Civil Engineering Today

  Bricks   Bricks can be defined as artificial stones which are usually made of clay. These are obtained by moulding clay in rectangular blocks and then by drying and burning these blocks. One of the oldest building material brick continues to be a most popular and leading construction material because of being cheap, durable and easy to handle and work with. Clay bricks are used for building-up exterior and interior walls, partitions, piers , footings  and other load bearing structures. Brick may be made of burnt clay or mixture of sand and lime or of Portland cement concrete. Clay bricks are commonly used since these are economical and easily available. Size of a standard brick (also known as modular brick) should be 190 mm × 90 mm × 90 mm (19 × 9 × 9 cm). When placed in masonry  the 19 × 9 × 9 cm brick with mortar  becomes 20 × 10 × 10 cm. Weight of such a brick is 3.0 kg. An indent called frog, 1–2 cm deep, is provided for 9 cm high bricks. The size of frog ...