Brick is durable and durable material. A wall 25 cm thick (in one brick) is capable of carrying any uniformly distributed load that occurs in one, two-storey houses from upstream structures, including reinforced concrete floors. The service life of brick walls with reliable foundations and properly executed masonry is practically unlimited.

At the same time, brick, especially solid brick, having high strength, in terms of its heat-shielding qualities, is inferior to many other wall materials. For example, at an estimated outdoor temperature of -30 ° C (most regions of the central part of Russia), the outer walls of solid masonry made of solid bricks should have a thickness of 64 cm (2.5 bricks). At the same time, the thickness of wooden block walls can be only 16-18 cm.

In order to reduce the consumption of bricks, reduce the mass of walls and the load on the foundations, the outer walls should be laid out either from hollow or solid bricks, laying with the formation of voids, wells, widened joints, and also apply effective heaters, warm masonry and plaster mortars. The use of solid masonry of solid bricks with a thickness of more than 38 cm (1.5 bricks) is not economically feasible. When filling air cavities with mineral felt (bituminized mineral wool), the thermal efficiency of a brick wall increases by 30-40%, and when using foam plastic - by 200%. The use of warm masonry mortars (based on fine aggregates from slag, expanded clay, tuff, tripoli, perlite, sawdust, etc.) also increases the heat-shielding qualities of walls by 10-15%.

Types of masonry brick walls

A common and economical design of external brick walls is the so-called well masonry, in which the wall is laid out from two independent walls half a brick thick, interconnected by vertical and horizontal brick bridges to form closed wells. The wells along the masonry are filled with insulation: slag, expanded clay, lightweight concrete. Well masonry protects the insulation well from external influences, although it somewhat weakens the structural strength of the wall.

At solid masonry an economical solution is also the installation of brick walls with their insulation from the outside or from the inside of the premises. In this case, the thickness of the brick wall can be taken as a minimum based only on the strength requirements, i.e. in all climatic regions it can be equal to 25 cm. Thermal protection with this solution is provided by the thickness and quality of the insulation.

When the insulating layer is located from the inside, it is protected from water vapor by a vapor barrier, when located outside, it is protected from atmospheric influences by a screen or plaster. When using a hollow (multi-hole) brick, all of the above options for the construction of external walls are possible, including solid. masonry without insulation, in which the wall thickness will be approximately 0.5 bricks less than when laying solid bricks.

brick walls have a large thermal inertia: they slowly warm up and also slowly cool down, and the inertia is the greater, the thicker the wall, the greater its mass. IN brick houses the temperature inside the premises has slight daily fluctuations, and this is the advantage of brick walls. At the same time, in houses of periodic residence (dachas, garden houses) this property of brick walls is not always desirable, especially in the cold season. A large mass of cooled walls requires significant fuel consumption each time for its heating, and sudden temperature changes inside the premises lead to moisture condensation on internal surfaces brick walls. In such houses, it is better to sheathe the walls from the inside with boards.

Types of brick

Almost all types of bricks produced by industry are suitable for laying walls of low-rise buildings.
Red (clay) ordinary and hollow bricks of plastic pressing are used without restriction. The same semi-dry pressing brick and silicate brick cannot be used without additional protection in the outer walls of bathrooms, showers and laundry rooms. Internal load-bearing walls are usually laid out from solid (clay or silicate) bricks of any brand produced by the industry. The minimum thickness of the internal load-bearing walls is 25 cm, the section of the pillars is at least 38x38 cm, the section of the walls is at least 25x51 cm.

Under heavy loads, the bearing pillars and piers are reinforced with a metal mesh made of wire with a diameter of 3-6 mm through 3-5 rows of masonry in height. Partitions are laid out with a thickness of 12 cm (half-brick) and 6.5 cm (brick "on edge"). With a length of partitions laid out “on edge”, more than 1.5 m, they are also reinforced with wire through 2-3 rows of masonry in height. For facade cladding, it is best to use the front ceramic brick. In appearance, texture and tolerances in terms of size, it is of the highest quality.

Bricklaying

Brick walls are laid on cement-sand, cement-lime or cement-clay mortar. Cement-sand mortar with almost any brand of cement turns out to be unnecessarily strong and rigid, therefore it is better if lime or clay dough is added to its composition. The solution from such an additive will become more plastic and workable, and the consumption of cement will decrease by 1.5-2 times. The brand of mortar for load-bearing walls and pillars, as well as for plastering facades - 25, for load-bearing walls and partitions - 10.

lime dough, used as an additive to a cement-sand mortar, is prepared from slaked lime. If there is quicklime in the form of separate pieces (boiler) or powder (fluff), it must be extinguished with water in a creative pit lined with boards and kept in this state for at least two weeks. The longer the exposure time, the better, as the homogeneity of the composition and the strength of the lime paste increase.

clay dough used for masonry mortars, it is also advisable to prepare in advance. To do this, pieces of clay are soaked in water and kept until completely soaked (3-5 days). Then add water, mix and filter the mixture, after settling, drain excess water and use the dough. The shelf life of clay dough is unlimited.

