Sand-lime brick is a stable, reliable, easy-to-use building material that has a long service life. Unlike ceramics, this product is not fired in a furnace, which significantly reduces its cost. Perfect geometry, together with other advantages of silicate building material, explains its prevalence among professionals and simple craftsmen. Has silicate brick pros and cons.
Application and material properties
The raw material for the production of silicate building material is lime and sand. Due to the highest performance with low weight, but with excellent strength characteristics, products are used for the construction of load-bearing and self-supporting walls, columns, partitions, for laying the outer part of the chimney. The brick is suitable for the construction of high-rise buildings (corpulent version). It is widely used in the construction of one- and two-story houses, cottages.
Such a silicate brick pros and consIt has. It cannot be used in the construction of structures that will be subjected to high temperatures, as it has low thermal stability. In addition, it is not recommended to use silicate when building a foundation.
Brick properties:
- good noise isolation;
- high thermal conductivity (a residential building will need auxiliary thermal insulation);
- frost resistance.
Modern manufacturing processes have made it possible to enhance and bring changes to the variety of building material colors. The desired color palette is achieved by adding the set tone in the required concentration in the solution itself.
Steps in the manufacture of building materials
The brick production process is quite simple (unlike the manufacture of other building materials), but it requires special equipment - autoclave ovens, so silicate is produced only by large industrial enterprises. It is unprofitable for small workshops to manufacture it.
Production goes as follows:
- For the production of the material, lime is taken in the prescribed proportion.
- Measure the right amount of quartz sand, add water.
- The mixture is thoroughly kneaded.
- The composition is passed through a press and given the required shape.
- Products are autoclaved with steam at over 100 degrees.
- Drying the product.
- The finished result is unloaded from the forms and sent to tradingcenters.
Types of building bricks
Modern technological processes make it possible to acquire such types of bricks as chipped and shaped. This brick will embellish any, even seemingly inconspicuous structure. The cost of sand-lime brick depends on its characteristics and properties, therefore, when selling a brick, the seller must provide a quality certificate and permission. Of course, you need to purchase silicate brick from a reliable manufacturer.
The consumer has the opportunity to buy this type of building material in two options:
- corpulent;
- hollow.
In the final version, special free spaces in the product plane are perpendicular. Such voids can be in through or not through execution.
Silicate products are produced in various sizes and colors. Often used white silicate brick. But it is not always snow-white, dyes can change its tone. The perfect formula of the product makes it easy and simple to change the color of the product, therefore, its tone can be gray, pink, etc.
Material classification
It is worth familiarizing yourself with the material of silicate brick, the photo of which is presented in the article. The elements for the production of this material do not include harmful additives - these are simple sand, lime and a certain amount of water. Thanks to such components, we can say with full confidence that such a brick is environmentally friendly.
Bdepending on the proportions, silicate brick can be:
- Lime-sand. This is a traditional type of silicate brick, composed of lime (7-10%) and quartz sand (90-93%).
- Lime-slag. It is obtained by replacing quartz sand with a simple porous slag 88-97% mixed with 3-12% lime.
- Lime-ash. It contains 75-80% ash and 20-25% lime.
Important features
According to the main characteristics, such as compaction and frost resistance, silicate brick does not differ from the most familiar ceramics. Characteristics and properties of silicate brick are regulated by GOST 379-79. The standard size of silicate brick is often used (250x120x65, where 250 is the length, 120 is the width and 65 mm is the thickness).
It has the following key features:
- Strength grade - from M75 to M300.
- Frost resistance - the following classes are distinguished: F15, F25, F35, F50.
- Thermal conductivity - 0.38-0.70 W/m °C.
Application benefits
White one-and-a-half silicate brick and ordinary brick, formed on the basis of lime and sand, is often used when laying load-bearing, self-supporting walls and decorating partitions; in the construction of buildings and structures of various heights; laying the outer layer of pipes, and, in addition, for filling voids in monolithic concrete structures. Has such a brick pros and cons.
Advantages of sand-lime brick:
- Soundproofing. Thanks to this characteristicsounds from the road will not be heard in the building.
- Sustainability determined by the use of natural material - sand and lime. There is no radiation level in this substance.
- Low cost with long service life. This superiority is due to the fact that the initial cost of production is not too high compared to ordinary building materials.
- Cold resistance makes it possible to endure up to 50 freeze/thaw cycles.
- Aesthetics. Thanks to the uniformity and optimal color scheme, houses made of such material will have a beautiful appearance.
- High reliability, which increases due to the extensive selection of masonry mortar. Sand-lime brick masonry can be created using anything from a cement-lime mixture to a polymer adhesive, any of which is compatible with the building material.
- Easy to use. The plane does not need special care.
- Correct geometry - any brick of equal shape, which simplifies laying.
Disadvantages of using
Silicate brick has pros and cons, like any other building material.
Main cons:
- Low heat resistance - when exposed to high temperatures, the building material begins to crumble, and this leads to absolute breaking.
- Building material is heavy. When building housing, they make a special foundation with a greater bearing capacity.
- Only strictly geometric model with direct angles is available.
- Low levelhydro-resistance - the product can break down under the continuous influence of water.
- High thermal conductivity. This parameter can be improved by building thicker walls and insulating with heat insulators.
Silicate brick cannot be used as a building material for the construction of the foundation of buildings in a place where there is a large negative impact of various types of natural s alts that are underground in the water.
If a sand-lime brick bath is being built, there are also pros and cons.
Selection Tips
Silicate brick is the most economical type among absolutely all analogues, however, not everyone is satisfied with its working and aesthetic properties. When choosing such material, the consumer consciously makes a compromise decision and must understand that for such a small amount of money it is impossible to purchase material that will retain its original quality for centuries.
As for variety, the choice of different colors and surface types seems to be good, but in terms of aesthetics, sand-lime brick is inferior to other types. When selecting silicate bricks, attention should be paid to its key properties. The main sign of the strength of a brick is the limit of compressive stability. It should be 15-20 MPa. In the stability characteristics of a brick, the letter "M" is indicated, showing the level of strength. This is a brand of sand-lime brick.
Recommendation for use
Silicate brick is a common and popular material for the construction of private buildings. It has been used everywhere for many years. Today it is chosen for construction because of the low price and acceptable quality. The brick has a traditional shape and a beautiful appearance, so the housing does not require further exterior decoration.
Due to the highest frost resistance of silicate rocks, the use of material in the northern regions with long cold winters is allowed. However, you need to focus on the high thermal conductivity of this stone. A silicate brick wall quickly and easily gives off heat from the housing. Therefore, if you plan to create a house with your own hands from this building material, you need to think about which material is better in terms of laying walls so that you do not have to additionally insulate the structure.
What customers are saying
Customers find this brick to be remarkably reliable. When housing is being built, bricks are often unloaded in an absolutely ruthless way - in bulk. Imagine: 2.5 thousand brick fragments are rushing from the top of the MAZ building. And what is incredible, as a result of broken bricks in such situations, there are only 8-10 units per whole car. For decades, the brick turns yellow, consumers are satisfied with its quality.
Silicate brick has been and remains the most economical solution to the problem of self-supporting enclosing systems of buildings and structures. Of the minuses, builders note a very large moisture absorption. This problem is easily solved - it is necessarypurchase a special waterproofing agent and treat the walls.
