Silicate brick is a stable, reliable, easy-to-use building material that has a long service life. Unlike ceramics, this product is not fired in an oven, which significantly reduces its cost. Perfect geometry, together with other advantages of silicate building material, explains its prevalence among professionals and ordinary 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 supporting 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 (solid version). It is used extensively in the construction of one - and two-story houses, cottages.
Such silicate brick has pros and cons. It cannot be used in the construction of structures that will become exposed to high temperatures, since it has a low heat resistance. In addition, it is not recommended to use silicate in the construction of the foundation.
Brick Properties:
- good sound insulation;
- a high rate of thermal conductivity (for an apartment building, auxiliary thermal insulation will be required);
- frost resistance.
Modern production processes have made it possible to increase and bring changes to the variety of colors of building materials. The desired color palette is achieved by adding an established tone in the required concentration in the solution itself.
Stages of manufacturing building materials
The brick manufacturing process is quite simple (in contrast to the manufacture of other building materials), however, it requires special equipment of autoclave furnaces, so silicate is produced only by large industrial enterprises. For small workshops, its manufacture is disadvantageous.
Production is as follows:
- For the production of material, lime is taken in the prescribed proportion.
- The required number of quartz sand is measured, water is added.
- The mixture is thoroughly kneaded.
- The composition is passed through a press and is given the necessary shape.
- Products are autoclaved with steam with a temperature of more than 100 degrees.
- Drying the product.
- The finished result is unloaded from the forms and sent to shopping centers.
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 silicate brick depends on its characteristics and properties, therefore, when selling 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 versions:
In the final version, special empty spaces in the product plane are perpendicular. Such voids can be in end-to-end or non-end-to-end execution.
Silicate products are made in various sizes and colors. Often used white silicate brick. But it is not always snow-white, dyes are able to change its tone. The perfect product formula 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, a photo of which is presented in the article. Elements for the production of this material do not include harmful additives - it is simple sand, lime and a certain amount of water. Thanks to such components, we can confidently say that such a brick is environmentally friendly.
Depending on the proportions, silicate brick can be:
- Lime and sand. This is a traditional type of silicate brick, composed of lime (7-10%) and quartz sand (90-93%).
- Lime and slag. It is obtained by changing silica sand with simple porous slag 88-97% mixed with 3-12% lime.
- Lime ash. It contains 75-80% ash and 20-2 5% lime.
Important Features
According to the main characteristics, such as compactness and frost resistance, silicate brick does not differ from the most common ceramics for all. The characteristics and properties of silicate brick are regulated by GOST 379-79. The standard silicate brick size 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 the usual one, formed on the basis of lime and sand, is often used when laying bearing, self-supporting walls and decorating partitions; during the construction of buildings and structures of various storeys; laying the outer layer of pipes, and, in addition, to fill voids in monolithic concrete structures. Has such a brick pros and cons.
Advantages of silicate brick:
- Soundproofing. Thanks to this characteristic, sounds from the road will not be heard in the building.
- Environmental friendliness is determined by the use of natural material - sand and lime. There is no radiation level in this substance.
- Low cost with a long service life. This superiority is associated with the fact that the initial cost of production is not too high compared with ordinary building materials.
- Resistance to cold makes it possible to tolerate up to 50 cycles of freezing and defrosting.
- Aesthetics. Due 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. Silicate brick masonry can be created using from cement-lime mixture to polymer glue, any of which is compatible with building material.
- Easy to use. The plane does not need special care.
- Correct geometry - any brick of equal shape, which simplifies masonry.
Disadvantages of using
Silicate brick has the pros and cons, like any other building material.
The main disadvantages:
- Low heat resistance - under the action of high temperatures, the building material begins to crumble, and this leads to absolute breaking.
- The building material is heavy. During the construction of housing, they make a special foundation with greater bearing capacity.
- Only a strictly geometric model with right angles is available.
- Low level of water resistance - the product can be destroyed under the continuous influence of water.
- High heat conductivity. This parameter can be improved when building thicker walls and warming with heat insulators.
Silicate brick cannot be used as a building material for the construction of the base of buildings in the place where there is a large negative impact of various types of natural salts that are underground in the water.
If a silicate brick bath is being built, the pros and cons are also available.
Selection tips
Silicate brick is the most economical type among absolutely all analogues, but its working and aesthetic properties do not suit everyone. 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 the variety, the choice of different colors and varieties of the surface, it seems, is good, but in terms of aesthetics, silicate brick is inferior to other types. When choosing a silicate brick, you should focus on its key properties. The main sign of the strength of a brick is its compressive strength. It should be 15-20 MPa. In the stability characteristics of the brick, the letter "M" is indicated, indicating the level of strength. This is a brand of silicate brick.
Application recommendation
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 reasonable quality. The brick has a traditional shape and beautiful appearance, so the housing does not require external decoration in the future.
Due to the high frost resistance of silicate rocks, it is allowed to use the material in the northern regions with long cold winters. However, you need to focus on a large indicator of the thermal conductivity of this stone. Silicate brick wall quickly and easily gives off heat from 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 masonry walls, so as not to have the opportunity to additionally insulate the structure.
What buyers say
Buyers believe that this brick has amazing reliability. When housing is being built, unloading of bricks is often done by the absolutely ruthless method - in bulk. Imagine: 2.5 thousand fragments of brick rushing from the top of the MAZ building. And what is unbelievable, as a result of a broken brick in such situations, the whole machine accounts for only 8-10 units. For decades, the brick turns yellow, consumers are satisfied with its quality.
Silicate brick was 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 can be solved simply - you need to purchase a special waterproofing agent and process the walls.