Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar . The term masonry can also refer to the building units (stone, brick, etc.) themselves.
102-543: A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term brick denotes a unit primarily composed of clay , but is now also used informally to denote units made of other materials or other chemically cured construction blocks. Bricks can be joined using mortar , adhesives or by interlocking. Bricks are usually produced at brickworks in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region, and are produced in bulk quantities. Block
204-441: A latex additive. The spaces between the tiles are commonly filled with sanded or unsanded floor grout , but traditionally mortar was used. Natural stone tiles can be beautiful but as a natural product they are less uniform in color and pattern, and require more planning for use and installation. Mass-produced stone tiles are uniform in width and length. Granite or marble tiles are sawn on both sides and then polished or finished on
306-407: A CMU wall having much greater lateral and tensile strength than unreinforced walls. "Architectural masonry is the evolvement of standard concrete masonry blocks into aesthetically pleasing concrete masonry units (CMUs)". CMUs can be manufactured to provide a variety of surface appearances. They can be colored during manufacturing or stained or painted after installation. They can be split as part of
408-449: A brick roughly 42 cm long, 20 cm wide, and 10 cm thick), smoothing the surfaces with a wire-strung bow, removing them from the frames, printing the fronts and backs with stamps that indicated where the bricks came from and who made them, loading the kilns with fuel (likelier wood than coal), stacking the bricks in the kiln, removing them to cool while the kilns were still hot, and bundling them into pallets for transportation. It
510-411: A cold chisel to knock off high spots. Some stone tiles such as polished granite, marble, and travertine are very slippery when wet. Stone tiles with a riven surface such as slate or with a sawn and then sandblasted or honed surface will be more slip-resistant. Ceramic tiles for use in wet areas can be made more slip-resistant by using very small tiles so that the grout lines acts as grooves, by imprinting
612-416: A contour pattern onto the face of the tile, or by adding a non-slip material, such as sand, to the glazed surface. The hardness of natural stone tiles varies such that some of the softer stone (e.g. limestone) tiles are not suitable for very heavy-traffic floor areas. On the other hand, ceramic tiles typically have a glazed upper surface and when that becomes scratched or pitted the floor looks worn, whereas
714-427: A darker color or an irregular shape. Others may use antique salvage bricks, or new bricks may be artificially aged by applying various surface treatments, such as tumbling. The attempts at rusticity of the late 20th century have been carried forward by masons specializing in a free, artistic style, where the courses are intentionally not straight, instead weaving to form more organic impressions. A crinkle-crankle wall
816-566: A decorative face. Ceiling tiles very often have patterns on the front face; these are there in most circumstances to aid with the tiles ability to improve acoustics. Ceiling tiles also provide a barrier to the spread of smoke and fire. Breaking, displacing, or removing ceiling tiles enables hot gases and smoke from a fire to rise and accumulate above detectors and sprinklers. Doing so delays their activation, enabling fires to grow more rapidly. Ceiling tiles, especially in old Mediterranean houses, were made of terracotta and were placed on top of
918-642: A distinct feature of the shrines of Multan and Sindh . The Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore stands out as one of the masterpieces of Kashi time work from the Mughal period . The zellige tradition of Arabic North Africa uses small colored tiles of various shapes to make very complex geometric patterns. It is halfway to mosaic, but as the different shapes must be fitted precisely together, it falls under tiling. The use of small coloured glass fields also make it rather like enamelling , but with ceramic rather than metal as
1020-971: A dry, small aggregate concrete which is formed in steel moulds by vibration and compaction in either an "egglayer" or static machine. The finished blocks are cured, rather than fired, using low-pressure steam. Concrete bricks and blocks are manufactured in a wide range of shapes, sizes and face treatments – a number of which simulate the appearance of clay bricks. Concrete bricks are available in many colours and as an engineering brick made with sulfate-resisting Portland cement or equivalent. When made with adequate amount of cement they are suitable for harsh environments such as wet conditions and retaining walls. They are made to standards BS 6073, EN 771-3 or ASTM C55. Concrete bricks contract or shrink so they need movement joints every 5 to 6 metres, but are similar to other bricks of similar density in thermal and sound resistance and fire resistance. Compressed earth blocks are made mostly from slightly moistened local soils compressed with
1122-443: A history older than fired bricks, and have an additional ingredient of a mechanical binder such as straw. Bricks are laid in courses and numerous patterns known as bonds , collectively known as brickwork , and may be laid in various kinds of mortar to hold the bricks together to make a durable structure. The earliest bricks were dried mudbricks , meaning that they were formed from clay-bearing earth or mud and dried (usually in
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#17327718984171224-457: A kiln which makes them durable. Modern, fired, clay bricks are formed in one of three processes – soft mud, dry press, or extruded. Depending on the country, either the extruded or soft mud method is the most common, since they are the most economical. Clay and shale are the raw ingredients in the recipe for a fired brick. They are the product of thousands of years of decomposition and erosion of rocks, such as pegmatite and granite , leading to
