NIT I INTRODUCTION TO BRICK AND CLAY PRODUCTS

roduction to brick and clay products as basic building materials.

tline of their manufacture, properties and characteristics.
eir applications in building construction, both structural and non-structural.
ishes for them. Literature studies of historical and
ntemporary examples. Survey of brick and clay products - products to
clude bricks for masonry, roofing products such
pot/pan tiles and Mangalore tiles, flooring tiles such as clay, ceramic and
ified tiles, Hourdi tiles. Outline of current innovations in the field.
signments/ site visits for the above.
WHAT ARE THE BASIC BUILDING MATERIALS ?
INTRODUCTION TO BRICKS & CLAY PRODUCTS
MASONRY

The construction using materials like BRICK,

STONE, CONCRETE, TILE.

Masonry is generally a wall material.

MASONRY
Selection on type of material depends on :
- Requirements of strength
-Water proofing
-Thermal insulation
-Fire resistance properties
-Durability
-Economy
-Availability of materials
-Finishes required
MASONRY
Depending on type of material , Masonry can be
divided into :
1. STONE MASONRY
2. BRICK MASONRY
3. REINFORCED BRICK MASONRY
4. COMPOSITE MASONRY
5. CONCRETE BLOCK MASONRY (SOLID, HOLLOW)
STONE MASONRY
STONE MASONRY
BRICK MASONRY
CK MASONRY
REINFORCED BRICK
MASONRY
COMPOSITE MASONRY
COMPOSITE MASONRY
MASONRY
Masonry walls can be divided into 3 categories
basically :
1. LOAD BEARING WALLS
2. NON LOAD BEARING WALLS
3. RETAINING WALLS
WHAT ARE BRICKS ?
- OBTAINED BY MOULDING
CLAY IN RECTANGULAR
BLOCKS OF UNIFORM SIZE.

- THEN DRYING &

BURNING (UNDER FIRE)
Bricks

 Fire Resistance

 Cheap

 Durable

 Easy to handle with one hand

Standard Brick Size : 9” x 4 ½’’ x 3’’
230x115x75mm

Custom-shaped bricks are often required for building

for providing special details.

Weight of the a standard brick is 3.0 kg.

.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
Stretcher : This brick is laid with its length
parallel to the face front or direction of a wall. The Stretcher
course containing stretchers is called stretcher Header
course.

Header : This is a brick laid with its breadth or

width parallel to the face or front or direction of Bed
the wall. The course containing headers is called Joint
header course.

JOINT : The junction of two or more bricks is

called as joints. Joints may of cement mortar or Lap

lime mortar. Joints parallel to the bed of bricks are Perpend

Closer
termed as BED JOINTS .(also known as
horizontal mortar joints upon with above units are
laid). BED : The lower surface of the bricks in
each course when laid flat is known as bed.
Joints which are perpendicular to face of wall are It may also be termed as the surface of
termed as CROSS JOINTS bricks on which it rests
.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
COURSE : A Horizontal layer of bricks is termed
as a Course.

HEADER COURSE : It is a course of brickwork

entirely composed of headers.

STRETCHER COURSE : It is a course of

brickwork entirely composed of Stretchers.

FACE : The surface of wall exposed to weather is

termed as face.

FACING : The material used in the face of the

wall is known as facing.

BACKING : The material used in the back of the

wall is known as facing.

HEARTING : the portion of wall between

facing & backing is termed as Hearting.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
.

RACKING BACK : The process of stopping the unfinished end

of a wall in stepped pattern.

LAP : The horizontal distance between the vertical joints in

successive course are known as lap.

PREPEND : It is the vertical joint on the face of the wall directly

over vertical joints in alternate course.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
Closer :

A piece of brick which is used to close up the bond at

the end of brick course is known as closer. It can also
be defined as a portion of brick cut in such a manner
that its one long face remains uncut.

It helps in preventing the joints of successive courses

to come in vertical line. The types of closer are King,
Queen, Beveled, Mitred closer.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
KING CLOSER :
It is a brick which is cut in such a way that the width
of one of its end is half that of a full brick.
Formed by cutting off the triangular piece, between
the center of one end and the centre of one side.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
BEVELLED CLOSER :
It is similar to king closer with the only difference
that the whole length of the brick is bevelled for
maintaining half width at one end and full width at the
other.

