Facing brick is deservedly one of the most famous facing building materials.
With its help, you can solve any design, architectural and artistic tasks of almost any level of complexity, both in the construction of new buildings and structures, and in the arrangement of the facades of old houses, the creation of various objects in landscape design.
Throughout the history of the existence of construction, which has more than 50 centuries, brick is considered the main building material used as a wall material. For a long time it was used exclusively as a building material for building walls. At present, modern innovative brick production technologies make it possible to create not just a packaged building material, but a brick with a rich variety of colors, shapes and textures, which opens up unlimited and original possibilities for implementing various ideas in facade decoration and construction. The facing brick possesses high durability to destructions, durability, frost resistance. The facade of the building, laid out of facing bricks, does not require special care; for many years it will delight with its excellent appearance, external attractiveness and beauty, brightness and durability of colors. In its appearance, the facing brick differs from the ordinary one in a better front (external) surface, the correctness of the geometry of the shape and the uniformity of color.
The front surface can be made with or without a decorative pattern, have a rough or smooth surface, have a corrugated or chipped structure. Facing bricks can be produced both hollow and full-bodied, can have the shape of both a regular trapezoid and a figured one (round, with cut corners, triangular, etc.).
Facing brick, depending on the manufacturing technology and production method, is divided into: ceramic, hyperpressed and silicate.
All facing ceramic bricks are made exclusively from high quality clay with special additives, molded (automatically or manually), dried in special ovens, and then fired at high temperatures (about 1000 – 1100 ° C).
Facing hyper-pressed brick is made from natural material (shell limestone) according to a special technology using the semi-dry hyper-pressing method. In its raw form, the material has high porosity and excellent plasticity; under the action of high pressure (within 60 – 90 MPa), it is possible to obtain a facing brick with an ideal geometry of shapes and minimal deviations in size (no more than 0.5 mm), as well as with a smooth glossy the surface of all its planes.
Facing silicate brick in its composition has about 90% sand, 10% lime and a small amount of special additives. The technology for the production of silicate facing bricks is as follows: the prepared lime-sand mixture (quartz sand, burnt lime and water) is placed in a special autoclave oven, in which a silicate compound (silicate brick) is formed under the influence of high temperature and overpressure. In the production of colored silicate bricks, special alkali-resistant and weather-resistant pigments are introduced into this mixture.
It does not matter what material the facing brick is made of, the requirements for its quality are equally high, since it is the facing brick that is affected by extreme temperature changes, direct solar radiation, precipitation, etc. It should have low moisture absorption (less than 6%), high frost resistance (from 50 cycles), high strength (from 25 MPa), as well as optimal density (in the region of 1600 kg / m2 – for hollow, 1950 kg / m2 – for solid, 2000 kg / m2 – for hand-molded bricks) and low thermal conductivity (0.5 – 0.7 W / mS). These parameters will allow houses built from this brick to be reliable, resistant to various atmospheric effects, and maintain an attractive appearance for a long time. Currently, the color range offered by facing brick manufacturers contains a wide variety of shades and colors, ranging from white to dark colors (including black). All facing bricks undergo the strictest testing for compliance with the requirements of existing standards and GOSTs related to quality, size, shape, cracks and voids. The front side of the facing brick on its surface should not contain even the slightest defects (cracks, spalls, etc.). In the production of facing bricks, deviations from overall dimensions are also not allowed, so the deviation in length should be no more than -4.4 mm, in width – -3.3 mm, in thickness – -2.3 mm. The sides of the brick must be strictly perpendicular. It is allowed to break off no more than one of the corners (within 5 – 15 mm). Specific size