1326-575: A masonry wall is not entirely dependent on the bond between the building material and the mortar; the friction between the interlocking blocks of masonry is often strong enough to provide a great deal of strength on its own. The blocks sometimes have grooves or other surface features added to enhance this interlocking, and some dry set masonry structures forgo mortar altogether. Stone blocks used in masonry can be dressed or rough, though in both examples corners, door and window jambs, and similar areas are usually dressed. Stonemasonry utilizing dressed stones
1428-422: A material that has properties of being highly chemically stable and inert. Within the clays and shales are the materials of aluminosilicate (pure clay ), free silica ( quartz ), and decomposed rock. One proposed optimal mix is: Three main methods are used for shaping the raw materials into bricks to be fired: In many modern brickworks , bricks are usually fired in a continuously fired tunnel kiln , in which
1530-549: A mechanical hydraulic press or manual lever press. A small amount of a cement binder may be added, resulting in a stabilised compressed earth block . There are thousands of types of bricks that are named for their use, size, forming method, origin, quality, texture, and/or materials. Categorized by manufacture method: Masonry The common materials of masonry construction are bricks and building stone , rocks such as marble , granite , and limestone , cast stone , concrete blocks , glass blocks , and adobe . Masonry
1632-508: A non-staggered bond. The wide selection of brick styles and types generally available in industrialized nations allow much variety in the appearance of the final product. In buildings built during the 1950s-1970s, a high degree of uniformity of brick and accuracy in masonry was typical. In the period since then this style was thought to be too sterile, so attempts were made to emulate older, rougher work. Some brick surfaces are made to look particularly rustic by including burnt bricks, which have
1734-523: A painted design covering only one (rather small) blue and white tile, were ubiquitous in Holland and widely exported over Northern Europe from the 16th century on, replacing many local industries. Several 18th century royal palaces had porcelain rooms with the walls entirely covered in porcelain in tiles or panels. Surviving examples include ones at Capodimonte , Naples, the Royal Palace of Madrid and
1836-408: A permanent colored facing (typically composed of polyester resins, silica sand and various other chemicals) to a concrete masonry unit, providing a smooth impervious surface." Glass block or glass brick are blocks made from glass and provide a translucent to clear vision through the block. A masonry veneer wall consists of masonry units, usually clay-based bricks, installed on one or both sides of
1938-504: A recent innovation and are suitable for areas subject to heavy traffic, wet areas and floors that are subject to movement, damp or contamination from oil, grease or other substances that may prevent adhesion to the substrate. Common uses include old factory floors, garages, gyms and sports complexes, schools and shops. Ceiling tiles are lightweight tiles used inside buildings. They are placed in an aluminium grid; they provide little thermal insulation but are generally designed either to improve
2040-481: A relatively low embodied energy and carbon footprint . The ingredients are first harvested and added together, with clay content ranging from 30% to 70%. The mixture is broken up with hoes or adzes , and stirred with water to form a homogenous blend. Next, the tempers and binding agents are added in a ratio, roughly one part straw to five parts earth to reduce weight and reinforce the brick by helping reduce shrinkage. However, additional clay could be added to reduce
2142-455: A sealant being applied, and periodically reapplied, but also on their porosity or how porous the stone is. Slate is an example of a less porous stone while limestone is an example of a more porous stone. Different granites and marbles have different porosities with the less porous ones being more valued and more expensive. Most vendors of stone tiles emphasize that there will be variation in color and pattern from one batch of tiles to another of
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#17327718984172244-475: A single color, usually of glass or sometimes ceramic or stone. There are various tile patterns, such as herringbone , staggered, offset, grid, stacked, pinwheel, parquet de Versailles , basket weave, tiles Art, diagonal, chevron, and encaustic which can range in size, shape, thickness, and color. There are several other types of traditional tiles that remain in manufacture, for example the small, almost mosaic, brightly colored zellij tiles of Morocco and
2346-431: A structurally independent wall usually constructed of wood or masonry. In this context, the brick masonry is primarily decorative, not structural. The brick veneer is generally connected to the structural wall by brick ties (metal strips that are attached to the structural wall, as well as the mortar joints of the brick veneer). There is typically an air gap between the brick veneer and the structural wall. As clay-based brick
2448-729: A tile is a construction tile or similar object, such as rectangular counters used in playing games (see tile-based game ). The word is derived from the French word tuile , which is, in turn, from the Latin word tegula , meaning a roof tile composed of fired clay. Tiles are often used to form wall and floor coverings, and can range from simple square tiles to complex or mosaics . Tiles are most often made of ceramic , typically glazed for internal uses and unglazed for roofing, but other materials are also commonly used, such as glass, cork, concrete and other composite materials, and stone. Tiling stone
2550-478: A wall of a given size. Furthermore, cinder and concrete blocks typically have much lower water absorption rates than brick. They often are used as the structural core for veneered brick masonry or are used alone for the walls of factories, garages, and other industrial-style buildings where such appearance is acceptable or desirable. Such blocks often receive a stucco surface for decoration. Surface-bonding cement , which contains synthetic fibers for reinforcement,
