Making facing bricks at home. Making home bricks: affordable ways to stock up on building materials

Brick is one of the best and most common building materials today. It is used by both private builders and professional companies. There are small and large enterprises who are engaged in the manufacture and sale of these products. You too can create own business, which will satisfy your requirements and also become a source of income. However, to obtain high-quality bricks, it is necessary to comply technical specifications and stick to the manufacturing process. Making bricks at home does not require the use of expensive equipment. As the most important condition stands proper preparation raw materials.

Manufacturing Features

The forms can be boards that are pre-knocked together. Subsequently, raw materials are placed in them. Forms should be made of such dimensions that the finished product matches the dimensions and appearance traditional brick, which has dimensions within 25x12x6.5 cm. The lid will allow for compaction of raw materials that fit into molds. Brick production will be faster if you make several templates.

Work technology

The inside of the mold must be moistened or sprinkled with dry cement in advance. Next, the prepared solution is laid. As you fill the mold, you need to compact the mixture so that all the corners and voids are filled. Excess solution should be removed with a spatula. Next comes the turn of the lid, which is placed on top. On next stage a certain time is waited, after which you need to turn the mold over and remove the resulting semi-finished product. The room should be equipped with shelving under a canopy, on which bricks will be laid for drying. Natural shrinkage will occur within 15%. At this stage, it becomes a catalyst for the bringing together of substances in the mixture.

In this case, it is necessary to exclude exposure of the products to direct sun rays. Brick production is carried out in a well-ventilated room. Drying lasts from 7 to 14 days. It must be remembered that making bricks without firing is one of the fastest and simple methods obtaining the described building material. The only but important drawback is that the resulting products can only be used to form partitions indoors. This is due to the fact that humidity can have a destructive effect on them.

Area of ​​use of raw material

It will be possible to use raw material when arranging partitions and walls that will be located inside buildings. These can be buildings, as well as baths, which are used for economic purposes. However, it will be necessary to carry out waterproofing from the inside. Apply this material It is also possible when constructing permanent walls in buildings that have one floor. In this case, the roof must be wooden.

Brick firing

Making bricks at home involves firing at the next stage. This will allow you to get high-quality construction material. In conditions industrial enterprises Special ovens are used for this. Whereas when self-production you can construct a product that is made from available materials. To do this, prepare a depression of up to 0.5 meters in the ground. Above it, with a deviation from the bottom of 20 cm, should be installed metal barrel, which has no bottom. Holes should be made in the walls of the container in which the fittings are installed. On the resulting shelf you need to place semi-finished products that have been pre-dried. The top of the barrel is covered with a sheet of metal. A fire should be built in the prepared hole.

Nuances of firing

Brick production technology requires maintaining a certain temperature regime in order for the finished product to be of high quality. During the first eight hours, the temperature should be kept within 200 degrees. The firing process takes from 12 to 16 hours, during which the temperature must be maintained between 800 and 1000 degrees. Next 4 hours temperature regime should be gentle, from 500 to 600 degrees. Gradual adjustment of the temperature will allow you to achieve the desired result, eliminating the occurrence of cracks. You can make a fire using coal or wood. The filled container should be allowed to cool with the lid tightly closed. Only after this will it be possible to release the brick, checking its readiness.

Making large quantities of bricks

An installation for the production of bricks, or rather for firing, can be intended for a more impressive amount of building materials. To do this, set up a stove using a container. Its shape should resemble a structure, narrowed at the top. Raw material is placed in it and covered with sand or soil to provide thermal insulation. Afterwards, a fire is built inside, and the temperature should remain the same as that described above. Production is also possible at home. To do this, you will need to use a special machine that compresses the prepared mixture into a denser mass. There is no need to use electricity to operate. Then the process will be quite simple.

Alternative brick options

The production of clinker bricks involves the use of slightly more complex equipment. The products are formed using semi-dry pressing technology. At the same time, there is an opportunity to save energy. Used in production vacuum press, which is sometimes replaced by a lever one. In some cases, masters use tape installation. After the blank is formed, the brick is sent for drying. For this purpose, special electric fireplaces are used that maintain a high temperature. The most important raw material is refractory clay. It is characterized by plasticity and a high temperature threshold. When preparing a solution, metal oxides or minerals that belong to the kaolin group are added to the ingredients. This allows you to obtain stronger products.