Solution for brickwork prepare immediately before starting work and use it for 1.5-2 hours.

The thickness of the vertical seams is taken on average equal to 10 mm. Horizontal seams when using a solution with plasticizing additives (lime or clay) are also laid out with a thickness of 10 mm, without additives - 12 mm. The maximum thickness of the seams is 15, the minimum is 8 mm.

The laying of the outer walls begins from the corners of the building, on each of which beacons are made 6-8 rows of bricks in the form of inclined shtrabs. Then between them, with an indent from the vertical plane of the wall by 3-4 mm, at the level of the top of the bricks being laid, a mooring cord is pulled. Bricklaying always starts from the outside. For strength, the rows of brickwork are led with dressing of vertical longitudinal and transverse seams, using not only the whole brick, but also its parts: 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4. If a brick wall is plastered on both sides, you should strive to bandage the seams in each row. When laying walls with jointing of external seams, the dressing of the facing bricks obeys the accepted brickwork pattern, however, in this case, it is also necessary that the facing row of bricks be tied with the wall at least every 5 rows.

The figure shows solid masonry external walls with a thickness of 25, 38 and 51 cm with a system of complete dressing of vertical seams both in each row and after 3 or 5 rows.

When alternating only the first and second rows, a single-row dressing of the seams is obtained, but if, after the second row, the third is laid, again the second, then the first, etc. (shown in axonometry), then a three-row dressing will be obtained. With a double alternation of the second and third rows, the complete dressing of the vertical seams will occur after five rows.

The strength of brickwork made with bandaging of vertical joints in each row or after 3-5 rows is almost the same. It increases significantly if, regardless of the masonry system, in horizontal joints, after 3-5 rows, lay a reinforcing mesh with cells 6-18 cm wide from wire with a diameter of 3-6 mm.
Non-load-bearing lintels above window and doorways with their length up to 1.5 m, they can be ordinary, i.e., made on the spot, along the course of laying, by installing a reinforced belt from a high-strength cement-sand mortar with a layer thickness of 3-5 cm, laid on a wooden formwork. An ordinary jumper can be reinforced by laying additional reinforcement in 2-3 lower rows of masonry made of wire with a diameter of 4-6 mm with the introduction of its bent ends into the masonry by 1-1.5 bricks in each direction from the opening.

Bar prefabricated reinforced concrete lintels with a thickness (height) of 7-14 cm can cover spans up to 1.8-2.3 m long, respectively. If floor beams are supported on such a lintel, then with inside walls, its height should be 22-29 cm. To fasten the joinery boxes along the masonry, wooden antiseptic (coated with bitumen and wrapped with roofing material) corks are installed, multiples of: two in window openings, three in door openings on each side of the opening.

Walls with an air gap suit when using both full-bodied and effective bricks. With this type of masonry, the front (spoon) rows are tied with the main wall after 4-6 rows with bonded rows of bricks or metal ties. From the outside, such walls, in order to avoid blowing through, are usually plastered or laid out with jointing under strict quality control of work.

1. air gaps
2. metal ties
3. outer verst of bonded bricks

Metal ties (wire anchors with a diameter of 4-6 mm) protect against corrosion by bitumen, cement mortar or epoxy resin. The thermal efficiency of such walls increases significantly if the air gap is filled with warm mortar, mineral wool or foam.
Styrofoam is especially effective. When using it, the total thickness outer wall can be reduced to 29 cm (12 + 5 + 12), and such a wall in terms of heat-shielding qualities is equivalent to a solid brickwork of solid brick with a thickness of 64 cm.

Brick walls with internal or external insulation simplify the process of bricklaying and allow you to work on their insulation in the second place. When insulating the stack from the inside, you can use fiberboard, wood concrete, sawdust concrete, soft fiber boards, as well as heat-insulating blocks made of lightweight concrete. Slabs of organic materials are installed along the beacons on the offset, inorganic heaters are attached to the wall directly on the mortar or inorganic adhesives.
For external insulation, it is best to use mineral wool or foam.

1. insulation
2. air layer
3. mortar beacons
4. boarding

The wall of the well masonry consists of two longitudinal walls half a brick thick, located one from the other at a distance of 14-27 cm and connected to each other through 65-120 cm by vertical transverse walls.
The wells between the longitudinal and transverse walls are filled with insulation in layers 10-15 cm thick with layer-by-layer tamping. To prevent shrinkage, heaters after 30-60 cm in height arrange horizontal diaphragms made of reinforced cement-sand mortar or bonded rows of bricks.

