When building a house, barn, extension, cellar, country house or gazebos you will definitely need a brick. This is a convenient building material, it does not wash out, does not burn, does not break, and has high term operation. Often, brickwork is used to insulate the outside of houses and sheds. However, such material is quite expensive. And here there is one option - making bricks at home. This is not difficult, but for a high-quality result you need to know the proportions and exact time of all necessary operations. To make red brick you need to perform the following operations:

• preparation of raw materials;
• raw material formation;
• drying future bricks;
• firing of bricks with the manufacture of a furnace.

Since the brick is red, therefore, clay is needed to make it.

Preliminary preparation of raw materials

To make bricks you need clay of medium fat content. The percentage is determined in this way: a kilogram of raw material is soaked in water and brought to such a consistency that it stops sticking to your hands. A small ball and circle are made. They dry in the shade for several days and then check. If there are cracks on the surface of the figures different sizes, which means that the raw materials need to be degreased. And if the figures are not cracked, then you need to throw the ball at a height of about 100 cm. If it remains intact, then everything is in order with the fat content of the clay. And if not, then the fat percentage is too low.

Bricks are usually made from pure clay. But very often particles are added that will burn out if fired. This can be very fine straw, sunflower husks, peat, and sawdust. But you need to ensure that all pieces of additives are no larger than 2-5 mm. Do not allow soil, small pebbles, any debris or carbonate to get into the brick mortar. It must be remembered that sand in the mixture should not be more than 4-5%, and additives in the form of sawdust and peat should not be more than 19-21%.

Already crushed clay mixed with additives is poured into a large, wide and shallow container. Gradually add water until the mixture is completely filled with water. After this, it is covered with a film or a piece of cloth moistened with water.

After 3-4 days, the solution must be checked for quality aging. For this procedure, take a piece of clay and roll it into a sausage with an approximate thickness of thumb. This sausage needs to be screwed onto a glass bottle. If it does not stick or crack to your hands and the bottle, then the mixture is ready.

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Molding: process features

For the next operation you need to make a mold. It can be metal or wood. With and without bottom. Boards for the form need 20 mm. But metal sheets are 3 mm.

As clay dries, it decreases in size. This means that to obtain a standard brick, the dimensions of the mold must exceed this:

1. Height: standard - 70 mm, shape - 80 mm.
2. Width: standard - 130 mm, shape - 140 mm.
3. Length: standard - 270 mm, shape - 290 mm.

For convenience, it is worth making a handle shape.

Hammer onto wood, rivet or weld onto metal. Convenient form without bottom. They put her on wooden base, sprinkled with a small layer of sand. Clay is placed inside, gradually compacting.

It is possible to produce bricks with piercing holes, the so-called slotted or hollow ones. To do this, you will additionally need a grid with holes of the same diameter as the core, and the core itself. A grid is placed in a mold with compacted clay and a core with six pistons is inserted. After this, the core is removed. The mold is raised, and only after that the grate is removed. If the form has a bottom, then sand is poured down and the solution is laid. The form is compacted and removed.

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The workpieces must dry at a temperature not lower than ten degrees Celsius. This process takes up to two weeks. The choice of drying location must be approached very responsibly. This should be a level area. Preferably ventilated, but with protection from external irritants.

Stacks of bricks must be protected from direct sunlight and rain. It is best to place stacks in plastic bags, sprinkling each row with dry river sand or sawdust. Top bricks dry faster.

At the end of drying, the middle brick is removed and broken in half. Dry brick inside is the same color. If dark spots there is, which means the raw materials still need to dry.

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Firing: highlights

The quality of future building material depends on proper firing, and good firing depends on a properly built kiln. Basically, there are different types of stoves: gas, electric and coal. Of course, you can’t create a gas stove at home that easily, and it’s dangerous. But electric or coal is possible. Electric ovens- the fruit of the master's imagination. For this you will need:

• iron box with a metal thickness of about 2-3 mm;
• pipes to fit the box, with a diameter of 15 mm;
• basalt wool;
• sheet metal 1-2 mm thick;
• fibrous refractory or fireclay brick;
• fire-resistant masonry mixture;
• cement;
• chrome wire or finished spiral;
• ceramic plate;
• switch with 5 contacts;
• thick cable;
• reinforced socket.