2652-558: Is a brick wall that follows a serpentine path, rather than a straight line. This type of wall is more resistant to toppling than a straight wall; so much so that it may be made of a single wythe of unreinforced brick and so despite its longer length may be more economical than a straight wall. Blocks of cinder concrete ( cinder blocks or breezeblocks ), ordinary concrete ( concrete blocks ), or hollow tile are generically known as Concrete Masonry Units (CMUs). They usually are much larger than ordinary bricks and so are much faster to lay for
2754-441: Is a similar term referring to a rectangular building unit composed of clay or concrete, but is usually larger than a brick. Lightweight bricks (also called lightweight blocks) are made from expanded clay aggregate . Fired bricks are one of the longest-lasting and strongest building materials , sometimes referred to as artificial stone, and have been used since c. 4000 BC . Air-dried bricks, also known as mudbricks , have
2856-663: Is a type of outdoor cement tile and the associated paving style, both found in Barcelona . In 2010, around 5,000,000 m (54,000,000 sq ft) of Barcelona streets were panot-tiled. Portugal and São Luís continue their tradition of azulejo tilework today, with tiles used to decorate buildings, ships, and even rocks. With exceptions, notably the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing , decorated tiles or glazed bricks do not feature largely in East Asian ceramics. Philippines In 17th CE during
2958-428: Is an advanced pottery technique. Fired bricks are solid masses of clay heated in kilns to temperatures of between 950° and 1,150° C , and a well-made fired brick is an extremely durable object. Like sun-dried bricks, they were made in wooden molds but for bricks with relief decorations, special molds had to be made. Rooms with tiled floors made of clay decorated with geometric circular patterns have been discovered from
3060-935: Is common in Sweden as well as Russia and other post-Soviet countries, especially in houses built or renovated in the 1970s. A version known as fly ash bricks , manufactured using fly ash , lime, and gypsum (known as the FaL-G process) are common in South Asia. Calcium-silicate bricks are also manufactured in Canada and the United States, and meet the criteria set forth in ASTM C73 – 10 Standard Specification for Calcium Silicate Brick (Sand-Lime Brick). Bricks formed from concrete are usually termed as blocks or concrete masonry unit , and are typically pale grey. They are made from
3162-495: Is dug, 6–9 metres (20–30 ft) wide, 2–2.5 metres (6 ft 7 in – 8 ft 2 in) deep, and 100–150 metres (330–490 ft) in circumference. A tall exhaust chimney is constructed in the centre. Half or more of the trench is filled with "green" (unfired) bricks which are stacked in an open lattice pattern to allow airflow. The lattice is capped with a roofing layer of finished brick. In operation, new green bricks, along with roofing bricks, are stacked at one end of
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3264-420: Is generally a highly durable form of construction. However, the materials used, the quality of the mortar and workmanship, and the pattern in which the units are assembled can substantially affect the durability of the overall masonry construction. A person who constructs masonry is called a mason or bricklayer . These are both classified as construction trades . Masonry is one of the oldest building crafts in
3366-456: Is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry . Both rubble and ashlar masonry can be laid in coursed rows of even height through the careful selection or cutting of stones, but a great deal of stone masonry is uncoursed. Solid brickwork is made of two or more wythes of bricks with the units running horizontally (called stretcher bricks) bound together with bricks running transverse to
3468-449: Is manufactured differently for various purposes. Unfired bricks, also known as mudbrick , are made from a mixture of silt , clay , sand and other earth materials like gravel and stone, combined with tempers and binding agents such as chopped straw, grasses, tree bark , or dung. Since these bricks are made up of natural materials and only require heat from the Sun to bake, mudbricks have
3570-549: Is only as long as the wire they are composed of and if used in severe climates (such as shore-side in a salt water environment) must be made of appropriate corrosion-resistant wire. Most modern gabions are rectangular. Earlier gabions were often cylindrical wicker baskets, open at both ends, used usually for temporary, often military, construction. Similar work can be done with finer aggregates using cellular confinement . Masonry walls have an endothermic effect of its hydrates , as in chemically bound water , unbound moisture from
3672-717: Is sometimes used in this application and can impart extra strength to a block wall. Surface-bonding cement is often pre-colored and can be stained or painted thus resulting in a finished stucco-like surface. The primary structural advantage of concrete blocks in comparison to smaller clay-based bricks is that a CMU wall can be reinforced by filling the block voids with concrete with or without steel rebar . Generally, certain voids are designated for filling and reinforcement, particularly at corners, wall-ends, and openings while other voids are left empty. This increases wall strength and stability more economically than filling and reinforcing all voids. Typically, structures made of CMUs will have
3774-539: Is the Shah Mosque in Isfahan, from the 17th century. Its dome is a prime example of tile mosaic and its winter praying hall houses one of the finest ensembles of cuerda seca tiles in the world. A wide variety of tiles had to be manufactured in order to cover complex forms of the hall with consistent mosaic patterns. The result was a technological triumph as well as a dazzling display of abstract ornament. During
