Talk:Brick
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Brick has been nominated for Selected article, at the Architecture Portal. For more information, visit WikiProject:Architecture |
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[edit] From PNA/Engineering
- Brick could use some major expansion. The content that is there looks good, but there's a lot that can be said about the history, usage, and comparative usage of the venerable brick that I'm sure someone could add. Courtland 05:46, 2005 Mar 8 (UTC)
I added the attention tag because the article is very short for such an important topic. Compare the German article, for example. Burschik 14:27, 13 September 2005 (UTC)
- Well in part that is because you missed that User:194.72.50.155 deleted several section in the process of vandalising the article. They are now restored, but the basic point that more could be said is still valid. -- Solipsist 16:19, 13 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Expansion request
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007) |
- I came to this article looking for information on why there are so many brick buildings in the Eastern U.S. -- Beland 23:28, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
- It would also be nice to have illustrations of the various types of brick. I see several kinds inside and outside buildings in Boston, but I'm not sure how they correspond to the types described in the article. -- Beland 20:27, 12 March 2006 (UTC)
The reason for this brick page is that usually the polytheistic hydraulic civilizations of Pre-Roman mediterranean times were highly dependant on the collection of clay, for the manufacture of bricks. This process in itself inspires many otherwise basic societies to form a more cohesive division of labor, as both clay pits, brickworks and the thresher (to collect the stalks of wheat to mix with clay) were needed for the finished product. A notable saying back in the days of egypt was, roughly translated, "I need more bricks for my Mustaba, how come there arent enough bricks?" which was usually responded with "You fool! You need a bricklayers Guild first"
I agree, bricks have a long and fascinating history, I work at a bricklayers union in flordia theres all sort of diffrent kinds of bricks there should be more information
"So many brick buildings in the Eastern U.S." as opposed to where? If you're comparing it to the West Coast, the reason there are fewer brick buildings in the West is that they don't survive earthquakes well. Fasrad 21:57, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Scope of article
Perhaps it might be better to limit the scope of this article to bricks of the fired-earth variety. Including concrete bricks, concrete blocks and sand-lime bricks in the article is going to make things very confusing. How do we feel about this? Regards, Nick. Nick 10:23, 21 May 2006 (UTC). Added later: by the way, look at the size of the stocks those guys in the picture are holding, I've never seen clay bricks of that size, it must have been a two-handed job laying them. Nick 10:32, 21 May 2006 (UTC)
- But sand-lime bricks and concrete bricks are still bricks. Where should they go? Meggar 04:59, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Contradictions
Reading this article, I noticed several conflicting statements about the standard brick sizes, two of which more or less claimed to be universal. I am sure that these are simply standards in different places, and if anyone knows, this should probably be mentioned alongside those statements. Falcon 00:44, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
- Thanks to M.Hoptins for removing the contradiction. Falcon 03:34, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] units of strength
The use of English units to describe american bricks but metric units to describe british ones seems inconsistent and makes comparisons diffcult.
[edit] Dubious tag
Hi all, There seems to be some confusion:
- The introduction describes bricks as "artifical stone" (not the best description but there you go)
- The article describes the firing of bricks
- There is a link to a separate article on mud bricks.
Yet there is mention of sun dried bricks. Now either this reference should be removed or better explanation is needed about the fundamental difference between sun dried and kiln fired bricks ThanxTheriac 23:25, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
- The whole introduction is dubious. How about replacing it with:
- A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction and sized to be layed with one hand using mortar. Meggar 06:07, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] History
One area I'm interested in that seems to be little covered in the literature is the history of use of bricks in England, which possibly parallels use on the continent and even America.
I have this theory that until machine made bricks became common (when? around 1850) along with the necessary transport, hand made bricks would be made on site. This was a time-consuming business ? and where stone was plentiful it was preferred (In the USA timber?) In the Derwent Valley in England the demand for stone for factories and factory housing and railway architecture was such that its price rose quickly leading to the use of hand made brick for some smaller dwellings.
Another thing that interests me is the practice of soot-washing to tone the colour down, and when it ended. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.156.83.72 (talk) 11:11, 21 April 2007 (UTC).
Wire-cut bricks took over a lot later than 1850. Even in 1890s on-site handmades were standard practice. Tabby (talk) 16:41, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Roman brick
Anyone know anything about bricks? An article is needed on Roman brick. It is a flat horizontal brick, it was often employed by Frank Lloyd Wright and other Prairie School architects. IvoShandor 07:50, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] UK Brick history
"In the United Kingdom, bricks have been used in construction for centuries. Until recently, many houses were built almost entirely from red bricks. This use is particularly common in areas of northern England and some outskirts of London, where rows of terraced houses were rapidly and cheaply built to house local workers[citation needed]. These houses have survived to the present day. Although many houses in the UK are now built using a mixture of concrete blocks and other materials, many houses are skinned with a layer of bricks on the outside for aesthetic appeal."
The great majority of our housing stock is all brick. Other types are minorities by comparison. New construction typically uses brick outer leaf and block inner to reduce costs, with some cheaper houses using an outer leaf that mixes zones of brick with rendered block.
Terraces are popular in almost all areas of the country, and neither terraces nor all-brick construction is restricted to the areas mentioned.
Many terraces were cheaply built, but also many weren't. While terracing is a cost cutting approach, it is by no means restricted to low quality or low cost housing. There are plenty of grand terraces about.
Finally, old soft (mostly Victorian) bricks are of much lower strength than modern brick types. They can be cut into by rubbing with a fingernail. I dont know what their N rating is, but the article's strength generalisation could do with including a suitable figure for these very common bricks. Tabby (talk) 16:41, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
