BRICKS

HISTORY OF BRICK

Earliest Brick

Man started using brick for building purposes for around 9,000 to 10,000 years. The earliest bricks were simply placed under the sun for hardening in warm climates areas, especially Egypt. Bricks were made of clay mixed with straw and baked by using fuel. The straw is mixed is to add the strength of the brick during drying and baking process in crude ovens.

Clay mixed with straw

The Romans made widely use of sun-dried bricks until the time of Augustus (63 B.C – 14 A.D), after that, they generalize used bricks burnt in kilns. In records, they used brick to build forts, walls, and cultural centers of brick. Bricks were used in the arches and faces of their aqueducts. Baths of Caracalia in Rome is one of the examples of Roman brick structures. Romans started to spread the art of brickmaking via Europe. Brickmaking was discontinued when Roman occupation ended in 410 in Britain. Unfortunately, there are a case that the Roman Empire fall. After the case happened, the kinds of brick used by Roman builders were no longer made. But, brick-making continued only in Italy and Byzantine Empire.

Baths of Caracalia in Rome 

The use of brick spread from these lands to France in 11^th century. In the 13^th century, this art has reached England and other parts of Europe. In medieval times, bricks were an important part of the medieval building style due to the hardness to find stones in Baltic regions. In this period, the clay for making brick usually was kneaded by man’s using their bare feet. The shape of the clay was shaped by pushing it into a wooden frame placed on table which was covered with sand and straw to prevent the clay from sticking. The brick was removed from frame after the extra clay was wiped away using a stick. Trowel, brick cutter and level are the major tools of the bricklayer.

Adobe Brick

An adobe brick, which is made of clay and straw, have been made for centuries in Mexico. The example for adobe structure is Pyramid of the Sun, which is built by the Aztec at Teotihuacan, Mexico.

Bricks were made by hand about 1885. The production capacity can be increase by using the brickmaking machinery. In fact, handmade brick was able to produce 36,000 bricks within a week whereas at the year of 1925, brickmaking machine was able to produce 12,000 bricks per day.