MITRED CLOSER :
It is Brick whose one end is cut splayed or mitred for the
full width.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
Queen closer :

It is a term applied to a brick which is half a s wide

as a full brick. Queen closer is made by cutting a
brick lengthwise into two portions.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
FROG:
It is DEPRESSION on the top face of a brick. Frog provides a
recess for the mortar which on setting forms a key and
prevents the displacement of the brick above.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
QUOIN :
The exterior corner of the wall is termed as quoin. The brick
which form the external corner is known as quoin brick.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
SILL :
It is a horizontal member of
brick, stone, concrete or wood,
provided to give support for the
vertical member of a window. It
is also provided to shed off rain
water from the face of wall
immediately below the window
opening.
JAMBS :
The vertical sides of a
finished opening for door,
window, are termed as
jambs. Jambs may be plain
or rebated or splayed.
.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
LINTEL :
A Horizontal member of stone, brick, wood, steel or concrete
used to support the masonry or load above an opening.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology

ARCH:
An Arrangement of wedge shaped blocks of stone or brick
arranged in the form of a curve supporting the masonry or load
above an opening.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
CORNICE :
It is a horizontal projection provided
near the top of the building or at the
junction of wall and ceiling. Apart of
increasing the architectural beauty of
structure, also serves as a barrier for
shedding the rain water off the face for
the wall.
COPING :
It is a covering placed on th
exposed top of an external wall.
It is essentially provided to
prevent the seepage of water
through the joints of the topmost
course of wall. It may be of
brick, stone, concrete, terracotta.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
TOOTHING:
Bricks left projecting in alternate courses for the purposes of
bonding future masonry work.
 Basic Brickwork Terminology
WEATHERING: THROATING:
Is a term applied to the Is a term applied to the
bevelled top surface of a stone GROOVE CUT on the
or brick work. Bevelling of underside of a projecting
surface is necessary to enable course of masonry in order to
the rain water to flow off the check the creepage of rain
surface. water from the underside of
projected portion.

If not provided the rain water

will spread across the bottom
of the projected surface and
will finally start flowing along
the vertical surface of wall
making it damp.
 Different Forms of Brick
Some of the common type of bricks, depending upon the places of use are listed below :

1. Round End and Bull Nose bricks : are used to construct open drains.

2. Cant bricks : are used for doors and windows they are also called as splay bricks.

3. Double Cant bricks : is used for octagonal pillars.

4. Cornice bricks : is used for architectural point of view.

5. Plinth bricks : used at plinth level construction.

 Different Forms of Brick

6. Perforated bricks : are well burnt bricks but it is

not sound proof.

7. Hollow bricks : They are 1/3rd weight of the

normal brick and are sound and heat proof.

8. Coping brick : The top most brick course of Perforated bricks

parapet is made with coping bricks. These drain
off the water from the parapet.

Hollow bricks
 Masonry Joints

Weathered

Concave

Vee  Weathered Joint: Mortar joint has sloped

(downwards) edge
 Concave joint: Joint concave inwards
Flush  Vee joint: mortar joint is in the form of a V
 Flush Joint: Mortar joint is flush with the
brick surfaces
Racked  Raked Joint: A large portion of the mortar
joint is raked out - Not a safe,
impermeable joint
Struck  Struck Joint: Mortar joint has a sloped
(upwards) edge
Masonry Joints

Concave
Joints

Raked Joints
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES TO BE OBSERVED IN
BRICK WORK MASONRY
Bricks used :

1. Should be sound, hard , well burnt with uniform size, shape and
colour.

2. Should have NO CRACKS, FLAWS , free from holes or any

lumps.

3. Surface of brick when scratched by the finger nail, NO MARK

TO BE MADE.

4. Bricks when STRUCK together should produce a metallic

ringing sound.

5. Should NOT BREAK when dropped from a height of 90 TO

120 CM on ground.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES TO BE OBSERVED IN
BRICK WORK MASONRY
BRICKS SHOULD BE :
-Thoroughly soaked in clear water before use for suitable time
so that water just penetrates the full depth of bricks.