Making ceramic bricks

Production ceramic bricks at home involves the preparation of raw material, its formation, as well as subsequent extraction in a quarry; it is not suitable in its original form for the formation of high-quality bricks. The mass is brought to readiness, during which processing activities are carried out. This may be natural or mechanical influence. At the drying stage, the percentage of moisture content in the products decreases to 6%. This indicator is needed to ensure that cracks do not form during firing and also does not deform. finished products. If chamber dryers are used, they will be able to provide temperatures ranging from 120 to 150 degrees. Depending on the moisture content of the raw material, as a rule, this stage takes no more than 3 days. The final stage is firing. To implement it, ring or tunnel furnaces will be needed.

Production of sand-lime brick

Production sand-lime brick involves the use of autoclave synthesis. In order to make one unit of material, 9 parts will be needed quartz sand, which is pre-sifted, additives, as well as one part. The last component must be special.

There are a lot of people who want to make homemade clay bricks. After all, these products are in demand, which means there will be sales.

Today we will look at how to make a clay brick yourself. This process is quite labor-intensive, but once you set up production you will not be left without money. Also in the video in this article and photos you will find a lot additional information which will help set up production.

Production of your own bricks

Now let’s look at how to make bricks from clay point by point. This work requires attention and responsibility. In principle, everything can be done with your own hands.

To begin with, it’s better to just make a raw brick, it’s not a baked brick. And after that, we can begin to produce full-fledged ceramic material.

Preliminary preparation

When thinking about how to make a brick from clay, first of all you need to start from the raw materials and place of manufacture. At the beginning of the process, it is necessary to decide on the location of production, preferably if there are clay deposits nearby.

The place of production must meet a number of requirements:

• It must be dry, not subject to floods and it is desirable that groundwater didn't rise too much.
• After determining the location, you should acquire tools, namely shovels, picks, crowbars, garden shears and pitchforks, and most importantly, carts for transporting raw materials. In order to produce one thousand finished products, you will need two and a half cubic meters of raw materials.
• Having decided on the place of extraction, you should clear the place of bushes, small trees and excess soil. Having completed this stage of preparation, routes for the delivery of raw materials to the production site are arranged. Next, shovels are used, a kind of trench is dug, with a convenient access route.
• Depending on the condition of the soil, its density or frozen state, they are determined with the tools for work., these are either shovels or crowbars with picks. The finished raw material is loaded onto a cart, separated from the shovel, if it is too sticky and viscous, using a fork.
• Access roads and all the way to the raw material dump site for ease of transportation, laid out as necessary with boards.
• Peculiar pyramids are formed from clay, no more than a meter in height and from a meter to one and a half meters at the base. You should not pile one large pile; it is better to form several at some distance from each other.

Clay preparation

Extracted clay in itself is not suitable material, it requires careful sampling and processing, as well as testing for fat content. First, all foreign inclusions, such as stones, pieces of soil and other debris, and especially limestone, are removed.

Attention: Limestone will greatly interfere with the firing of clay in the future, if it is needed, as it forms defects in the structure of the finished brick.

So:

• Before making bricks, a preliminary test is carried out with a small amount of clay., approximately the size of a half-liter jar in volume. The raw materials are diluted with a small volume of water and the resulting mass is kneaded with your hands without using any tools.
• A well-kneaded mass will begin to stick to your hands, which means that the dough has been obtained. A simple lump of 4-5 centimeters and a 10 centimeter pancake is molded from it. After which it is left for several days from 2 to 3.
• The appearance of defects on products indicates excessive fat content or, conversely, excessively low fat content of the material, which means that the clay requires additives. The ball must withstand a fall from at least a meter height and not crumble or crack.
• In the event that cracks appear or the ball does not pass the test, after adding additives and re-manufacturing the probes, the test is repeated until a satisfactory result is obtained.

Attention: A lump of excessively oily clay will crack if it falls, otherwise it will disintegrate into dust. Correction is carried out either by mixing two types of clay or with sand. Only raw materials that have passed all tests are ideal for production.

Brick shape

To begin with, we will look at how to make raw brick from clay. It will not need to be fired, but the price of the product will not be high.