3876-429: Is typically marble, onyx, granite or slate. Thinner tiles can be used on walls than on floors, which require more durable surfaces that will resist impacts. Global production of ceramic tiles, excluding roof tiles, was estimated to be 12.7 billion m in 2019. Decorative tilework or tile art should be distinguished from mosaic , where forms are made of great numbers of tiny irregularly positioned tesserae , each of
3978-700: Is used mostly for Kufic inscriptions on mosque walls. Seyyed Mosque in Isfahan (AD 1122), Dome of Maraqeh (AD 1147) and the Jame Mosque of Gonabad (1212 AD) are among the finest examples. The dome of Jame' Atiq Mosque of Qazvin is also dated to this period. The golden age of Persian tilework began during the Timurid Empire . In the moraq technique, single-color tiles were cut into small geometric pieces and assembled by pouring liquid plaster between them. After hardening, these panels were assembled on
4080-496: Is usually not completely waterproof, the structural wall will often have a water-resistant surface (usually tar paper ) and weep holes can be left at the base of the brick veneer to drain moisture that accumulates inside the air gap. Concrete blocks, real and cultured stones , and veneer adobe are sometimes used in a very similar veneer fashion. Most insulated buildings that use concrete block, brick, adobe, stone, veneers or some combination thereof feature interior insulation in
4182-587: The Life of Christ , possibly for a wall rather than a floor, while their 13th century "Chertsey Tiles", though from an abbey, show scenes of Richard the Lionheart battling with Saladin in very high-quality work. Medieval letter tiles were used to create Christian inscriptions on church floors. Medieval influences between Middle Eastern tilework and tilework in Europe were mainly through Islamic Iberia and
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4284-543: The Brick Renaissance as the stylistic changes associated with the Italian Renaissance spread to northern Europe, leading to the adoption of Renaissance elements into brick building. Identifiable attributes included a low-pitched hipped or flat roof, symmetrical facade, round arch entrances and windows, columns and pilasters, and more. A clear distinction between the two styles only developed at
4386-583: The Building Research Establishment in Watford , UK, the use of improved masonry for the construction of tall structures up to 18 storeys high was made viable. However, the use of brick has largely remained restricted to small to medium-sized buildings, as steel and concrete remain superior materials for high-rise construction. Four basic types of brick are un-fired, fired, chemically set bricks, and compressed earth blocks. Each type
4488-459: The Byzantine and Ottoman Empires . The Alhambra zellige are said to have inspired the tessellations of M. C. Escher . Medieval encaustic tiles were made of multiple colours of clay, shaped and baked together to form a pattern that, rather than sitting on the surface, ran right through the thickness of the tile, and thus would not wear away. Azulejos are derived from zellij , and
4590-679: The Safavid period , mosaic ornaments were often replaced by a haft rang (seven colors) technique. Pictures were painted on plain rectangle tiles, glazed and fired afterwards. Besides economic reasons, the seven colors method gave more freedom to artists and was less time-consuming. It was popular until the Qajar period , when the palette of colors was extended by yellow and orange. The seven colors of Haft Rang tiles were usually black , white , ultramarine , turquoise , red , yellow and fawn . The Persianate tradition continued and spread to much of
4692-473: The woodlots . The advantage of the BTK design is a much greater energy efficiency compared with clamp or scove kilns . Sheet metal or boards are used to route the airflow through the brick lattice so that fresh air flows first through the recently burned bricks, heating the air, then through the active burning zone. The air continues through the green brick zone (pre-heating and drying the bricks), and finally out
4794-511: The Great 's palace at Susa , and buildings at Persepolis. The succeeding Sassanid Empire used tiles patterned with geometric designs, flowers, plants, birds and human beings, glazed up to a centimeter thick. Early Islamic mosaics in Iran consist mainly of geometric decorations in mosques and mausoleums , made of glazed brick. Typical, turquoise, tiling becomes popular in 10th-11th century and
4896-734: The Herculaneum gate of Pompeii and the baths of Caracalla . During the Early Middle Ages the use of bricks in construction became popular in Northern Europe , after being introduced there from Northwestern Italy. An independent style of brick architecture, known as brick Gothic (similar to Gothic architecture ) flourished in places that lacked indigenous sources of rocks. Examples of this architectural style can be found in modern-day Denmark, Germany, Poland, and Kaliningrad (former East Prussia ). This style evolved into
4998-759: The Islamic world, notably the İznik pottery of Turkey under the Ottoman Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries. Palaces, public buildings, mosques and türbe mausoleums were heavily decorated with large brightly colored patterns, typically with floral motifs, and friezes of astonishing complexity, including floral motifs and calligraphy as well as geometric patterns. Islamic buildings in Bukhara in central Asia (16th-17th century) also exhibit very sophisticated floral ornaments. In South Asia monuments and shrines adorned with Kashi tile work from Persia became
5100-424: The acoustics of a room or to reduce the volume of air being heated or cooled. Mineral fiber tiles are fabricated from a range of products; wet felt tiles can be manufactured from perlite, mineral wool, and fibers from recycled paper; stone wool tiles are created by combining molten stone and binders which is then spun to create the tile; gypsum tiles are based on the soft mineral and then finished with vinyl, paper or
5202-531: The ancient Indus Valley cities of Mohenjo-daro , Harappa , and Mehrgarh . Ceramic, or fired brick was used as early as 3000 BC in early Indus Valley cities like Kalibangan . In the middle of the third millennium BC, there was a rise in monumental baked brick architecture in Indus cities. Examples included the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro , the fire altars of Kaalibangan , and the granary of Harappa . There