An old one can also serve as a box for the stove. washing machine or just an iron box in the form of a parallelepiped for firing. It needs to be placed on the narrow side so that one of the long sides serves as a door. The door is cut out. For elasticity to the bottom with outside pipes and legs are welded. You also need to weld pipes from the inside to the bottom, two at the edges and one in the middle.

Cotton wool is placed inside the box between the pipes and covered with sheet metal. Fireclay bricks need to be lightweight. There is also a heavy one, but it doesn’t fit here. It needs to be cut and adjusted to each other. Mix the refractory mixture with cement in a ratio of 2:1 and make a solution with water. On bottom sheet iron, a row of bricks is laid with a gap of no more than 0.5 cm. A layer of cotton wool and sheet iron are laid on the side walls.

Brick walls are raised and the ceiling is exposed. Hinges are welded on the wall where the door is supposed to be. Pipes or corners are welded onto a sheet of iron that has been removed along the edges of the furnace side. Basalt wool, iron sheet and fireclay bricks. The door is adjusted to the oven. Holes for air access are drilled on the top and side walls.

Now you need to cut grooves approximately 1 cm deep inside the oven. The spirals are placed in them. All of them are connected to one node on a ceramic tile screwed to the wall. And there should already be a switch on this tile. The connection must be made in accordance with all electrical rules. You can call a specialist.

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 labour 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 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! Great if you own land or a quarry and there are deposits on them valuable material, And 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 of? 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.

Inner surface the shape 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 is if you are planning a large-scale construction project, then it is better to rent a machine for fast and efficient brick production.

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 removing the products much easier. 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 quite 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 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 of standard methods that 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 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 metal container, where unfired blanks will be loaded. Alternatively, you can take iron barrel large volume (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 in layers, but leaving a small gap between the 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 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 the same 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.

Making bricks with your own hands

One of the most common and oldest building materials is brick. Essentially, a brick is fake diamond having rectangular shape. This shape is much more convenient for construction than the natural stone, from which they built before. The widespread use of bricks in construction was facilitated by the widespread distribution of the main raw material - clay and its high consumer properties, that is: high mechanical strength, durability, resistance to water, fire, atmosphere, and solar radiation. The easiest way is to buy a brick. The variety of bricks produced is now very large. But brick prices will NOT pleasantly surprise you. Therefore, if you want to save money, then do it at home.

Let's consider all the technologies for making bricks at home in order.

Preparation of raw materials for making bricks

Brick is made from pure clays or from clays with the addition of non-plastic materials and burnable additives (sand, fireclay, sawdust, peat, husks, finely chopped straw, etc.). Non-plastic clays, for example, silt, can be used as additives.
The greater the ductility, the easier it is to make bricks. The easiest way to achieve plasticity in clay is to let it sit in a moist state. In a good way increasing the plasticity of clay is its freezing in winter.
To prepare clay for brick production, the prepared and crushed raw materials are placed in a container (like a trough) and soaked in water, adding it gradually in 2-3 additions, with periodic stirring, until the clay is completely soaked.

Do not allow clay with inclusions of pebbles and small stones, cleared from the plant layer of soil, into the process, and also do not allow clay with white inclusions (carbonates) in the form of large particles larger than 1 mm in size.
After soaking, the clay is left to sit for at least 3 days, more is possible. long time, covering the trough with a damp cloth or plastic wrap.

After aging, the clay is checked for quality and suitability for molding, drying and firing. With normal working consistency, clay dough exhibits plastic and molding properties, retains its given shape without deformation and does not stick to hands or metal. As an example of an approximate determination of the quality of clay, the following can be given: clay is rolled up as thick as a finger and screwed onto a bottle. At the same time, it should not tear or have cracks, and also not smear throughout the bottle. The need for additives is determined by damage or cuts on the samples. These additives serve as a kind of strengthening “reinforcement”. Thus, up to 30% additives can be added to fatty clays.

For brick production It is better to take low-fat clays. Available additives include; river sand, sawdust, grain husks, peat chips, etc. Sand is used mainly to reduce the fat content of clay. The amount of sand added should not exceed 3 or 5%. Other fillers for brick bundles - no more than 20%. In this case, the particle size of additives is no more than 3-5 mm. The amount of additives is determined mainly by trial mixing and drying of raw samples.

It is advisable to test the fat content of the clay. This can be done different ways, here is the simplest of them.

