Brick has been used by mankind for over 4,000 years. At the ancient site of Banpo in China, archaeologists have discovered a special underground kiln for firing bricks and other ceramic products. It is reliably known about the widespread use of bricks in the construction of buildings and structures in Egypt, India, Ancient Greece and Rome.
At present, builders around the world continue to use various types of bricks in accordance with climatic conditions, historical traditions, the standard of living of the population, etc.
In most European countries, they prefer to plaster houses, so facing bricks are not very common, more often you can find effective bricks or large-format blocks. In France, houses are built from stone blocks, and bricks are used here only for decorative purposes (for fireplaces and interior decoration).
Particularly popular are bricks with uneven coloring of the front surface (scorch marks, transition of shades). In “good old England”, colored, often dark, facade bricks and bricks with a special textured surface are popular. Recently, hand-moulded “antique” bricks have been in the greatest demand – with defects, underforming and burnouts.
In Australia, which was settled exclusively by the British and is part of the United Kingdom, most of the houses are built of brick. The bricks of the older houses are of English dimensions, while the modern bricks are larger. Almost all of the cladding is made of solid brick, but the difference is in the decorative elements and the variegated color of the masonry. Most often, these are very well-chosen combinations of colors from the lightest sand to the darkest brown, but in the same tone.
In Asian countries with a warm climate, one can see full-bodied bricks that have undergone incomplete firing. In poorer countries, such as China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, it is common to use bricks that are hand-shaped and then sun-dried. Often, such bricks are oversized in order to save mortar. It is interesting to compare two countries with different systems and one people – North and South Korea. A huge variety of facing bricks from South Korea (including glazed ones) makes it possible to export them in large quantities to Japan and Australia. In North Korea, facing bricks are now used only for balconies, and the main construction is made of concrete.
In African countries, especially in those where there is a large stratum of the white population or strong ties with the former European metropolises, there is a very significant gap in the quality of the bricks used: there are factories that produce high-quality facing bricks, and there are open-air workshops where molding is done by hand on the ground , and firing is carried out in a small stove, standing right in the middle of the field.
In countries with increased seismic activity (Greece, the Balkan countries, Brazil, Mexico and other countries in South America), they prefer to build monolithic frames, fill them with effective ordinary bricks and then plaster. Since they do not carry a large load, the thickness of the outer walls of these bricks can reach 5-6 mm, in contrast to the Ukrainian brick, for which the thickness of at least 10 mm is set by GOST. In Bolivia, hollow bricks are used for ventilation (whereby a vertical row of bricks is laid across the masonry with holes facing outward).
We wish our customers to build the best, beautiful and comfortable home!