Brick building

“ Considering that England has been the country of bricks, it is astonishing that so little is known of the principles of brick-building, which the modern development seems to defy. In foreign countries nothing can be more satisfactory than the treatment of this material, always used in a way that will best set it off. The effect of brick is produced by the display of broad surface, and by the exhibition of masses of brick, as in towers. Being of one geometrical size and pattern bricks have little cohesion ”

“ In view of its very nature and the great variety of its proper uses, it should never displace the exterior masonry wall, which in stone, tile, or brick makes the most secure and enduring structure. If the 80 per cent of building in this country, now done of frame, were put into brick, or other durable and fire-resistive materials, it would result in a great economic national gain, people would have better and more substantial houses, and the lumber which everybody needs would be conserved for the legitimate uses to which it is admirably adapted. ”

“ The brick is of a deep red, and, though not pressed, looks as if it were. The proportions of the building could not well be more perfect or more pleasing to the eye. Both the local press and the people speak of it as an ornament to the city, and express surprise that it could have been built for a sum less than eight or ten thousand dollars. ”

“ Anchors are used to tie the building together, and these are to be placed near the lower edge of the joists so that they may split out of the joists easily or allow the floor to drop free, in case of a falling of the floor and joists.
A popular type of construction is that known as brick veneer, Fig. 148. It consists of an ordinary framed house with a covering of brick as shown. These bricks are fastened to the wall by -139- metallic bonds. From the outside, the building has all of the appearance of solid brick, while it is claimed that a wall so formed is warmer than one of solid brick. ”

“ From the necessity for symmetrical buildings arose the invention of the brick, which must have superseded the rude plastering of the hut with clay, to protect it against the sun or storm. In the history of the Semitic nations the brick appears among the earliest inventions, and its use can be traced with various modifications, from the building of the Tower of Babel to the present day. It is essential that bricks should be symmetrical, and their form is generally rectangular. ”

“ In fact, there is no building material so thoroughly reliable, through thick and thin, in prosperity and in adversity, as good, honest, well-burned bricks. But the ordinary brick house is double—a house within a house—a wooden frame in a brick shell. Like logs in a coal-pit, the inner house is well protected from outside attacks, but the flames, once kindled within, will run about as freely as in a wooden building, and laugh at cold water, which, however abundantly it is poured out, can never reach the heart of the fire till its destructive work is accomplished. ”

“ Above this is what may be considered as an enormous frieze, which, as well as the cornice, is of brick. On one side is a fragment of a wall of alternate brick and tufo, not close against the wall of the temple, or parallel to it. The walls of the present building are all brick, at least as to the facing; and in converting it to a church, the spaces between the columns have been filled up with an ill-built wall of brick, and fragments of stone. The original brickwork is neat and good, but the bricks are not cut to a sharp edge, as they are in some other examples. ”

“ Ordinary bricks for building are burnt in clamps, which are large oblong masses, built up of the unburnt bricks, laid regularly in layers, with large flues or passages at intervals, in which ashes, cinders, coal, and brush-wood are laid; layers of ashes are strewed over those of the bricks. The object is, that the fire, when the fuel is ignited, may penetrate every part of the mass, and bake every brick equally; even the ashes mixed up in the clay are intended to be partly burnt by the heat. ”

“ Again, a brick cracked all over, not with superficial cracks only, but with those which go far into the interior, will not yield its quality by mere immersion in water. The water, it is true, finds its way right into the brick, but, as often as not, the sides of the cracks are perfectly vitrified and almost damp proof, so that on lifting the brick out of the water the latter rolls off as though it were on “a duck’s back.” Yet such a brick, yielding but the merest fraction as a result of the immersion, may be utterly worthless when put into a building, because it would not be strong enough. ”

“ This permanence of brick construction means a saving on insurance rates, on upkeep, and on depreciation, while the material lends itself to the most beautiful and varied artistic effects. “Strength and beauty,” the essential characteristics of all good building, may be fully met in brick construction. ”

“ If stepped-up footing of brick is used in place of stone above the concrete, the offsets if laid in single courses shall each not exceed 11/2 in., or, if laid in double courses, then each shall not exceed 3 in. offsetting the first course of brickwork back one-half the thickness of the concrete base, so as properly to distribute the load to be imposed thereon. It will be seen by the foregoing that the American acts are far more extensive than in London. The London Building Act mentions that the footings of a wall shall rest upon the solid ground or concrete or upon other solid substructure. ”

“ It will be seen that the arches forming the tiers of seats have at some date been filled in with brickwork, of the time of Alexander Severus and the Gordiani. The water-courses for keeping the building cool in hot weather can also be traced. The highest wall of all, the inside brick casing of which is partly gone, is built of fragments evidently not originally intended for the purpose for which they are used, corresponding to a great extent with the construction of the walls upon the area. ”

“ Brick and tile are two of our most delightful materials; people do wrong to sneer at them just because poor cottages are so built. Red brick, when not too large, such as the delightful little Tudor brick, is smiling and domestic. The progress of building has, in this case, proved a retrogress for art. Nowadays, the big red bricks are so angular, so perfectly cemented that most blocks of flats approximate to102 workhouses, while the yellow brick now current should be reserved for public buildings of special distinction, such as national memorials and academies of painting. ”