It's all about firing; if you do it, then the costs will increase. But that will be after you learn how to shape it. Homemade bricks made from clay, they begin with giving the desired shape.

• A matrix of two to two-and-a-half centimeter boards is formed on a sheet of plywood. The boards are nailed to the plywood with long nails. Matrix cells must meet several qualities. Be the same size and approximately fifteen percent larger than the finished brick in size, due to shrinkage of the material.
• In order to better fit mass into cells, protrusions in the form of cones are formed in them to create cavities in the brick. All this is done using the same plywood from which the lid with special protrusions is made.
• The walls of the cells are sprayed with water and sprinkled with cement, otherwise you risk simply not being able to remove the finished product from it. The wet mass is carefully distributed throughout the cell, shaking periodically, to distribute it evenly over the entire area.
• Excess material is cut off with a tool moistened so that the clay does not stick. Then the matrix is ​​closed and left for a while. After which the floor finished goods air dried.

Removing and unloading bricks

Water evaporation occurs gradually, from the center of the product to its outer part. Natural gradual drying in air strengthens the structure of the brick.

The drying itself is carried out under a canopy, and in order to avoid getting wet, you should always have something to cover them with. The place for the bricks is also prepared by creating a bed of sand.

• The litter will prevent both sticking and damage to the workpieces, but its main role is to ensure that the workpiece dries as evenly as possible. On average, it will take 8 to 10 days for a brick to dry properly. Most of During this period of time, water will leave the semi-finished product, but in order to achieve complete evaporation of moisture, firing will be required.
• The dried brick is removed and you can start laying, but raw brick is used only for interior work. This brick is very weak to moisture. When working with it, you should be very careful about protecting it from moisture. To do this, the seams of the masonry are tied.
• Openings for windows and doors are located at least one and a half meters from the corners of the room, and the roof should hang down by at least 60 centimeters, protecting the wall from precipitation.
• A completely dried wall made of such bricks must be lined with siding or baked brick.
• For production facing bricks, you will need a floor-standing oven for periodic or temporary operation. The firing itself does not take place in one stage, but in several steps.

Batch Type Floor Furnace

The place for the furnace is prepared in accordance with the same conditions as the production site, that is, it should not be subject to precipitation and floods, and so that the groundwater does not rise too much. Some high ground in the area is ideal for this.

Attention: When starting to build a furnace, you should decide on the scale of your production. For one and a half thousand products you will need a furnace one and a half meters wide, about two meters long, and at the top of the masonry from one and a half to eighty meters. The thickness of one brick is quite enough for such an adobe stove.

• The ceiling is being installed on metal base so that each row of vault brick rests either on steel strips or on a metal frame.
• The arch above the masonry in the center should rise no less than 30-35 centimeters, and the oven chamber should be a through passage half a meter wide and 0.4 meters high. Along the entire passage, on both sides, ledges are made at a height of a quarter of a meter, for future grates when burning coal. If you are going to use only firewood, grates are not required.
• The fireplace is provided with a small square door approximately 40 by 40 centimeters, and the stove roof must be equipped with chimneys for smoke exit with a cross-section of 25 by 28 centimeters.
• If you know for sure that you will only heat with peat or brown coal, then the holes can be made somewhat smaller, about 25 by 15 centimeters, and equipped with lids for supplying fuel. The height of the pipe should be up to 5 meters, and its cross-section should be 40 by 40 centimeters.
• The pipe is placed behind the stove itself, and is connected to it by a chimney in the rear wall. Temporary holes are left exactly in the middle for viewing; later they are removed by covering them with clay. Optimal choice During laying there will be a clay-sand mortar; only a small part of the wall in front is laid without mortar, because it will be periodically disassembled to cut the cage.

Burning

Now let's look at how to make baked clay bricks. At the end of the masonry, the wall is thoroughly coated with clay. Very well dried semi-finished products are placed in the oven chamber.

So:

• The laying is not carried out evenly, but with a gradual increase in the clearance between the rows, as it moves away from the firebox. The distance between the first rows, therefore, should be approximately one and a half centimeters, and between subsequent rows should be around two and a half centimeters.
• Laying methods can vary, so bricks can be laid first in a lattice, and then in a herringbone pattern and vice versa.