To test clay for fat content, you will need 0.5 liters of extracted raw materials. You need to pour water into this clay and mix until the clay absorbs all the water and does not stick to your hands. From this mass to mold small ball, approximately 4-5 cm in diameter, and a cake with a diameter of about 10 cm. All this must be dried in the shade for 2-3 days.
After this, the cake and the ball are checked for strength. If there are cracks in them, then the clay is too oily and sand needs to be added to work with it. If there are no cracks, you need to throw the ball from a meter height. If it remains unharmed, this means that the clay is of normal fat content.
Excessively thin types of clay do not crack, but their strength leaves much to be desired, and therefore it is necessary to add clay of higher fat content to them. You need to mix clay or sand in small portions, in several stages, checking the quality of the composition after each mixing so as not to make a mistake and find the required proportions.

Previously cited detailed description making cinder blocks at home - for those who are interested in this topic.

Once the optimal proportions of the solution have been determined, it can be used to make bricks.

Molding

Brick molding is done by hand by placing clay in wooden or metal molds and then compacting it.

Forms can be collapsible or non-collapsible. The inner surface of the mold should have a smooth surface. A sketch of an approximate shape is shown in Fig. 1-a, 1-b. Before molding, the mold must be lubricated with oil, or whitewash (water with chalk), or simply moistened with water to prevent clay from sticking to the molds.

Metal mold for 1 brick

Wooden mold for 3 bricks

We must also remember that clay products decrease in size when dried and fired. This phenomenon is called air shrinkage - during drying and fire shrinkage - during firing. So, to mold an ordinary brick (250x120x65 mm), a mold of 260x130x75 mm is required.
You can make molds for several bricks at once in the form of a plate and then cut the plate into bricks the right size with a stretched string or metal tape, moistened with water. The form can be with or without a bottom. The forms are installed on a clean, flat surface. Sawdust or a small amount of sand is poured into the bottom of the mold. The prepared clay is placed into molds with a shovel and then compacted. As the mold shrinks, clay mass is added until the edges of the mold are filled. Excess clay from the mold is cut off with a smooth wooden or metal strip.
Next, the cut surface is smoothed and the molds are removed. If the plate is molded, it is cut into bricks. Then let the raw brick “dry” and send it for drying. Withering lasts one hour or 2 hours and is determined by the absence of indentations from the fingers when it is lifted. Rejects from molding should be re-entered into production.

Usage hot water When preparing clay, it accelerates the drying of raw materials.
The process of molding raw materials can be mechanized using a simple screw press with a manual drive or drive from any power plant(electric motor, internal combustion engine, wind or water engine). Such a press can be made in any mechanical workshop.

Drying bricks

When drying, it is necessary to ensure that moisture evaporates evenly both from the inside of the brick and from its surface. This is achieved by slow drying. Uneven drying causes warping and cracking of products. Correct drying is achieved mainly empirically. The drying time can be reduced by reducing the initial moisture content of the raw brick, as well as by more thoroughly processing the mass and moistening it with hot water.
Drying of raw bricks usually takes place in drying sheds. For small volumes, if the weather permits, the raw material is dried on open areas. Term natural drying raw brick varies depending on climatic conditions, from 5 to 20 days.

The molded raw brick is placed in bags in 6-8 rows in height, with each row sprinkled with sand or sawdust. This brick is aged in a barn until the raw brick gains sufficient strength. As the bags dry, they are expanded with freshly molded raw material with a similar filling. The bottom row of raw bricks is often placed on a poke.
If we take into account that the top rows dry somewhat faster, the entire package will dry approximately at the same time. This operation will significantly increase the capacity of the drying areas, with approximately the same drying time. If the brick is kept in a barn, then drying is carried out indoors for 3 days, and then in a ventilated room.
When choosing a drying site, it is necessary to ensure that the soil is not wet. It is better to lay it on the ground for these purposes. wooden shield or, as a last resort, fill the area with dry sand and make a drainage trench.

If drying is carried out outdoors, then it is necessary to make a rain shelter over the drying area. The outside temperature during drying must be at least 10°C. After drying, the raw brick is sent for firing to produce brick.
The readiness of raw brick for firing will be determined by the following criteria: a brick taken from the middle rows is broken in half and if there is no dark spot in the middle (a sign of moisture), the raw material is considered suitable for firing.

Brick firing

Brick firing is carried out in homemade stoves , the device of which is not difficult. The shapes of the kilns, their structure, and the placement of raw bricks for firing are described below.