Well masonry is used in cases where there is a sufficient amount of relatively light and low heat-conducting material to fill the internal space of the walls: slag, expanded clay, crushed stone or sand of light rocks, sawdust etc. Mineral materials (non-biodegradable) can be used in the form of dry backfill, organic - necessarily in the form of lightweight concrete based on inorganic binders: cement, lime, gypsum or clay.

Recently, in the construction of private houses, preference is increasingly given to houses built of brick.

Types of bricks differ in composition and degree of filling.

And, of course, when purchasing building materials, many people have a question, is it better to choose a solid or hollow brick for building a house? Let's analyze these two options in more detail.

Ordinary solid brick

As a rule, it is used for the construction of basements, foundations, pillars, basements, construction of outdoor and internal walls and other structures. It is also quite often used in the construction of furnaces, chimneys, fireplaces. Ordinary corrugated bricks are used to build walls and partitions, which will be plastered further.

Solid brick must have high compressive strength and be frost-resistant. It is sometimes produced with technical voids. This is done in order to reduce the internal stress during its firing. It is made without voids and with low porosity, so it has such characteristics as low moisture absorption (about 8%) and high thermal conductivity. If the outer walls of the house are made of this building material, then it will be necessary to make additional insulation.

Ordinary solid brick varies in size:

• single;
• one and a half;
• double;
• restoration;
• quadruple;
• euro size etc.

Ordinary hollow brick

Hollow brick is used for the construction of internal and external walls buildings and constructions. It cannot be used for the construction of basements, basements and foundations. This is explained by the fact that if water gets into its voids and into the cold winter time freezes, this will most likely lead to the destruction or deformation of the structure. Hollow brick differs in the shape of its holes:

• oval hole;
• rectangular;
• round;
• square.

Oval and round hole shapes reduce the chance that cracks will form during production. The production of this building material requires less raw materials than the above sample (by 13%). Due to the dry air, which is closed in the volumes of the holes, the thermal insulation of this material increases. When using a hollow brick, you need to remember that the masonry mortar must be so thick that it does not fill the voids.

Even at the production stage, in order to improve the thermal characteristics of this material, it is made more porous. This is achieved by adding coal, sawdust, peat and straw to the clay. These materials burn out during firing and form voids, making perforated bricks. Builders also call them "light".

Today, hollow bricks are more often used in construction. This is due to his better operational characteristics, lower cost and less load on the foundation. Walls built using this material can be twice as thin and still maintain the same thickness. high level heat and sound insulation. The optimal ratio of voids is a proportion of 1 to 1, that is, to be about 50%.

Hollow brick laying, practically does not differ in any way from the laying of solid bricks, there are only some nuances that you should be aware of. To begin with, it is worth saying that a hollow brick has a volume of voids throughout its volume of at least 13%. Hollow ceramic brick used in the construction of both external walls and internal partitions, and is also used when carrying out facing works on finishing facades of buildings.

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Hollow brick masonry

If masonry hollow brick carried out on a newly built foundation (of course, after a set of design strength), then it is necessary to separate the foundation from future walls, for this it is necessary to perform waterproofing of the foundation. The choice of waterproofing materials in stores is sufficient, but you can also use bitumen and rolled roofing felt in two layers, or combine these two materials in layers. As a rule, in order to separate the foundation from the walls, waterproofing is laid out in a uniform layer around the entire perimeter of the foundation. To level the base and improve adhesion to the base, for laying the first row of hollow bricks, a mortar is laid out on the waterproofing and leveled with a trowel.

Hollow brick laying

The laying of hollow bricks always starts from the corners, for laying which only whole hollow bricks should be used. In order to ensure the setting of the mortar used for masonry, it is recommended to wet the bricks in water, because if the water from the mortar passes into the bricks before the mortar begins to set, then the reliability of such masonry can be doubted. After the first few bricks are laid out at the corners, it is necessary to check their correct leveling and, if necessary, correct it.

An important point regarding the laying of brick walls is that it is initially necessary to lay out exactly the corners, 3-4 rows of hollow bricks, the laying of which should be alternate. After laying each row of bricks, it is necessary to use building level, to check the horizontal and vertical level of the brickwork of hollow bricks. Between the erected corners, a rope is pulled, focusing on which the rest of the bricks of the entire row are laid out. cement mortar applied immediately to the entire row, when bricks are laid on the mortar, they must be installed on the mortar and pressed against it. In order for the seams between the bricks (both horizontal and vertical) to be beautiful and the same everywhere, special spacers are used.

There are also different types hollow bricks, for example, which have special cutouts on the sides, which provides a more reliable and simplified laying of hollow ceramic bricks.

