Clay Bricks

What is a Clay Brick?

A Clay brick is a type of building block or a single unit of a kneaded clay, fire hardened or air dried, used in masonry construction. Fired bricks are the most common type and are laid in courses and numerous patterns known as bonds like cement mortar, collectively known as brickwork, and may be laid in various kinds of mortar to hold the bricks together to make a durable structure.

Basic Advantages of Bricks

Aesthetic Appeal

Thermal & Acoustic Insulation

Zero Maintenance Cost

Fire Resistance

Flexible in Application

       Aesthetic Appeal

Brick possesses natural and pleasant colours of burnt clays. . Different clay compositions, firing temperatures, or kiln atmosphere can lead to different colours.  Its colour formation is achieved through a complicated physio-chemical reaction during the firing process in the kiln. In contrast to the colour of stained body, brick colour is permanent and will not fade during weathering process. By proper control of these factors, bricks can be made to exhibit endless variety of natural and attractive colours. Bricks' natural colours combined with the extreme flexibility in applications produce aesthetic results which are always personal and everlasting with a natural appeal.

       Thermal  Insulation

Thermal Insulation:  Brick absorbs and releases heat slowly because of which keeps the house cool during day-time and warm during night-time Brick generally demonstrates better thermal insulation property than other building materials like concrete. Perforation can improve the thermal insulation property of bricks to some extent. Besides, the Thermal Mass and moisture that the brick has absorbed can help to keep the temperature inside the house relatively constant.

    Acoustic Insulation:

As far as acoustic insulation is concerned, brick wall provides good sound insulation property due to its dense structure. The thickness and density of brick will stifle the noise transmission and will deflect noise from streets, neighbouring homes, and other external noises.

       Zero Maintenance Cost

Clay bricks do not require any maintenance and you need not worry about clay brick from rotting, denting, warping, rusting, splitting, peeling, fading, and termites.

      Fire Resistant

Clay Bricks are made from naturally available materials which are fire resistant which spares you from the worry of wall catching fire.

Flexible in Application

The high compressive strength of fired clay bricks is used to build structures ranging from single-storey houses to massive public buildings, bridges etc.. In particular, it can be used for load bearing structures which greatly simplify the construction process so as to save materials, time, and labour.

Besides, brick can be made into convenient shape and size to facilitate the construction work.

Types of Clay Bricks:

Table Mould Bricks

Wire Cut Bricks

Fly Ash Blocks

TMT Steel Bars

What is TMT ?

TMT(Thermo Mechanical Treatment) is a metallurgical process which hardens and a heat - treated in a single process. The outcome is a high strength steel bar from a low carbon steel.

The process is all about making a high strength steel bar from a low carbon steel. Steel billets 125 mm  are heated to approximately 1100 degree C in a reheat surface. These bars are later rolled out to reduce the billets  until it reaches the final size and shape of reinforcing bar. The heat process quenches  the surface layer of the steel bar and pressurizes the crystal structure of other layers in the bar. It gives more hardness and strength to the steel bars. These steel bars are often called TMT steel bars. TMT steel bars also called TMT Saria.

Why TMT  Steel bar is required ?

Concrete is generally a very strong in compression, but it is very weak in tension. This imbalance in concrete is tackled by inserting the steel bars along with concrete to carry the designloads.Steelbars workas a secondary reinforcement  by providing durability. It works as resistance to limit cracking, environmental changes and shrinkages.

Rebars are used to hold other steel bars in proper position to accommodate the loads.  So, TMT steel bars are highly used in concrete to give more strength and durability to the structures. TMT steel bars are used mainly for the RCC construction structures. It gives excellent corrosion resistant and high elongation.They assure a good quality with high yield strength,high tensile strength and good ribs for concrete bonding.These advantages is these steel bars need not be given cold twisting. It contains maximum chemical properties required according to the IS standards.

What are the different types of TMT Steel Bars?

TMT steel bars are available in three major grades Fe 500, Fe 500 D and  Fe 600. ‘500’ denotes the strength of the rebar andthe minimum yield stress in N/mm2 .‘D’ refers to ductility of the rebar.

What are the different sizes of TMT Steel Bars or TMT Saria?

TMT  steel bar sizes  are classified based on their steel rod diameter, so the sizes available are 6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 16mm, 20mm, 25mm. Out of which 6mm & 32mm are Make to order or Customized orders based on the requirement of the customer demands. Single bars of size 20 feet or 12m are available.

Here is a basic calculating guide for your reference:

TMT Size (In bundle)	TMT Weight per bundle	TMT Rods per bundle
8mm	48 kg	10
10mm	48 kg	7
12mm	50 kg	5
16mm	53 kg	3
20mm	57 kg	2
25mm	44 kg	1
32mm	73 kg	1

Basic Details of Cement and its Requirement

What is Cement?

Cement is used a binder, a substance that can easily set and hardens when it dries out. It has the ability to react with carbon dioxide in the air and can bind other material along with it. The word cement originates from the Latin word ‘Opus Caementicium’ which is used to explain the mixture of crushed rock and burnt lime as a binder. Later in years, a mixture of the volcanic ash and brick additives along with burned lime were used to obtain a hydraulic binder often called as cementum. Now, it is called as cement.

Why cement is required?

Cement is a binder and used in constructionwork  inorder to bind all the material particles together. The presence  of the binder will make the structure strong and solid. Cement is an essential part of any construction work. There is no stronger binder as cement. Cement price in Bangalore varies once in a month.

What are the different types of cement ?

Ordinary Portland cement (OPC)

Ordinary Portland is  manufactured for the purpose of  dry- lean mixes, ready- mix purpose and also for the pre- cast and pre- stressed concrete.

OPC 33 grade indicates the 28 days of compressive strength which is not less than 33/N mm2 (Mpa). In the same way, OPC 43 and OPC 53 grade cement should have 28 days of compressive strength and should not be less than 43 and 53 mpa.These are introduced according to the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS).

Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC):Portland Pozzolana Cement is nothing but Portland cement blended with  fly ash, burnt clays and siliciousearths.This type of cement is prepared by grinding Portland clinker,gypsum and pozzolanicmaterilas with water. It gives more strength and resistence to wet cracking and thermal cracking. It offers a high degree of cohesion and workability in case of concrete and mortar.

Portland Slag Cement (PSC):Furnace slag contains granulated blast-furnace slag, silicates and alumino-silicates of calcium. Having these particles in the cement, brings lighter colour, concrete workability, better finishability, high level of compressive strength,lower permeability and more resistance to chemical reactions. This cement is the mixture of clinker and blast furnace slag having glass content and gypsum along with optimum PSD (Particle Size Distribution).

Rapid Hardening Portland Cement: This type of cement contains higher level of tri- calcium silicates and finer grinding. It provides higher strength than OPC.

SulphateResisting Portland Cement (SRC):SRC contains tricalcium aluminates less than 5% and can be used for the purpose met byPortland Pozzolana Cement, Slag Cement and Ordinary Portland Cement

Low Heat Portland Cement: The heat evolution is slow in the low heat Portland cement in the initial level. But, after sometimes, setting and hardening become faster than OPC.

Hydrophobic Cement: It is obtained by grinding Portland cement clinker with oleic acid.It is also called waterproof cement since a water- repellent is added to it.