The quality of bricks during firing depends on: the time of temperature rise, the final firing temperature, the duration of holding the temperature reached, the nature gas environment and cooling rates. At temperatures up to 150°C, drying of raw brick occurs. In this case, a significant amount of water vapor is formed, which, with a rapid rise in temperature, is released so quickly that it can rupture the product. Therefore, it is not recommended to sharply increase the temperature.

When installing a furnace, it is necessary to provide fire safety measures. From wooden buildings they must be no closer than 100 m. Level groundwater at the construction site should be below 2.5 m (in order to reduce heat loss).

Brick kilns can be round or rectangular. Variants of furnace shapes are shown in the figures below.

Round oven option. Sizes are arbitrary

A variant of a rectangular stove with several fireboxes. Oven dimensions are arbitrary

The furnace is constructed as follows: first, a foundation 60 cm wide and 50 cm deep is laid, then walls 50 cm thick are laid, decreasing after 2/3 of the furnace height to 25 cm. Interior The wall should be vertical up to 2/3 of the height of the stove; then the wall can narrow, forming a chimney. The walls can be laid out either from baked bricks or from adobe on thin clay solution to make it easier to dismantle the walls after the stoves are no longer needed.

When laying walls, it is necessary to provide an opening for loading raw bricks, in which, after loading, a firebox is made. The firebox can be made both in front of the stove and inside it. If the width or diameter of the stove is more than two meters, then several fireboxes can be made, depending on the size of the stove.

The floor of the furnace, the so-called POD, is covered with dry clay chips or small crushed stone, a layer thickness of 10 cm. Loading the furnace, that is, setting bricks, is carried out as shown in Fig. 4. Loading the furnace with raw bricks begins in columns with a gap between the bricks, forming combustion channels during laying. Each channel is blocked with raw brick, leaving a gap.

The density of the charge per 1 cubic meter of the furnace (its internal part) is 220 or 240 pcs. ordinary brick measuring 250x120x65 mm. Towards the top, the density of the cage increases to 300 pieces. per 1 cubic meter

Set density is 220 - 240 bricks per 1 cubic meter. oven (its internal part). At the top, the density increases to 300 pcs.

Option for laying “legs” for high stoves

The first 4 rows are the “cage legs”. The laying of the raw material on the “legs” is carried out in a herringbone pattern. The upper rows are compacted

Option for laying raw material for firing

Lead the cage strictly adhering to the scheme. After 1.5 m, or 2/3 of the furnace height, the loading of raw materials is carried out simultaneously with the laying of the furnace walls. In this case, the masonry is narrowed with a slope of about 30°C. The higher the furnace, the more efficient its operation, since the heat of the flue gases in the upper part is used to dry the raw brick. For better draft, you can install a pipe on the stove. The oven is carefully covered with a thick layer of clay. The opening is sealed under the firebox. The firebox must have a well-fitting door or lid. Firewood is used for firing, but coal is more effective. It is possible to install nozzle burners operating on diesel fuel or fuel oil. For better combustion solid fuel It is advisable to install grate bars at a height of 20 cm, which need to be strengthened.

Fuel consumption per 1 thousand units. fired brick is 1.8-2.6 cubic meters or 100-140 kg of coal. Firing goes through several stages. First, the furnace is ignited and the temperature is maintained at 150-200°C to dry the raw brick for 2 days. The fuel is low-grade firewood. Then the fuel supply is increased, gradually raising the temperature to 850-1000°C, firing time is 3-4 days. The temperature can be observed visually. 850-1000°C - light yellow-orange color.

After complete firing, the cooling stage begins. Re-coat the cracks with clay. The firebox is laid with bricks and covered with clay, excluding air leaks. The cooling time is at least two days. After complete cooling, the kiln is opened, the bricks are selected and sorted. A well-fired brick should ring when struck with a hammer. Unfired or unfired bricks are again laid for firing or used for the foundation or interior walls in dry rooms.

When firing bricks and cooling the kiln, it is necessary to observe following rules security:

Firing and cooling of bricks must be under constant supervision and control;
- do not allow premature opening of the oven;
- do not allow inspection of the readiness of firing and cooling of the brick by climbing onto the stove;
- do not allow large amounts of water to enter a hot oven to avoid scalding from steam;
- laying of raw bricks for drying and fired bricks, when disembarking from the kiln, should only be carried out with an inclination towards the inside of the stack to avoid the stack falling.