Brick houses have many advantages over houses made of other materials. Firstly, brick houses are very durable and can serve the owner for more than a hundred years. In addition, their important advantage is that brick houses resist fire well. But brick houses also have certain disadvantages. For example, the rather high thermal conductivity of brick walls. In this article we will consider what should be the thickness of the walls of a brick house.

If you rely on facts, then the thickness of the walls of a house built in middle lane Russia, should be at least 50-55 cm. And this is in the case of using solid bricks. If we turn to SNiP, then according to it the thickness of the brick wall should not be less than 70 cm.

brick wall

Hollow brick wall thickness

How to be? After all, the construction of a brick wall with a thickness of more than a meter will cost a round sum at today's prices for building materials. In addition, in addition to the costs of buying bricks, additional costs will be added to strengthen the foundation, because with such a wall thickness, the house will be much heavier.

Alternatively, thermal insulation or hollow bricks can be used. When building a house from hollow brick, a wall thickness of about 38-43 cm will be sufficient. Given that a hollow brick weighs less than a solid brick, the cost of the device can be greatly reduced. However, the strength of a house made of hollow bricks will be lower than that of a solid one.

The strength of a brick wall must also be taken into account when calculating the thickness of the walls. For example, internal load-bearing walls should not be thinner than 25 cm. For internal brick partitions that are not load-bearing, the thickness should be at least a brick placed on the edge (6.5 cm). In addition, if the length of the partition is more than 1.5 m, it is necessary to further strengthen it by making reinforcement with wire.

Wall insulation

Additional costs for building materials, as well as for the subsequent heating of the house, can be avoided if you think over the thermal insulation of the walls of the house in advance. There are several types of wall insulation:

• External thermal insulation. Thermal insulation is laid outside the wall, tightened with a mesh, then plastered, finished facing material or painted;
• Well masonry. In this case, the heat-insulating layer is located inside the wall;
• Internal insulation. A very rarely used method that is not recommended by experts;

External thermal insulation of a brick wall

In this case, the thickness of the wall will not be calculated from the method of insulation, but from the thermal insulation properties and strength of the material used to build the wall. Let's note one more important point– calculation of the dew point. For some heaters, for example, mineral wool, it is highly undesirable if the dew point is inside the thermal insulation layer. In this case, the thermal insulation properties of the insulation will be significantly reduced.

Of course, houses built of brick have not only an attractive appearance, but also provide comfortable conditions residence. However, before you start any construction, you should learn more about this popular building material. So, for example, many people are concerned about the question of what constitutes an ideal brick and what is the difference between a hollow brick and its full-bodied "brother". It is clear that there is no perfect brick, each brick, depending on its properties, is ideal in its own way for solving certain problems.

Where is hollow brick used

Of course, today it is mainly used in construction. The use of hollow bricks in construction is associated with its operational characteristics: lightness and excellent thermal insulation. In turn, the presence of voids makes it possible to reduce the cost of bricks, and in the conditions of the Russian climate, the thickness of the walls plays a particularly important role. In addition, hollow brick masonry makes it possible to reduce the load on the foundation.

Walls built using hollow bricks can be 2 times thinner than walls built using solid bricks. At the same time, a high level of sound and heat insulation will be maintained. However, the number of voids can also be different. So, for example, the optimal ratio is 1:1, that is, the number of voids should be approximately 50%. It is believed that brick with thin slots is more effective in construction.

Reference: slots in a brick can have completely different shape. Most often, narrow rectangular openings are found in slotted bricks. The small width of the slot ensures that all useful properties brick, since in this case the probability of penetration of masonry mortar into it is reduced. It should be remembered that with an increase in the number and size of voids, the strength of the brick decreases. The smallest number of slots in a hollow brick is 13%, and the largest is 50%. The average size of the slots is 35%.

What is a solid brick for?

Solid brick in its popularity is much inferior to hollow. However, in terms of its strength, it noticeably surpasses its “opponent”. In this regard, solid brick is widely used today for laying the foundation, in the construction of columns or basement floors, as well as in the construction of various load-bearing elements. Solid brick is also widely used in the laying of fireplaces, stoves and chimneys.

The secrets of the right choice

When choosing a solid brick for construction, special care should be taken, since your safety will be directly related to its quality. It's no secret that a good brick can be recognized by its red-brown color and characteristic ringing when struck. Thus, if you have a mustard or black sample in front of you, it is better to immediately refuse the services of this company. The same should be done if you see any cracks or chips in the brick.

In high-quality solid brick, the void volume should not exceed 13%, since this characteristic directly affects the water absorption coefficient (at least 8%). In turn, if there are absolutely no voids in a solid brick, the interior of the object built with its use will not be protected from temperature changes (too high thermal conductivity will “release” heat).

Thus, the choice of one or another type of brick directly depends on the features of the structures (whether it is a load-bearing wall, whether you want the room to remain warm or this indicator does not matter much to you), and experienced consultants will always help you decide on the final option. .