Attention: The main thing is that all products are completely fumigated during the combustion process and even the edges should not be left without smoke. The gap between the bricks in the cage and the walls of the furnace surface should be no more than two and a half centimeters.

• After you have completed laying the semi-finished bricks, you should begin the firing process itself. Fuel for firing is preferable in the form of brushwood or wood.
• The firing process should begin very slowly and little by little adding fuel with not the most high temperature combustion.
• At first, the brick is not fired, but dried, and all remaining water is evaporated from it. You can get an idea of ​​the evaporation process by looking at the water droplets on the topmost rows; on average, drying the raw material takes 10-12 hours.
• Having finished this, they begin to heat up the furnace, add fuel with a higher combustion temperature to the firebox, or heat it much more intensely. As the brick warms up, it will gradually change its color to a darker shade of red. Warming up lasts no more than 9 hours.
• At the end of warming up, it is necessary to increase the amount of fuel and heat it in such a way that the fire comes out. At the moment when flames begin to flicker at the top of the stove, the rows below will become yellow, located at the top are not too bright red tones. That's it - now the stove is left to cool.
• The oven chamber is hermetically sealed with brick and coated with clay, and the top is carefully sprinkled with a thick layer of 10-15 centimeters, always with dry earth or simple brick dust. After about 6 hours, the stove is opened and left to cool completely naturally.
• Now the oven has cooled down and the final stage of obtaining the finished brick begins. The wall in front of the stove is carefully disassembled and the cage is cut from above. The finished brick is moved with a selection of the most quality product, it is stacked in separate stacks.

Attention: Lesser quality products, not fully fired, are used only where the load on the structure is least large.

You already know how to make a brick from clay. There is nothing particularly complicated.

The main points will be the work space and the clay. If it is far away, then the cost of raw materials will increase. Therefore, it is better to do it not far from the quarry. The instructions will help you not to make mistakes and do everything correctly.

Construction Materials

Brick firing at home - we do it quality material

From the author: Hello, dear readers! When thinking about firing bricks at home, you immediately imagine images of huge production premises, hot ovens, hard work of workers, but not everything is so scary! You will be surprised, but it is possible to organize the production of clay bricks at home.

To begin with, you can make a batch for your needs, get your teeth in, so to speak - work out the technology, improve quality and optimize processes. If things go well, then nothing will stop you from opening your own business, since brick is always an excellent building material, and there will always be demand for it.

Criteria for selecting quality clay

You need to start by determining the place of “mining” or purchasing the main material for brick production - clay. The most important thing is to find exactly the “right” material! It’s great if you own land or a quarry and there are deposits of valuable material on them, but what if not? We go to the construction base and carefully study the characteristics of the clay, its fat content, because the quality of the resulting brick depends on this.

It’s quite easy to check for yourself whether the clay you find is the right fat content. It is best to take samples of material from several sites or places of sale; approximately half a kilogram will be enough.

Why do we need a small amount? Add a little water to each sample and mix thoroughly. The clay should absorb water and begin to stick to your hands - at this point you can complete the process. From the prepared mass, make balls with a diameter of about 50 mm and cakes with a diameter of 100 mm. We leave them in a well-ventilated area or outside under a canopy and dry them for 2-3 days. It is clear that such actions must be performed with each clay sample.

Now we can start evaluating our samples:

• if cracks appear on the balls and cakes, you will have to add sand during the brick production process; your clay has increased fat content;
• if there are no cracks, the ball must be thrown effortlessly from a height of 1 m. If it does not collapse, it means the clay is of optimal fat content;
• When the ball scatters, we can conclude that lean clay was used for the sample; in this case, you will have to add fatty clay.

Additional components (sand or fatty clay), depending on the characteristics of your material, should be added in portions, constantly checking the quality of the finished mass. In general, the greater the plasticity of the clay, the easier it is.

Advice: Samples and tests must be continued until the optimal composition of the mass is found.

To achieve good plasticity, dry material is poured into containers with water and left in this state for some time, periodically adding new portions of material and mixing the composition. Freezing clay during the cold winter months also helps to increase plasticity.

After soaking, the solution must sit for about three days.

Important: In the process, you cannot use clays with admixtures of stones, pebbles, soil and carbonates (white components larger than 1 mm in size).