For not large quantity homemade brick, you can use a simpler “oven” for firing bricks.

This can be done in a regular barrel with a volume of 200-250 liters. It is necessary to lay bricks in a barrel, leaving small gaps for uniform heating. You definitely need a pit for the fire, 40-50 cm deep. The bottom of the barrel is cut out and the barrel is placed on the fire on legs 20 cm high. This will make it more convenient to maintain and regulate the fire, and the heating of the mass of bricks will be uniform.

Now the barrel needs to be filled with bricks. They must be laid with small gaps, one on top of the other. Then, so that it does not get into the barrel during firing. cold air, you need to close it metal sheet. A cut-out bottom can come in handy here; it will be especially convenient if handles are attached to it.

Now you need to stock up on fuel and patience. The process takes from 18 to 20 hours, during all this time, while the bricks are being fired, it is necessary to maintain the fire under the barrel. After this, the barrel should cool down. This should happen gradually, and the lid should not be opened. You need to regulate the temperature in stages, reducing the flame of the fire. Artificial way cooling is not suitable here; cooling must only be natural.

4-5 hours after the barrel and its contents have completely cooled, you can open the lid and remove the finished fired products.

Causes of brick defects during its manufacture and measures to eliminate them

The quality of the work done needs to be checked and for this purpose a small test of self-made bricks must be done.

Sacrifice one brick and break it with a construction hammer. If it is well fired, it will have the same color and the same structure throughout the entire fault. Now these fragments should be filled with water for several hours. After being in water, a well-fired brick should also have the same color and structure over its entire surface.

Brick is a very popular building material, which is why its inflated cost is due. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to purchase this product for building a house or fencing.

However, there is a way out of this situation - to make a brick yourself. We will tell you how this process is carried out and what is required for this in our article.

Clay is the basis of the work process

Initially, it is necessary to determine the fat content of the clay; the service life of future products depends on this. The detailed process is described below:

• The first step is to mix half a kilogram of clay with 100-150 ml of water.
• Stir thoroughly until you end up with a mixture that sticks to your hands.
• Now you need to do the following: roll a small ball with a diameter of about 60-70 mm and a flat cake with a diameter of no more than 100 mm.
• Leave the resulting products to dry for 2-3 days.
• Check the final result: if cracks appear on the surface of the clay ball and cake, this means that the clay is too oily. In this case, you need to add a little sand to it.

Also check if the ball does not crack after falling from a height of 1 meter, it means clay desired consistency. Making bricks at home from such material is acceptable.

Note! It is also better not to use too thin clay, this is due to the lack of strength; such products will not withstand heavy loads.

Types of ceramic bricks

• Burnt– produced using ovens with high temperatures. This product can be used for a variety of purposes.
• Unfired– does not require a roasting process, however, in most cases it is inferior in technical properties. Suitable for small one-story buildings.

Mold making

Making red brick at home requires the use of a form in which the product will be mixed. The form can be made from available materials: sheets of plywood and boards with a thickness of about 30-40 mm.

For your information! The dimensions of a standard brick are 250x120x65 mm.

• First of all, you need to saw off the bottom for the shape from a regular wooden board, the same detail needs to be made for the top. The main thing is to have a flat surface.
• The next step is to saw off pieces of plywood for the side walls.
• We hammer together all the parts with a hammer and nails, leaving only the top part aside, it will be useful after the solution is poured into the mold.

Important! Construction brick(for example,) is usually produced with voids in the center, in some cases they occupy most of the entire product. You need to do the same, since this void provides more reliable contact between the brick and cement mortar. In this case, it is not necessary to make the holes rounded; you can simply use 30x30 mm bars.

Although the technology for making bricks at home is primitive, it is almost impossible to speed up this process. Except for increasing the number of molds used so that several bricks can be produced simultaneously per day.

Filling out the form

• Before pouring the clay into the mold, you need to thoroughly moisten it from the inside, sprinkling a thin layer of cement on top. This makes it easier to remove the future workpiece.
• Clay dough is poured into a moistened mold.
• Using movements from side to side, it should be leveled throughout the entire container.
• Any excess that is not included in the mold can be removed with a metal plate, thus leveling the surface of the brick.
• Now you can close the workpiece wooden lid and leave it to dry for several hours.

Interesting! Can be purchased special machine for making bricks at home, it is a spacious table. The equipment operates from the mains: the surface begins to vibrate, distributing the clay dough evenly over the mold.