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#17327718984175304-517: The ancient remains of Kalibangan , Balakot and Ahladino Tiling was used in the second century by the Sinhalese kings of ancient Sri Lanka , using smoothed and polished stone laid on floors and in swimming pools. The techniques and tools for tiling is advanced, evidenced by the fine workmanship and close fit of the tiles. Such tiling can be seen in Ruwanwelisaya and Kuttam Pokuna in
5406-566: The application of glaze, or the use of a ceramic engobe . Contrary to popular belief a glaze does not weatherproof a tile, the porosity of the clay body is what determines how well a tile will survive harsh weather conditions. These are commonly made of ceramic or stone, although recent technological advances have resulted in rubber or glass tiles for floors as well. Ceramic tiles may be painted and glazed. Small mosaic tiles may be laid in various patterns. Floor tiles are typically set into mortar consisting of sand , Portland cement and often
5508-404: The brick pile. Historically, a stack of unfired bricks covered for protection from the weather was called a "hack". Cooled finished bricks are removed from the other end for transport to their destinations. In the middle, the brick workers create a firing zone by dropping fuel (coal, wood, oil, debris, etc.) through access holes in the roof above the trench. The constant source of fuel maybe grown on
5610-465: The bricks are fired as they move slowly through the kiln on conveyors , rails, or kiln cars, which achieves a more consistent brick product. The bricks often have lime , ash, and organic matter added, which accelerates the burning process. The other major kiln type is the Bull's Trench Kiln (BTK), based on a design developed by British engineer W. Bull in the late 19th century. An oval or circular trench
5712-442: The buildings more visible in the heavy fog and to help prevent traffic accidents. The transition from the traditional method of production known as hand-moulding to a mechanised form of mass-production slowly took place during the first half of the nineteenth century. The first brick-making machine was patented by Richard A. Ver Valen of Haverstraw, New York, in 1852. The Bradley & Craven Ltd 'Stiff-Plastic Brickmaking Machine'
5814-464: The chimney, where the rising gases create suction that pulls air through the system. The reuse of heated air yields savings in fuel cost. As with the rail process, the BTK process is continuous. A half-dozen labourers working around the clock can fire approximately 15,000–25,000 bricks a day. Unlike the rail process, in the BTK process the bricks do not move. Instead, the locations at which the bricks are loaded, fired, and unloaded gradually rotate through
5916-467: The city of Anuradhapura . The nine-storied Lovamahapaya (3rd century BCE) had copper roof tiles. The roofs were tiled, with red, white, yellow, turquoise and brown tiles. There were also tiles made of bronze . Sigiriya also had an elaborate gatehouse made of timber and brick masonry with multiple tiled roofs. The massive timber doorposts remaining today indicate this. The Achaemenid Empire decorated buildings with glazed brick tiles, including Darius
6018-1025: The colonialization of Spain in the Philippines, they introduced the Baldozas Mosaicos to describe the Mediterranean cement tiles, but they are now more commonly referred to as Machuca tiles during the 19th CE, named after Don Pepe, the son of the renowned producer of Baldozas Mosaicos in the Philippines, Don Jose Machuca by Romero Roof tiles are overlapping tiles designed mainly to keep out precipitation such as rain or snow , and are traditionally made from locally available materials such as clay or slate . Later tiles have been made from materials such as concrete , and plastic . Roof tiles can be affixed by screws or nails , but in some cases historic designs such as Marseilles tiles utilize interlocking systems that can be self-supporting. Tiles typically cover an underlayment system, which seals
6120-456: The colour of bricks to blend-in areas of brickwork with the surrounding masonry. An impervious and ornamental surface may be laid on brick either by salt glazing , in which salt is added during the burning process, or by the use of a slip , which is a glaze material into which the bricks are dipped. Subsequent reheating in the kiln fuses the slip into a glazed surface integral with the brick base. Chemically set bricks are not fired but may have
6222-534: The concrete block, and the poured concrete if the hollow cores inside the blocks are filled. Masonry can withstand temperatures up to 1,000 °F (538 °C) and it can withstand direct exposure to fire for up to 4 hours. In addition to that, concrete masonry keeps fires contained to their room of origin 93% of the time. For those reasons, concrete and masonry units hold the highest flame spread index classification, Class A. Fire cuts can be used to increase safety and reduce fire damage to masonry buildings. From
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#17327718984176324-776: The construction materials for architectural wonders such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon , where glazed fired bricks were put into practice. The earliest fired bricks appeared in Neolithic China around 4400 BC at Chengtoushan , a walled settlement of the Daxi culture . These bricks were made of red clay, fired on all sides to above 600 °C, and used as flooring for houses. By the Qujialing period (3300 BC), fired bricks were being used to pave roads and as building foundations at Chengtoushan. According to Lukas Nickel,
6426-609: The construction of canal , roads , and railways . Production of bricks increased massively with the onset of the Industrial Revolution and the rise in factory building in England. For reasons of speed and economy, bricks were increasingly preferred as building material to stone, even in areas where the stone was readily available. It was at this time in London that bright red brick was chosen for construction to make