Raw brick production

There are two methods for producing bricks from clay:

• unfired (so-called raw brick);
• burned.

Made using technology and from good clay, unfired building material can compete almost equally with fired construction material. It is successfully used in the construction of small buildings on the site: one-story buildings, ancillary buildings - sheds, saunas, etc. Let's look at the method of producing raw bricks.

Making molds (manual and mechanical)

The first option is to make it using improvised means. We will need those that need to be made, usually these are the dimensions of an ordinary brick 250x120x62 mm. The material for them can be boards with a thickness of about 25 mm; it will also be necessary to use additional sheets of plywood.

The inner surface of the mold is smooth. To form voids in the brick, the lids must be made with protrusions. The protrusions are made with a slope to facilitate the process of removing the finished product.

The components of the mold are nailed together with nails 50–60 mm long, ensuring free removal of the top cover. We recommend making several identical molds - this will intensify your small production.

The second option - if you are planning a large-scale construction project, then it is better to rent a machine for quick and efficient production bricks

We wet the inner parts of the molds with water before loading the mixture, and then sprinkle them with fine dust or cement - this will make it much easier to remove the products. Fill the molds, shaking occasionally so that the mixture fills the entire volume. The protruding excess is cut off with any convenient metal device.

Closing the mold with the top lid, let it sit for some time. We remove the lid, turn the mold over and, carefully lifting it up, remove the contents to the platform for drying.

Drying

Drying workpieces is a rather complex and important process. They should be dried on racks that have a canopy to protect the blocks from solar radiation and precipitation.

If drying is carried out in a utility room, for example, in a barn, then the material must be kept indoors for three days, and then ventilation must be organized.

If you plan to dry outside, then first prepare the area for placing the brick - you need to make wood flooring or backfill the site with dry sand. As the liquid evaporates, the workpieces shrink, resulting in a loss of up to 15% of the original volume.

Important: The outside air temperature when drying outside should be at least 10 o C.

The duration of drying can be influenced by many atmospheric factors: temperature, humidity and the speed of movement of air masses. The process is long and can last from 6 to 15 days. The unfired brick is ready, you can begin construction work.

Important: The resistance of bricks obtained in this way to water is very low. This must be taken into account when constructing buildings.

Is it possible to secure such a brick? There are a number standard methods which help protect the material from moisture:

• the roof overhang must be at least 0.6 m long;
• door and window openings must be located at a distance of at least 1.5 m from the corners of buildings;
• the seams of the masonry must be well tied;
• finished walls must be plastered; they can also be lined with other modern building materials.

Burnt brick manufacturing technology

The time has come to tell you how to get fired ordinary brick from raw brick. This technology is much more difficult, and at home a more serious approach and preparation is required. However, it is quite possible to produce small batches, for example, for completing construction or cladding a house. Actually, the firing of blanks occurs in 3 steps:

• warming up (warming up);
• burning;
• cooling is under control.

The quality of the manufactured brick depends on many factors: heating time and rate of temperature rise, final firing temperature, duration of exposure to this temperature and cooling rate.

Now we will get acquainted in detail with the technology of firing blanks, describing each process step by step.

Burning

First you need to prepare a metal container into which the unfired workpieces will be loaded. Alternatively, you can take a large-volume iron barrel (200–250 l). The bottom needs to be removed.

The barrel is placed on a stove without a top (hotplate) or on a fire. If you decide to heat it over a fire, it is better to light the fire in a pit at a depth of about 0.5 m, and place the container on legs 0.2 m long. This helps to distribute the temperature evenly and warm up the products, and it will be easier to control the fire.

The blanks are placed in the barrel layer by layer, but leaving short period between layers. After filling the barrel, you should cover it with an iron plate, which will not allow cold air to penetrate into the heated volume. Light the fire and heat the container for twenty hours.

Physics of the process

What happens inside the workpiece during firing? Our task is to obtain a sintered ceramic mass. This can happen at a temperature: for low-melting clays - about 900 o C, and for refractory clays - 1200 o C.

In this case, liquid evaporates from the workpiece - physically (hygroscopic) and chemically bound (hydrate). Also, all organic components burn out, carbonates partially decompose, clay minerals are destroyed, and the clay acquires an amorphous state and is evenly heated throughout the volume.