- this soaking helps in removing of dirt, other soluble salts

(causing efflorescence).

-Also reduces their tendency to suck water from the wet mortar.

-Laid on full bed of mortar. Slightly pressed into mortar bed while
laying for proper adhesion. All the courses should be laid truly
horizontal &all vertical joints to be vertical.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES TO BE OBSERVED IN
BRICK WORK MASONRY
-Only specified mortar of good quality to be used.

-Uniform mortar thickness to be achieved.

-Thickness to joints should not exceed 13mm.

-Unless specified brick on edge, bricks must be laid on their

proper beds with their FROGS pointing upwards.

-The progress of brick masonry should be such that all

connected brick work should be carried up in uniform layers .
No part of wall should rise more than 100 cm. when not
possible, racking of brick is to be done.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES TO BE OBSERVED IN
BRICK WORK MASONRY
-When it is desired to increase the length of the wall in future
date, the wall is stopped with toothed end. (For providing bond
between new and old brick work).

-All the finished masonry work should be kept wet for at least
seven days.

-Plastering to be done after about 28 days of brick work

completion. This permits adequate time for the shrinkage in
masonry .
 Ingredients of Good Brick Earth
The clay used for brick making consist mainly of silica and alumina mixed in such
proportion that the clay becomes plastic when water is added to it. It also consist of
small proportions of lime, iron, manganese, sulphur, etc.
 Silica (sand)
- It exists in clay either as free or combined. As free sand, it is
mechanically mixed with clay and in combined form, it exists in
chemical composition with alumina.

- Should contain about 50 to 60 % of silica. It imparts uniform shape

to bricks. Its presence prevents cracking, shrinking and warping.

- The durability of brick depends on the proper proportion of silica in

brick earth.
Its excess destroys cohesion between particles and makes the brick
brittle.
 Ingredients of Good Brick Earth

 Alumina
- Composition of good brick earth Alumina as Chief constituent of all
kinds of clay. Imparts plasticity to clay so that it can be moulded.

- If in excess, the raw bricks shrink and warp during drying and
burning and becomes too hard when burnt.

- A good brick work contain about 20% to 30% of alumina.

 Ingredients of Good Brick Earth

 .Lime
- It should be present in very small quantities not exceeding 5% is
desirable in good brick earth.
- It should be very finely powdered state because even small particles
of size of a pin head cause flaking of bricks.
- The excess of lime causes the brick to melt and loose its shape.
- The lumps of lime gets converted into quick lime after burning and
this quick lime slakes & expands in presence of moisture, resulting in
splitting of bricks.
 Ingredients of Good Brick Earth

.
 Magnesia
- imparts yellow tint to the brick It decreases shrinkage.
- Its excess leads to decay of brick.

 Oxide of Iron
- It is added in small quantity – 5-6% .
- It helps fuse sand , Imparts red colour on burning when excess of
oxygen is available. Dark brown or even black colour when oxide is in
excess & yellowish in colour when quantity is less.
 Testing of Brick
A brick is generally subjected to the following tests to find for the construction work :

(1) Absorption
(2) Crushing strength
(3) Hardness
(4) Presence of soluble salts
(5) Shape and size
(6) Soundness

