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Bricks & Pavers - Australia's low maintenance building materials. Inspiring home designs & information.
Brick Manufacture: How bricks are Made
As our simplest and most ancient building material, bricks have enjoyed widespread and ongoing popularity, due largely to their decorative and load-bearing properties, exceptional durability and economy. This is enhanced by the fact that bricks do not require any surface treatment such as paint to maintain their appearance or durability. Under most conditions a well-fired brick will last almost indefinitely.
Clay pavers are also widely appreciated for their aesthetics, flexibility and durability and are produced using the same method.
Most Australian bricks are standardised at 230 x 110 x 76 mm (nominal size) and weigh about 3 to 4 kilograms.
Bricks are made from a wide range of clays and shales with an extremely fine particle size. These clays contain many different minerals that influence the final colour of the fired brick. For example clays with a 3 percent iron content give white to cream or buff colours which change to pink and red as the iron content rises to 8percent to 10 percent. By adding 1 to 4 percent manganese dioxide, a range of grey and brown colours can be produced.
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Climate Control
Based on decades of climate data, our interactive wizard helps you plan the most climate friendly building for your location.