Cooling

This is the most important stage. A heated brick cannot tolerate rapid temperature changes and cold air, so it must cool gradually, without depressurization. To do this, the temperature is regulated by reducing the fire in the firebox.

If you violate this recommendation, the entire batch may be damaged - the brick will become covered with cracks and collapse. Such material is definitely not suitable for construction. Gradually bring the temperature to approximately 650 o C, only after this the process can be accelerated a little, but the container should be opened after complete cooling, after about five hours.

The brick is ready, and at the end we definitely check the quality of the resulting material. When the material has completely cooled, tap the sample with a hammer - the sound should be clear. Then break it into pieces: the brick made using the technology will be identical in color and structure when broken. Next, these parts should be placed in a container of water for several hours. During this time they should not collapse or change color.

A brick obtained at home, of course, will not be able to fully correspond to the factory one. But, if you need a small batch of material, or there are not enough elements to complete the construction, then this will be good decision Problems.

Construction never stops - it is little affected by the crisis and weather conditions. People have built and will continue to build, because the need for housing for a growing population is not going away. Used to build walls various materials, and one of them is clay brick.

Since it is in great demand every day, its prices are also high. The manufacturer can raise the cost quite significantly, since the client will always need to buy a brick - without it, construction is impossible. So it turns out that you have to spend a lot of money on building a house. However, there is an opportunity to significantly save money, because clay bricks can be made with your own hands at home. One person is quite capable of coping with this kind of task, but it will take a fair amount of time. You can do it yourself following types bricks:

• Ceramic, or red fired;
• raw, or red unfired;
• adobe – red unfired with the addition of straw.

What is needed for production

Before starting any work, you must collect necessary materials and tools. Without them, you will not be able to produce efficiently, so try to have all of the following at hand, namely:

• low-fat and fatty clay;
• clean sand;
• water;
• nails (you can also use self-tapping screws);
• boards;
• straw;
• cement;

And so, we have everything from which bricks will be made. But nothing will work without tools. Therefore, prepare:

• kneading container;
• shovel;
• hammer;
• construction trowel;
• hacksaw;
• hammer;
• tandoor for roasting.

The right preparation process

Since the most important element of a brick is clay, it must be excellent quality and without any impurities. Fortunately, finding clay is quite easy, because it is distributed almost everywhere in our latitudes. But if there is no way to get the mineral yourself, then buying it will not hurt your wallet. In any case, it is much cheaper than buying ready-made bricks.

If you decide to make adobe without firing, then it is important to take care of the straw in advance. There is no fundamental difference here - it can be made from almost any plant: wheat, rye, barley, oats and others. The main thing to take care of is to choose good, not rotten straw and chop it, because coarse straw is not suitable for a small brick.

Production

It is recommended to produce bricks according to their standard sizes. According to the standards, the length reaches 25 cm, the width is 12.5 cm, and the height is no more than 6.5 cm. Once the molds are made, it is necessary to wet the walls with water and lightly sprinkle with cement - this will make it easier to remove the almost finished brick from the molds.

To make the dough, mix sand, clay and water (straw if necessary). Once the dough is ready, fill the molds with it. Check that the future brick fills all corners and crevices. After this, you need to level the top with a trowel and press the shapes.

You need to let the composition harden a little. As soon as you notice that the brick has hardened, you need to turn the mold over and it will usually fall out easily. At this stage it is not ready yet - there is a long drying procedure ahead.

As a rule, it takes from 6 to 15 days - it all depends on weather conditions and air humidity. The higher the temperature, the faster the brick will be ready for use. Very important advice: Do not attempt to dry in direct sunlight. This method can lead to the formation of cracks, and therefore it is better to dry in the shade.

Do not stack the bricks tightly together - there should be gaps between them through which air will circulate, which will significantly speed up the drying procedure. In addition, it is in this situation that drying will proceed evenly, which will have a positive effect on the strength of the finished product.

Always be prepared that as a result of drying, your brick will decrease in volume by approximately 15% - it’s all about moisture loss. In the future, he will continue to lose it, but will not change in size.