“ A level course of long stone, running through a wall of small stones or brick, gives greater strength by binding the whole together. This has not always a good excuse for extending beyond the wall-face. But a projecting belt of brick adds nothing either in appearance or in reality. If horizontal lines are required to diminish the apparent height of the building or affect its proportions, make them of brick of different color from those of the main wall or laid in different position. Remember this; fanciful brick decorations are quite sure to look better on paper than when executed. ”

“ The wall is divided into two stages, by a bold string-course and double line of chevrons formed by recessing the brickwork and inserting panels of coloured and carved white marble. The lower stage is arcaded mainly in red brick, whilst the upper has a wall deeply recessed behind arcades under the eaves, with delicate balustrades between the columns which carry the arcades. This upper part of the building is mainly of buff-coloured bricks, with thin lines of red to mark the pattern of arches, and it is curious that the light bricks are much larger than the red. ”

“ The nature of the material prevents our having any great projections; they would require to be supported by iron bands and set in cement, and be entirely false construction, if not dangerous, and statuary or sculpture is of course out of the question in brick. But there is nothing to prevent deeply recessed openings in windows or doorways, and many patterns might be repeated, such as pateræ or cuspings. In all old brickwork there is no attempt to conceal the nature of the material, or make it appear to do more than it{173} actually does in the building. ”

“ Later the sun-dried bricks came to be used only for interior walls, while for the outer walls bricks were made from selected clay and were carefully prepared and burned, forming bricks of superior quality and strength. So well have these withstood the ravages of time that some of the mounds, notably those of the later Babylonian period, are veritable quarries of building brick. ”

“ Filling the spaces behind the lathing in a brick house with some fireproof and non-conducting material is a concession to usual modes of building. A more satisfactory construction still would be to build the wails of hollow bricks and with air spaces so disposed that neither wood furrings nor laths would be necessary. ”

“ As for the exterior surface of the building, this should be brick, the lighter the color the better, making absorption of heat less probable. When building reinforced concrete frame with curtain walls, the design should be such that the brick work entirely covers the concrete frame, since it is very difficult to obtain tight joints abutting beams and columns when attempting to build panels of brick in concrete framing. ”

“ But in the upper walls, which are faced with brick, some of the original windows remain; they are small, but of the same sort of detail and character as the larger windows in the outer walls.
The building has lost much by the gradual raising of the pavement. This is now about twenty inches above the old base of the columns, and their proportions are so far altered for the worse. And it has lost immensely also by the destruction of the inlaid marble which once filled all the spandrels of the main arcade. Two panels only of these remain, and both in the sea-front. ”

“ In the matter of color, it is undeniable that the brick-work has in places a patchy look by reason of the comparatively small quantities in which it is used, the whole front on the avenue being virtually of highly wrought stone, and it seems clear that the building would have gained if the brick had been omitted altogether from this front. ”

“ Turning to the second table, compiled for the most part from brickmakers’ circulars, and from the original results obtained for the late Building Exhibition, at the Agricultural Hall, all the experiments, we believe, having been carried out by Mr. David Kirkaldy, it will be noted that great variation in strength is apparent, following the different kinds of bricks. The highest result, 1064.2 tons per square foot, was obtained on a blue Staffordshire brick, though that is very closely run by bricks made from slate débris (1056.2 tons) from South Wales. ”

“ They are not as smooth and well finished as pressed brick, but they are exceedingly useful. They need as much care in making as any others, and they must be burned in a much hotter fire to make them dense and hard. The tests for paving-bricks are quite different from those for ordinary building-brick. ”

“ It will be necessary, in order to protect the building from damp and the liability to settle down, to place it upon some firm and solid matter let into the ground, as brick piers or wood blocks. A platform of bricks laid on the surface, gives a firm and lasting foundation, provided the subsoil has not been recently disturbed. ”

“ With the strength of brickwork, it is different, and it would seem rather remarkable, at first sight, that architects and engineers, who are every day using thousands of bricks, should have been at little pains to ascertain the “safe load” which this or that brick pier or wall would carry. Experience is, of course, of great value in all work of that description; but there is always the lurking suspicion that the engineer is making his piers too big, and that the architect is by no means running the thing close. ”

“ Furthermore, while the veneer house does not get the favored insurance rates of the solid brick structure, it is, if provided with a non-combustible roof, safe against adjacent fires; in fact, from the exterior, presents the advantages of a solid face brick house. ”

“ Where local requirements demand a 12-inch wall, the method of construction is the same as in the 8-inch wall, except that two rows or tiers of backing brick, instead of one, are carried up to the advanced level of the face brick, leaving the thin spaces between the tiers of brick open as the best way of securing a warmer and drier wall. Of course, in the case of piers and points in the wall that carry heavy loads, all interior joints should be well slushed with mortar for evident structural reasons. ”

“ Now tell me where I am to find the brick you designate.”
“It’s in the cellar wall, about half-way down on the right-hand side. You will see nothing but stone for a foot or two above the floor, but after that comes the brick wall. On one of these bricks you will detect a cross scratched. That’s the one. It will look as well cemented as the rest, but if you throw water against it, you will find that in a little while you will be able to pry it out. Take something to do this with, a knife or a pair of scissors. When the brick falls out, feel behind with your hand and you will find the box.” ”