Drying the product

This process is perhaps one of the most responsible; the result depends on the correctness of the actions.

• It is best to place the workpieces on a special rack with a canopy that protects the products from sunlight.
• At the same time, the rack must be well ventilated so that excess moisture came out of the clay blocks and evaporated rather than settling on the surface.
• The drying time directly depends on the temperature, humidity and mobility of the outside air. Minimum term drying of the block – 6 days, maximum – 15 days.

Even if you follow all the rules and maintain a stable temperature, you should remember that it will not be possible to “cook” a brick faster at home. Material that is not completely dried will lose its properties for outdoors in the near future.

Note! When making bricks with your own hands, take into account the possibility of shrinkage, which reaches 15% of the total volume.

No firing

Manufacturing sand-lime brick at home it is carried out without the firing stage. This is due to the fact that it is quite difficult without using special equipment, achieve the required temperatures. For example, low-melting clay requires heating the furnace to 1150 degrees, which, you see, is almost impossible.

That is why homemade brick can only be unfired, or rather, raw brick. As we have already said, such a product is suitable for small structures, provided that the instructions for drying and making clay have been followed.

Unfired brick should be protected from moisture and other atmospheric influences, so it is best used in combination with other building materials.

It would be ideal to use a three-layer structure for the walls of the house:

• The inside walls of the house are lined with “raw” bricks.
• After that, insulation with a windproof membrane is laid.
• The outside of the house is sheathed with baked bricks, increasing not only strength, but also thermal insulation properties.

For your information! This is the saving, because the price finished bricks much higher than DIY materials. There is only one difference - you will have to spend several weeks, or even months, to produce clay blocks at home.

Conclusion

Now you know how to make bricks at home without resorting to the services of specialists. Yes, you don’t need an assistant, you can do all the work yourself. But if you still doubt your abilities, then it is better to buy double sand-lime brick M 150 and trust the professionals.

Brick is one of the oldest building materials. It has been known to humanity for several thousand years. Its simplest types are made from ordinary clay and some aggregates. The mixture is allowed to dry in the mold and then fired at a temperature of +1000°.

In regions where the sun is quite active in the summer, making bricks at home can be even simpler. It simply dries under the influence of ultraviolet rays. Such products can be used for the construction of small one-story buildings both residential and utility.

Clay mining and testing

Availability of the right clay for the job depends on the area in which you live. But, most often, to detect it, it is enough to go just a few centimeters below the turf layer. You can do this in your own way own plot, and in specially designated public places (public quarries).

Take a soil sample in any convenient part of the site. If the soil becomes an oily reddish mud when water is added, then you have found a good place for clay extraction.

The quality of manufactured bricks directly depends on the fat content of the raw materials. The simplest way to determine this important characteristic that's how it is. Collect clay samples from different places on your site.

Take 0.5 kg of earth, add a little water to it and mix thoroughly. Do this until the clay absorbs all the water and sticks to your hands.

Having prepared such a steep “dough”, make it into a cake with a diameter of about 10 cm and a ball with a diameter of about 5 cm. Perform a similar operation with each of the selected samples. Dry the products for two to three days.

If they crack during this period of time, this means that the alumina is very fatty and quartz sand must be added to it. If the products remain intact, and the ball that you throw from a height of 1 m does not break, then the raw material has normal fat content.

Skinny types of clay do not crack, but also do not have sufficient strength. It is necessary to mix in richer types of soil. Add sand or clay in stages.

And check the quality of the resulting mixture every time. This continues until the optimal proportion of components in the solution is calculated.

If you don't find good clean and concentrated clay nearby, you will have to buy it from an industrial quarry.

How to make raw brick?

There are several simple ways make clay bricks yourself. But there are three main ones:

• Unfired brick with the addition of chopped straw or adobe
• Unfired building material or raw material
• Burnt or ordinary red masonry brick

Let's start with adobe. If it is made from good raw materials and properly dried, then in many respects it will not be inferior to baked brick.

Properly constructed adobe buildings have a service life of at least 70 years. If the walls are thick enough, they are cool in summer and warm in winter.

Start by knocking down a large container with low sides to mix the mixture. Combine two types of clay (lean and fatty) and straw in a ratio of 1:1:5. Add water and mix the solution well with a shovel.

Before you start making bricks, you will also need to make molds for them. The material for their manufacture can be 2.5 cm thick boards and two pieces of plywood.