(1) Absorption: (2) Compressive/Crushing strength of

A brick is taken and it is
weighed dry. It is then
immersed in water for a period
of 16 hours. It is weighed again
and the difference in weight
indicates the amount of water
absorbed by the brick. It should
not in exceed 20 per cent of
weight of dry brick.
Bricks:
The crushing strength of a brick is found out
by placing it in a compression testing
machine. It is pressed till it breaks. As per
BIS: 1077-1957, the minimum crushing or
compressive strength of bricks is 3.50
N/mm2.
 Testing of Brick
(3) Hardness test on bricks: (5) Shape and size:
In this test, a scratch is made on brick surface In this test, a brick is closely inspected. It should be of
with the help of a finger nail. If no impression standard size and its shape should be truly
is left on the surface, the brick is sufficiently rectangular with sharp edges. For this purpose, 20
hard. bricks of standard size are selected at random and
they are stacked lengthwise, along the width and
(4) Presence of soluble salts: along the height.
The soluble salts, if present in cause
efflorescence on the surface of bricks. For
finding out the presence of soluble salts in a
brick, it is immersed in water for 24 hours. It is
then taken out and allowed to dry in shade.
The absence of grey or white deposits on
indicates absence of soluble salts.
If the white deposits cover about 10 per cent
surface, the efflorescence is said to be slight
and it is considered as moderate, when the
white deposits cover about 50 per cent of
surface. If grey or white deposits are found on (6) Soundness test on brick:
more than 50 per cent of surface, the In this test, the two bricks are taken and they are
efflorescence becomes heavy and it is treated struck with each other. The bricks should not break
as serious, when such deposits are converted and a clear ringing sound should be produced.
into powdery mass.
 BONDS IN BRICK WORK
STRETCHER BOND
All bricks are arranged in stretcher
course in this bond. The following are
some features of Stretcher bond.
- All bricks laid in stretcher course
create stretcher bond.
- This bond is useful for half brick
wall/partition walls.
- There is no header in such walls.
- The overlap, which is usually of half
brick, is obtained by commencing each
alternate course with a half brick bat
 BONDS IN BRICK WORK
HEADER BOND
All bricks are arranged in header
courses. The following are some
features of header bond.

•This brick bond is used for curved

surface in brick work.
•It is not suitable for load bearing walls
because it does not have strength to
transmit pressure.
•The overlap, which is usually-of half
the width of the brick is obtained by
introducing a three-quarter bat in each
alternate course at quoins.

•This bond is chiefly used for footings in

foundations for better
transverse distribution of load.
 BONDS IN BRICK WORK
ENGLISH BOND
This bond is widely used and is considered as the strongest bond in
brick work. The following are some features of English bond.

• Alternate courses/layers consist of stretcher and header.

•Queen closer is put next to quoin header to develop face lap.
•In English bond, a heading course should never start with a queen closer
as it is liable to get displaced in this position.
•Each alternate course/layer of header is centrally supported over
stretcher.
•The number of mortar joints in header course is nearly double than that
made in stretcher course.
•The bricks in alternate courses have straight joints .
 BONDS IN BRICK WORK
ENGLISH BOND

ELEVATION 2,4,6…EVEN COURSE PLAN 1,3,5…ODD COURSE PLAN

1 BRICK THICK WALL

ELEVATION 2,4,6…EVEN COURSE PLAN 1,3,5…ODD COURSE PLAN

1½ BRICK THICK WALL

 BONDS IN BRICK WORK
FLEMISH BOND
In Flemish bond, each course consists of alternate headers and
stretchers.

The alternate headers of each course are centred over the stretchers in the
course below.

Every alternate course starts with a header at the corner.

For the breaking of vertical joints in the successive courses, closers are
inserted in alternate courses next to the quoin header.

In walls having their thickness equal to odd number of half bricks, bats are
essentially used to achieve the bond.

Flemish bonds may be further classified as

(a) Double Flemish Bond
(b) Single Flemish Bond.
SINGLE FLEMISH BOND
This bond is a combination of English bond and Flemish bond. In this work the facing of
the wall consists of Flemish bond and the backing consists of English bond in each
course. This type of bonding cannot be adopted in walls less than one and a half brick in
thickness. This bond is adopted to present the attractive appearance of Flemish bond with
an effort to ensure full strength in the brick work.

1 1/2 brick thk

DOUBLE FLEMISH BOND

In Double Flemish Bond, each course presents the same appearance both in the front and
back elevations. Every course consists of headers and stretchers laid alternately. This
type of bond is best suited from considerations of economy and appearance. It enables
the one brick wall to have flush and uniform faces on both the sides. This type of
bonding is comparatively weaker than English bond.

1 brick thk
 MERITS & DEMERITS OF ENGLISH & FLEMISH BOND
1. For walls thicker than 1 ½ brick ,ENGLISH BOND is
stronger than flemish bond.

2. Flemish bond renders the appearance of face work

more attractive and pleasing.

3. Flemish bond is slightly economical as a number of

bats can be used. This renders the use of broken bricks
possible, but requires more mortar for additional joints.

4. The adoption of flemish bond requires good workman

-Ship and careful supervision.