Silicate brick. Weight and other parameters

Since mankind has learned to build walls and ceilings, and this process has been going on without stop for several thousand years, more reliable building material than brick, it has not yet invented it. The most common in building practice is ceramic red brick, but also silicate brick, whose weight is somewhat larger, also has its extensive field of application. By its composition and a number of parameters, it differs from red brick for better and worse.

Silicate brick: dimensions, weight and application features

First of all, this building material is different in composition. In contrast, the red ceramic silicate white brick is made from sand and lime by an autoclave method. Sometimes, by adding some mineral dyes, it is given decorative properties. The weight of silicate single brick varies from three to three and a half kilograms. The difference in weight is due to the heterogeneity of the raw materials and the moisture content. The one-and-a-half and double bricks differ only in one of the linear dimensions and are heavier one and a half and two times respectively. In the modern construction market, along with other types of bricks and building blocks, the consumer is offered a silicate brick, whose weight and strength properties make it the main structural material for the construction of bearing walls and supporting blocks of floors. For most mechanical parameters, silica brick is superior to ceramic brick. But the scope of its application is limited. From it, you can not erect walls of ground floors, in contact with the ground, as well as ovens and chimneys.

Economic forces

This type of brick is cheaper than others. It is this circumstance that forces silicate brick to be chosen from all possible building materials. Its weight is a minus at transportation, but a plus at building and installation works. The walls of sand-lime bricks are capable of carrying a significantly greater load. A complete rejection of the traditional red brick is not possible. But a reasonable substitution of it for silicate in places where this is possible and permissible, allows you to save significant financial resources and material resources.

Features of transportation and storage

Most often on those unloading and commercial sites where wholesale trade in building materials is carried out, silicate brick is purchased. Its weight should be taken into account when choosing transport. It is not a fact that one on-board machine is capable of taking the same amount of red and silicate bricks. Load capacity must match. In addition, silicate bricks require special storage conditions on the construction site. It must necessarily be isolated from precipitation in the form of rain and wet snow. A simple covering with a polyethylene film may not be enough. The optimal solution to the problem is the storage of sand-lime bricks under a special canopy.