6528-735: The construction of the tomb of China's first Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi . The floors of the three pits of the terracotta army were paved with an estimated 230,000 bricks, with the majority measuring 28x14x7 cm, following a 4:2:1 ratio. The use of fired bricks in Chinese city walls first appeared in the Eastern Han dynasty (25 AD-220 AD). Up until the Middle Ages, buildings in Central Asia were typically built with unbaked bricks. It
6630-648: The cores remain unfilled. Filling some or all of the cores with concrete or concrete with steel reinforcement (typically rebar ) offers much greater tensile and lateral strength to structures. One problem with masonry walls is that they rely mainly on their weight to keep them in place; each block or brick is only loosely connected to the next via a thin layer of mortar. This is why they do not perform well in earthquakes, when entire buildings are shaken horizontally. Many collapses during earthquakes occur in buildings that have load-bearing masonry walls. Besides, heavier buildings having masonry suffer more damage. The strength of
6732-518: The curing process accelerated by the application of heat and pressure in an autoclave. Calcium-silicate bricks are also called sandlime or flintlime bricks, depending on their ingredients. Rather than being made with clay they are made with lime binding the silicate material. The raw materials for calcium-silicate bricks include lime mixed in a proportion of about 1 to 10 with sand, quartz , crushed flint , or crushed siliceous rock together with mineral colourants . The materials are mixed and left until
6834-502: The end of the 19th century, the Hudson River region of New York State would become the world's largest brick manufacturing region, with 130 brickyards lining the shores of the Hudson River from Mechanicsville to Haverstraw and employing 8,000 people. At its peak, about 1 billion bricks were produced a year, with many being sent to New York City for use in its construction industry. The demand for high office building construction at
6936-479: The first bricks with dimension 400x150x100 mm. Between 5000 and 4500 BC, Mesopotamia had discovered fired brick. The standard brick sizes in Mesopotamia followed a general rule: the width of the dried or burned brick would be twice its thickness, and its length would be double its width. The South Asian inhabitants of Mehrgarh also constructed air-dried mudbrick structures between 7000 and 3300 BC and later
7038-542: The focal points of mosques, were usually the places where most sophisticated tilework was placed. The 14th-century mihrab at Madrasa Imami in Isfahan is an outstanding example of aesthetic union between the Islamic calligrapher's art and abstract ornament. The pointed arch , framing the mihrab's niche, bears an inscription in Kufic script used in 9th-century Qur'an . One of the best known architectural masterpieces of Iran
7140-411: The form of fiberglass batts between wooden wall studs or in the form of rigid insulation boards covered with plaster or drywall . In most climates this insulation is much more effective on the exterior of the wall, allowing the building interior to take advantage of the aforementioned thermal mass of the masonry. This technique does, however, require some sort of weather-resistant exterior surface over
7242-464: The insulation and, consequently, is generally more expensive. Gabions are baskets, usually now of zinc -protected steel ( galvanized steel ) that are filled with fractured stone of medium size. These will act as a single unit and are stacked with setbacks to form a revetment or retaining wall . They have the advantage of being well drained, flexible, and resistant to flood, water flow from above, frost damage, and soil flow. Their expected useful life
7344-453: The lime is completely hydrated; the mixture is then pressed into moulds and cured in an autoclave for three to fourteen hours to speed the chemical hardening. The finished bricks are very accurate and uniform, although the sharp arrises need careful handling to avoid damage to brick and bricklayer. The bricks can be made in a variety of colours; white, black, buff, and grey-blues are common, and pastel shades can be achieved. This type of brick
7446-457: The manufacturing process, giving the blocks a rough face replicating the appearance of natural stone, such as brownstone . CMUs may also be scored, ribbed, sandblasted, polished, striated (raked or brushed), include decorative aggregates, be allowed to slump in a controlled fashion during curing, or include several of these techniques in their manufacture to provide a decorative appearance. "Glazed concrete masonry units are manufactured by bonding
7548-565: The name is likewise derived. The term is both a simple Portuguese and Spanish term for zellige, and a term for later tilework following the tradition. Some azujelos are small-scale geometric patterns or vegetative motifs, some are blue monochrome and highly pictorial, and some are neither. The Baroque period produced extremely large painted scenes on tiles, usually in blue and white, for walls. Azulejos were also used in Latin American architecture. Delftware wall tiles, typically with
7650-536: The nearby Royal Palace of Aranjuez . The Victorian period saw a great revival in tilework, largely as part of the Gothic Revival , but also the Arts and Crafts Movement . Patterned tiles, or tiles making up patterns, were now mass-produced by machine and reliably level for floors and cheap to produce, especially for churches, schools and public buildings, but also for domestic hallways and bathrooms. For many uses
7752-400: The need for straw, which would prevent the likelihood of insects deteriorating the organic material of the bricks, subsequently weakening the structure. These ingredients are thoroughly mixed together by hand or by treading and are then left to ferment for about a day. The mix is then kneaded with water and molded into rectangular prisms of a desired size. Bricks are lined up and left to dry in
7854-729: The palaces of the Persian Empire such as Persepolis . The use of sun-dried bricks or adobe was the main method of building in Mesopotamia where river mud was found in abundance along the Tigris and Euphrates . Here the scarcity of stone may have been an incentive to develop the technology of making kiln-fired bricks to use as an alternative. To strengthen walls made from sun-dried bricks, fired bricks began to be used as an outer protective skin for more important buildings like temples, palaces, city walls, and gates. Making fired bricks
