
Of course, a brick house is always beautiful, individual and durable. However, before starting construction, you need to clearly understand what material to choose. All bricks that are produced for construction work are characterized by two main indicators:
- Grade - characterizes the maximum load that 1 m22 of brickwork can withstand. Values range from 75. If you plan to build a smalla residential building, the height of which will not exceed 2-3 floors, then brick M75 or M100 is quite suitable for masonry. When laying the foundation of a house, which will bear the maximum load of the entire structure, it is better to use brick M150 and higher. If it is planned to build a multi-storey building, then it is better to lay the walls with a grade of at least M125.
- Frost resistance. It is denoted by the symbol F. This indicator characterizes the ability of a brick to absorb moisture. The higher this indicator, the worse the frost resistance, respectively, the brick will quickly become unusable.
Considering the pros and cons of a brick house, do not forget that the durability of the building, in addition to the above indicators, is affected by the composition of the mortar used for masonry, as well as its quality and correctness.
When choosing a material for masonry, the composition of the substance from which the brick itself is made also plays a big role. If the quality of construction causes dissatisfaction after some time, the type of brick unsuitable for masonry may have been chosen.
Main varieties
Before considering what are the pros and cons of a brick-lined house, you need to know the main varieties of this material. All bricks are divided into several types: silicate, ceramic and clinker.
Silicate
The production is based on a mixture of sand and lime. Its main characteristics are: white, with low frost resistance and high heat dissipation, most often full-bodied. It absorbs very easilywater, therefore it is recommended for laying internal walls and piers or for external masonry under cladding from the outside. Cannot be used for laying the basement of a building. The main pros and cons of a sand-lime brick house, according to the owners: affordable cost, excellent sound insulation, high strength and density, the absolute safety of this material, and the disadvantage is a lot of weight, inability to withstand high temperatures, and also keep the temperature due to high thermal conductivity.
Ceramic
Produced by firing red clay in kilns at high temperatures. It is characterized by high resistance to environmental factors. It can be used both for laying internal partitions, and for outdoor use, cladding and building a foundation. It happens both hollow and full-bodied, the color can be of different shades, ranging from brown to light beige. The house made of ceramic bricks, the pros and cons, according to the owners, has the following: an attractive appearance and small size allow you to build buildings of various types and external design. Such houses are strong, reliable, durable and environmentally friendly. The main disadvantage is the high price.
Clinker
The production process is the same as the production of ceramic bricks, but takes place at even higher temperatures (about 1200-1300 ° C) and with the addition of refractory clay. Its brand is never lower than M400. Alsocharacterized by high frost resistance and low water absorption, plus everything this brick is not affected by s alts and alkali. It is used when facing buildings, with the help of clinker bricks pave paths, drains, etc.
When laying walls, you need to pay attention to the fact that the brick can be solid or hollow.
Solid brick is quite durable, able to withstand significant loads on the masonry, it is advisable to use it for laying the foundation of a building, load-bearing walls and columns. The main disadvantage of such a brick will be its high heat transfer, which is why it is desirable to insulate the walls.
Hollow brick is characterized by low heat transfer due to cavities that are filled with air. Such a brick is suitable for laying internal and external walls, the house can not be insulated. Due to its lighter weight, such brickwork loads the foundation of the building much less.
Let's consider further what are the pros and cons of a brick house.
Key Benefits
Among the many benefits of building brick houses are the following:
- Build durability.
- Endurance when exposed to negative environmental factors. If you follow the technology of laying bricks, then a major overhaul of the building should be carried out once every 100 years.
- Environmentally friendly building material (consisting of sand, clay and water).
- High frost resistance and low heat transfer (brick is considered durablebuilding material, and due to the low heat transfer in a brick house in the heat, it is always pleasantly cool).
- Low fire hazard at home, brick is a refractory material.
- High resilience.
- Aesthetics and versatility. You can implement any original ideas and solutions.
- Simplicity in masonry technology.
Flaws
Unfortunately, you can't do without flaws either:
- High construction cost. In addition to the high cost of bricks, one must also take into account the costs of using additional materials used for masonry (cement, sand, water, glue).
- Significant time costs when building a brick house, as well as the cost of wages for auxiliary workers (when building a house, one person cannot cope in any way).
- Significant cost to build a solid foundation.
Conclusion
So, we looked at the pros and cons of a house made of red brick and white, based on the reviews of the owners and the technical characteristics of these materials. During construction, it should be borne in mind that it is desirable to live in such a structure permanently; for the construction of a house in nature or a summer house, it is better to use a different building material. The brick is very negatively affected by the temporary heating of the house in winter, due to which the inside of the walls warms up, and the outside will be cold. Moisture will collect on the border of heat and cold, which will freeze and begin to destroy the material from the inside.
That is why when choosing a material for building a brick house(we examined the pros and cons in the article) you need to carefully weigh the pros and cons. However, if time and financial possibilities allow, then you can safely choose a brick as a material for construction, because the result will fully justify itself. The owner will receive strong, cozy and warm housing for many years.