So, do you think you've already made a good building material? But this is not the final stage - it is important to check its quality. This can be done using a simple, but effective way. We just take one of the bricks and simply break it into two parts. We look at it over its entire thickness: if the clay has the same color everywhere, then the drying was uniform. If you see any differences, then the brick has not dried completely. Using it in construction, after some time cracks will be noticeable, and ultimately everything will lead to complete destruction of the building.

Burning

If you want to make the material as durable as possible, it must be fired. Fortunately, a homemade stove (tandoor) can be built at home using an ordinary iron barrel without a bottom. It must be placed on brickwork and make a fire. The brick is placed in the barrel itself and the fire is not allowed to go out for a whole day. You cannot cool it yourself after this time - wait until it cools down on its own for 5 hours.

At first glance, making bricks yourself seems like an unrealistic idea.

Before filling the forms, they must be slightly moistened with inside water and sprinkle with fine dust or cement. This will make it easier to remove the workpieces. The clay dough is laid out in molds and shaken thoroughly so that the solution fills all the corners. Excess dough is removed with a metal plate. Then the top cover is applied and, after a short wait, it is removed. On the rack, turn the mold over and remove the workpiece.

This is not an easy and most responsible process. As the moisture evaporates, the particles in the workpiece are brought closer together by surface tension forces, and the volume of the brick decreases. Shrinkage has a certain limit - up to 15%. After which the volume reduction does not occur, although the physically bound water does not yet have time to completely evaporate. For drying, it is best to use a rack with a canopy or under a canopy. It is important here that the brick blanks are not exposed to direct sunlight and at the same time are well ventilated. The drying time depends on the temperature, humidity and mobility of the outside air and takes up to natural conditions from 6 to 15 days. Making bricks without firing (raw brick) is ready.

The water resistance of manufactured raw bricks is low, so walls made from it must be well protected from moisture. What can be done for this
undertake:

• provide a length of roof overhang of at least 600 mm.,
• carefully bandage the seams of the masonry,
• window and door openings should be located no closer than 1.5 m from the corner,
• after final drying, plaster the walls, line them with baked bricks or siding.

Now about making baked or ordinary red bricks. Firing raw bricks in order to obtain fired bricks is a complex technological process.
process, and its implementation at home is not very rational. However, small batches can be fired yourself for cladding a house.

Firing can be divided into 3 stages:

• warming up,
• actually, firing,
• adjustable cooling.

Raw brick firing can be carried out in a regular 200-250 liter iron barrel with cut out bottoms, placed on an iron stove without a top
or at the stake. When using a fire, it is better to place the fire pit in a hole 400-500 mm deep, and place the barrel on legs 200 mm high. – this will ensure more uniform heating, and it will become more convenient to maintain the fire. The bricks are laid one on top of the other with a small gap. After filling the barrel, it is covered with a metal shield to prevent the entry of cold air. The fire in the stove or fire is maintained for 18-20 hours. The firing mode is selected experimentally.

What happens to raw bricks during firing? During this period, hygroscopic (physically bound) and hydrate (chemically bound) water is removed from the fired brick, carbonates are partially decomposed, organic impurities are burned, and the entire mass placed in the barrel is evenly heated. In this case, clay minerals are destroyed, and the clay turns into an amorphous state. At a temperature of 800-1000 degrees for low-melting clays and at 1150-1200 degrees for refractory clays, the mass sinteres and a ceramic shard is formed.

The loaded barrel with bricks should cool gradually, with the lids closed. Temperatures can be adjusted by reducing the fire of the fire or stove. The process of cooling bricks after firing is one of the most crucial moments. Freshly fired brick does not tolerate sudden changes in temperature and access to cold air. Allow this to happen and cracks will form. The temperature is reduced slowly, and only after bringing it to 650 degrees, the process
can be accelerated. The barrel is opened only after complete cooling - after 4-5 hours.

The work is completed and you can check the quality of the manufactured bricks. Split the cooled brick into two halves. Well-burnt brick on a fault has the same color and structure. Fill the debris with water and let it sit for several hours. Once wet, the fired brick should not be distinguished or destroyed.

The description is complete, the material may be useful to those who are interested in the following questions:
making bricks, brick making technology, brick making methods, making clay bricks, making bricks without firing.

Making a brick at home

Making bricks at home

Material kindly provided by the site: http://green-dom.info/building-your-own-house/brick-production-at-home-conditions/ We recommend!