7956-807: The point of view of material modeling, masonry is a special material of extreme mechanical properties (with a very high ratio between strength in compression and in tension), so that the applied loads do not diffuse as they do in elastic bodies, but tend to percolate along lines of high stiffness. Tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic , stone , metal, baked clay, or even glass . They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or other objects such as tabletops. Alternatively, tile can sometimes refer to similar units made from lightweight materials such as perlite , wood , and mineral wool , typically used for wall and ceiling applications. In another sense,
8058-454: The roof against water intrusion. Clay roof tiles historically gained their color purely from the clay that they were composed of, resulting in largely red, orange, and tan colored roofs. Over time some cultures, notably in Asia, began to apply glazes to clay tiles, achieving a wide variety of colors and combinations. Modern clay roof tiles typically source their color from kiln firing conditions,
8160-479: The same amount of wear on natural stone tiles will not show, or will be less noticeable. Natural stone tiles can be stained by spilled liquids; they must be sealed and periodically resealed with a sealant in contrast to ceramic tiles which only need their grout lines sealed. However, because of the complex, nonrepeating patterns in natural stone, small amounts of dirt on many natural stone floor tiles do not show. The tendency of floor tiles to stain depends not only on
8262-622: The same description and variation within the same batch. Stone floor tiles tend to be heavier than ceramic tiles and somewhat more prone to breakage during shipment. Rubber floor tiles have a variety of uses, both in residential and commercial settings. They are especially useful in situations where it is desired to have high-traction floors or protection for an easily breakable floor. Some common uses include flooring of garage, workshops, patios, swimming pool decks, sport courts, gyms, and dance floors. Plastic floor tiles including interlocking floor tiles that can be installed without adhesive or glue are
8364-475: The sun for three days on both sides. After the six days, the bricks continue drying until required for use. Typically, longer drying times are preferred, but the average is eight to nine days spanning from initial stages to its application in structures. Unfired bricks could be made in the spring months and left to dry over the summer for use in the autumn. Mudbricks are commonly employed in arid environments to allow for adequate air drying. Fired bricks are baked in
8466-491: The sun) until they were strong enough for use. The oldest discovered bricks, originally made from shaped mud and dating before 7500 BC, were found at Tell Aswad , in the upper Tigris region and in southeast Anatolia close to Diyarbakir . Mudbrick construction was used at Çatalhöyük , from c. 7,400 BC. Mudbrick structures, dating to c. 7,200 BC have been located in Jericho , Jordan Valley. These structures were made up of
8568-578: The support. Medieval Europe made considerable use of painted tiles, sometimes producing very elaborate schemes, of which few have survived. Religious and secular stories were depicted. The imaginary tiles with Old Testament scenes shown on the floor in Jan van Eyck 's 1434 Annunciation in Washington are an example. The 14th century "Tring tiles" in the British Museum show childhood scenes from
8670-675: The surrounding countries. The earliest evidence of glazed brick is the discovery of glazed bricks in the Elamite Temple at Chogha Zanbil , dated to the 13th century BC. Glazed and colored bricks were used to make low reliefs in Ancient Mesopotamia , most famously the Ishtar Gate of Babylon ( c. 575 BC ), now partly reconstructed in Berlin , with sections elsewhere. Mesopotamian craftsmen were imported for
8772-437: The temperature inside the kiln stayed at a level that caused the clay to shimmer with the colour of molten gold or silver. He also had to know when to quench the kiln with water so as to produce the surface glaze. To anonymous labourers fell the less skilled stages of brick production: mixing clay and water, driving oxen over the mixture to trample it into a thick paste, scooping the paste into standardised wooden frames (to produce
8874-730: The tension force present in modern thin, light, tall building systems. Masonry has both structural and non-structural applications. Structural applications include walls, columns, beams, foundations, load-bearing arches, and others. On the other hand, masonry is also used in non-structural applications such as fireplaces chimneys and veneer systems. Brick and concrete block are the most common types of masonry in use in industrialized nations and may be either load-bearing or non-load-bearing. Concrete blocks, especially those with hollow cores, offer various possibilities in masonry construction. They generally provide great compressive strength and are best suited to structures with light transverse loading when
8976-559: The third century BC, when baked bricks of regular shape began to be employed for vaulting underground tombs. Hollow brick tomb chambers rose in popularity as builders were forced to adapt due to a lack of readily available wood or stone. The oldest extant brick building above ground is possibly Songyue Pagoda , dated to 523 AD. By the end of the third century BC in China, both hollow and small bricks were available for use in building walls and ceilings. Fired bricks were first mass-produced during
9078-410: The top course of blocks in the walls filled with concrete and tied together with steel reinforcement to form a bond beam. Bond beams are often a requirement of modern building codes and controls. Another type of steel reinforcement referred to as ladder-reinforcement , can also be embedded in horizontal mortar joints of concrete block walls. The introduction of steel reinforcement generally results in
