Bricks

[JimboJ]

This one is for bendy

History
Until the 18th century, most houses in what is now the United Kingdom were either made from stone or wood and clay. The latter type would use bricks for chimneys to reduce the risk of fire.

In the 18th century, bricks started to be used for all parts of smaller houses. A brick tax was introduced 1784 and increased in 1794 and 1803. This slowed the trend but after the tax was repealed in 1850 bricks were used almost universally outside the stone areas.

During the period of the tax, one alternative to wooden weatherboarding was the 'brick tile' or 'mathematical tile'; these were tiles in which the surface exposed below the tile in the course above was shaped like a brick.

During the 18th century, as well as being taxed, bricks were also less fashionable; stucco was used to simulate stonework. Stucco frontages ceased to be used in London in the 1850s, being replaced by brick as the desirable material.

Bricks were made from clay which had been puddled, ie squeezed and blended, until it was smooth and impurities had been removed. Other materials were mixed in, such as chalk or ash, and once moulded could be placed in sand when still damp. Shaping could be done with a mould, by extrusion through a wire mesh, or by carving.

The bricks were then baked in a clamp or kiln. A clamp is a stack of dried bricks, with faggots of brushwood inside, and coated with clay. The Hoffman kiln was introduced in 1858; this made continuous production possible and the bricks were uniform in shape and strength.

Until 1800, most bricks were red from the iron in the clay used. Palladian ideals led to the development of 'white' bricks, in which lime changed the brick to pale yellow, buff, or brown.

A whitish brick made from Gault clay was used widely in the south-east of England outside London. Brown bricks were made and used in the Thames valley. A silver-grey brick can be seen in south Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Hampshire. In the Vale of York, a dark brown brick was produced.

As red bricks were re-introduced from the 1870s, they were expensive and so the most basic houses still used only yellow bricks; more expensive houses used reds just for decoration such as over windows. As the cost declined further, the front elevation was built entirely in reds.

Other colours were produced by the addition of cobalt, manganese and sand. If the brick was baked in the hottest part of the clamp or kiln it would often be darker or change colour through vitrification. For example, if a red brick is fired at very high temperatures, a blue or blue-black brick results.

Types of Bricks
The types of brick used were:

Yellow Stock London These soft, porous bricks were made from clay close to London. They were baked over a bed of coke for 10 to 12 weeks.

The black flecks in the brick come from the ash mixed with the clay; this burns, firing the bricks internally.

Gault South-east of England, particularly in Ipswich, Cambridgeshire, the Isle of Ely, Peterborough, Huntingdon, Bedfordshire, Maidstone, and the south coast. A whitish brick made from Gault and the adjacent Jurassic and Pleistocene clays in the south-east of England, coloured with chalk.

Staffordshire Blue These dark, purple-blue bricks were burnt in a kiln at 1200 degrees Centigrade, making a very strong, dense and impervious brick.

They are often called 'engineering bricks'. They were made by 1832, but the coming of the canals made their more widespread use possible.

Accrington Bloods Lancashire These are a dense red brick.
Red Builder's Now called 'Tudor Reds', these were a high quality, kiln-fired, sand-faced brick used as 'rubbers'.
Fletton Made in the East Midlands from about 1900, a blotchy pink self-firing brick often used for internal walls. Flettons are pressed, in a mould.
Brindle A brown-purple brick with a striped pattern.
Common Brick A soft brick used for internal walls.

'Blues' were also used for decoration. This 'diaper work' pattern is on an 1880 house:

https://www.bricksandbrass.co.uk/images/walls/brick02.jpg

Terracotta
Terracotta is a mix of fine sand and pulverised brick or burnt clay. The moulded block was then dried and fired in a kiln. Much terracotta is unglazed and pervious. Sometimes the firing gave a hard, impervious, vitreous glaze. Full or matt-glazed terracotta is called 'faience', and achieved by adding a glaze or enamel. By the 1880's, new colours were available, in addition to the previous choices of red and buff.

Foundations
The foundations, or brick footings, were typically three brick lengths at the base; 680mm - i.e. 3 x 215mm (8.5 inches), stepped up to the wall. By 1890, poured concrete was often used, with the stepped footings on top.

Bonds
Three types of bond, the patterns in which the bricks are laid, are shown below:

https://www.bricksandbrass.co.uk/images/walls/bonds.gif

Stretcher bond is only suitable for a single skin; in a modern house the inner skin is typically made from blocks, fixed to the outer brick skin by metal ties. English bond was not popular in the Victorian period. So the common bond is Flemish, with the alternate header-stretcher pattern.

Special Patterns
Bricks were often laid in various special patterns, as well in the standard bonds. For example:

string course; a long, horizontal course of a different brick, stone or stucco
hood mould; a rib of brick or stucco over the top and upper sides of a window or other opening (also called a 'label mould'
cornice; a special string course, or set of courses, at the top of an exterior wall, below the eaves or some other horizontal protrusion
coping; a capping of a non-absorbent brick or stone on top of a wall
Finishes
Walls were never painted.

However, roughcast and pebbledash finishes were common, particularly to cover cheaper bricks, and later for more decorative purposes. Roughcast is a mixture of shingle or crushed stone and sand mixed with a cement. To achieve a pebbledash finish, the wall is first coated with cement, and then pea shingle or some other fine stone chippings are thrown onto the soft cement.

Another treatment common, after the 1870s in Gothic and Arts and Crafts styles, is tile or slate-hanging.


example of a tile-hung wall

https://www.bricksandbrass.co.uk/images/walls/tilehung.jpg

James
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[mr.z]

Depressingly enough i have had more than one 2 hour lectures on bricks... >twitch<
APPARENTLY they only became common in use after... When wool and textiles were exported by england in dutch boats they would bring thousands of tons of bricks as ballast, then dump the lot in the sea before loading up on their cargo... people began to take their waste bricks and put it to good use...
I'm very sorry if anyone read that, not entirely sure of the accuracy either... hmm time for bed i think...
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[Kickstart]

[NSR125-Kid-UK]

Oddly enough I remember hearing vaguely about the different methods of arranging bricks. God himself only knows if I remember where though, perhaps in one of my history classes,with mr Tony .C. hehe.
(odd random rant) damn he was weird, a scouse history teacher who was a great guy, but cross him and he'd slap you out of that damn window from the third floor!

If I remember correctly, My house is constucted of Brieze Blocks, over which a layer of Stretcher Bond bricks is layed.

Since late 2003, we have had cavity wall insulation between the two. Waste of cash. I either can't get to sleep cos it's too hot, or shiver myself to sleep (due to a damaged PVC window mechanism - it would maybe be more cost efficient to have said mechanism repaired? .

AND the buggers had the cheek to wake me up at 1PM to drill holes in my wall to add the insulation! Hell i tried to go back to sleep for 6 hours before giving up!!!

Semi-Off-Topic: Congratulations Jimbo. If you are interested in History prior to bricks, perhaps Haddon hall, Chatsworth House, or Gainsborough Old Hall would interest you? The are all (unfortunatley for you ) local to me, and provide an interesting viewpoint to History.

(damn I sound all cultured now)
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