Before starting work, the straw should be thoroughly chopped. If you do this poorly, then its lumps will significantly reduce the strength of the adobe. Wheat, well-dried stalks are best suited for work.

The dimensions of the templates must be equal to the parameters standard bricks: 25x12x6.5 cm. You can make small conical projections in the top and bottom lids that will form recesses in the brick. They are needed to improve the adhesion of the material to the solution.

Connect all the elements of the forms with nails, the length of which should be 5-6 cm. Make the top cover removable. To make brick making work faster, you can knock down several of these templates.

• After the solution is ready, you need to fill out the forms. Before doing this, moisten them a little with water on the inside and sprinkle with cement or fine dust. This will make removing the brick much easier. Ready mixture arrange into forms. At the same time, do not forget to compact it so that the clay fills all the corners. Remove excess dough with a metal spatula. Next install top covers. After waiting for a while, remove them. Turn the mold over on the rack and remove the product.
• Drying clay bricks is the most important operation. When the process of water evaporation occurs, the particles of the substance in the product come closer together due to surface tension forces and its volume decreases. Shrinkage occurs only up to a certain limit, a maximum of 15%. After this, a decrease in volume does not occur, but the physically bound moisture does not yet have time to evaporate completely. A shelving rack under a canopy is best suited for drying.

The most important thing here is that the workpieces do not fall under straight lines. Sun rays and at the same time well ventilated. The duration of the drying process depends on climatic conditions - humidity, temperature and air mobility environment. Under natural conditions, the operation takes from 7 to 14 days.

The water resistance of unfired clay bricks produced is not very high, so external walls made from it must be additionally protected from the damaging effects of moisture. What you can do for this:

• The length of the roof overhangs must be at least 60 cm
• Be very careful when bandaging the seams of the brickwork.
• Place door and window openings no closer than 1.5 m from the corners
• After the walls dry and shrink, plaster or veneer them suitable material, for example, siding

Clay unfired bricks without the use of straw are produced in exactly the same way as adobe. The only difference is that instead of straw, you need to add a little sand to the dough, in the same proportion - 1:5. Pure quartz sand of fine fractions is best suited for this.

Making baked brick

It should be immediately warned that firing raw brick is a rather complex technological operation. Doing it yourself at home is not very rational. But, if you need a very small batch, for the construction small house, then you can do this.

Raw firing is divided into three parts:

• Warming up
• The firing itself
• Gradual and controlled cooling

Now about these processes in more detail:

• Burning

You can warm up and burn the raw material in the usual way. metal barrel for 200-250 liters. First cut out both bottoms and place them on iron stove without top.

You can also do this over a fire. When using it, dig a hole 50 cm deep and place the barrel on legs about 20 cm high. This will ensure more uniform heating.

Place the blanks one on top of the other with small intervals. Once the barrel is full, close it metal lid. This is necessary in order to prevent the penetration of cold air into it.

When firing bricks, the fire must be maintained for approximately 20 hours. This mode depends on the properties of the clay and is selected experimentally.

During the process, both hygroscopic, that is, physically bound, and hydrate, chemically bound, water evaporates from the workpieces. In addition, a partial decomposition reaction of carbonates occurs, and all impurities of organic origin are burned. The entire volume of workpieces placed in the barrel is heated evenly.

Clay minerals are completely destroyed, and the clay itself transforms into a new - amorphous state. At temperatures of +800...+1000° for low-melting types of clay and at +1100...+1200° for refractory varieties, the substance sinters, that is, ceramics are formed.

• Cooling

The barrel filled with bricks must cool in stages and be sure to closed lid. You can regulate the temperature by reducing the fuel supply to the fire or stove.

Lower the temperature slowly. And only when you bring it to +650° can the process be accelerated. Open the barrel after the material has completely cooled, after 5-6 hours.

The technological operation of cooling the finished brick is one of the most critical processes. Freshly fired material cannot be tolerated sharp drop temperatures and the entry of cold outside air. If this happens, the brick will crack.

When production ceramic bricks at home will be finished, you need to check its quality. Break the finished red brick into two halves. A correctly made brick inside should have a uniform color and structure.

Fill these halves with water and wait a few hours. If during this time the material does not collapse or has no differences in color on the fault, then everything is in order and you can begin construction from it.

Do not forget that red baked brick must be soaked before laying. The raw material does not need such an operation.