9180-448: The top surface so that they have a uniform thickness. Other natural stone tiles such as slate are typically "riven" (split) on the top surface so that the thickness of the tile varies slightly from one spot on the tile to another and from one tile to another. Variations in tile thickness can be handled by adjusting the amount of mortar under each part of the tile, by using wide grout lines that "ramp" between different thicknesses, or by using
9282-504: The tougher encaustic tile was used. Wall tiles in various styles also revived; the rise of the bathroom contributing greatly to this, as well as greater appreciation of the benefit of hygiene in kitchens. William De Morgan was the leading English designer working in tiles, strongly influenced by Islamic designs. Since the Victorian period tiles have remained standard for kitchens and bathrooms, and many types of public area. Panot
9384-499: The transition to Baroque architecture . In Lübeck , for example, Brick Renaissance is clearly recognisable in buildings equipped with terracotta reliefs by the artist Statius von Düren, who was also active at Schwerin ( Schwerin Castle ) and Wismar (Fürstenhof). Long-distance bulk transport of bricks and other construction equipment remained prohibitively expensive until the development of modern transportation infrastructure, with
9486-623: The trench. The colour of fired clay bricks is influenced by the chemical and mineral content of the raw materials, the firing temperature, and the atmosphere in the kiln. For example, pink bricks are the result of a high iron content, white or yellow bricks have a higher lime content. Most bricks burn to various red hues; as the temperature is increased the colour moves through dark red, purple, and then to brown or grey at around 1,300 °C (2,370 °F). The names of bricks may reflect their origin and colour, such as London stock brick and Cambridgeshire White. Brick tinting may be performed to change
9588-641: The turn of the 20th century led to a much greater use of cast and wrought iron , and later, steel and concrete . The use of brick for skyscraper construction severely limited the size of the building – the Monadnock Building , built in 1896 in Chicago, required exceptionally thick walls to maintain the structural integrity of its 17 storeys. Following pioneering work in the 1950s at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and
9690-429: The use of ceramic pieces for protecting and decorating floors and walls dates back at various cultural sites to 3000-2000 BC and perhaps even before, but these elements should be rather qualified as tiles . For the longest time builders relied on wood, mud and rammed earth, while fired brick and mudbrick played no structural role in architecture. Proper brick construction, for erecting walls and vaults , finally emerges in
9792-597: The wall (called "header" bricks). Each row of bricks is known as a course. The pattern of headers and stretchers employed gives rise to different 'bonds' such as the common bond (with every sixth course composed of headers), the English bond, and the Flemish bond (with alternating stretcher and header bricks present on every course). Bonds can differ in strength and in insulating ability. Vertically staggered bonds tend to be somewhat stronger and less prone to major cracking than
9894-716: The walls of buildings. But the mosaic was not limited to flat areas. Tiles were used to cover both the interior and exterior surfaces of domes. Prominent Timurid examples of this technique include the Jame Mosque of Yazd (AD 1324–1365), Goharshad Mosque (AD 1418), the Madrassa of Khan in Shiraz (AD 1615), and the Molana Mosque (AD 1444). Other important tile techniques of this time include girih tiles , with their characteristic white girih, or straps. Mihrabs , being
9996-413: The world. The construction of Egyptian pyramids, Roman aqueducts, and medieval cathedrals are all examples of masonry. Early structures used the weight of the masonry itself to stabilize the structure against lateral movements. The types and techniques of masonry used evolved with architectural needs and cultural norms. Since mid-20th century, masonry has often featured steel-reinforced elements to help carry
10098-517: Was a uniformity to the brick sizes throughout the Indus Valley region, conforming to the 1:2:4, thickness, width, and length ratio. As the Indus civilization began its decline at the start of the second millennium BC, Harappans migrated east, spreading their knowledge of brickmaking technology. This led to the rise of cities like Pataliputra , Kausambi , and Ujjain , where there was an enormous demand for kiln-made bricks. By 604 BC, bricks were
10200-747: Was hot, filthy work. Early civilisations around the Mediterranean , including the Ancient Greeks and Romans , adopted the use of fired bricks. By the early first century CE, standardised fired bricks were being heavily produced in Rome. The Roman legions operated mobile kilns , and built large brick structures throughout the Roman Empire , stamping the bricks with the seal of the legion. The Romans used brick for walls, arches, forts, aqueducts, etc. Notable mentions of Roman brick structures are
10302-516: Was only starting in the ninth century CE when buildings were entirely constructed using fired bricks. The carpenter's manual Yingzao Fashi , published in 1103 at the time of the Song dynasty described the brick making process and glazing techniques then in use. Using the 17th-century encyclopaedic text Tiangong Kaiwu , historian Timothy Brook outlined the brick production process of Ming dynasty China: ...the kilnmaster had to make sure that
10404-683: Was patented in 1853. Bradley & Craven went on to be a dominant manufacturer of brickmaking machinery. Henry Clayton, employed at the Atlas Works in Middlesex , England, in 1855, patented a brick-making machine that was capable of producing up to 25,000 bricks daily with minimal supervision. His mechanical apparatus soon achieved widespread attention after it was adopted for use by the South Eastern Railway Company for brick-making at their factory near Folkestone . At
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