Selecting the right quality bricks for your construction project is one of the most important decisions you will face throughout your building project. This is not something that can be readily or easily changed so it will require serious consideration. For so many individuals, it has always been a big question to WHICH ARE THE BEST TYPES OF BRICKS TO USE FOR MY BUILDING PROJECT? Well the answer to choosing the right bricks for your project is pretty simple, considering you are referring to the right source for answers. Your first port of call is to see whether or not the brick is appropriate for the area you wish to build in. This will need a careful consideration of location, style, surroundings, standard etc. For some, how cheap bricks are is a major concern yet for some, the quality of the bricks while for others it may be the color of bricks to use. Many building project owners have fallen victim to bricks and blocks manufacturers who tend to be focused on making you pay more for lesser quality and less appropriate bricks for your project.
So we shall focus on the four main factors which make up for the best bricks and blocks for your building project. It might be as little as a boundary wall around your house to something as large as your new industrial complex.
1. Price and affordability
Are cheap bricks the way to go for my building project? What is affordable in relation to buying bricks in Zimbabwe? Where do i get cheap bricks? These among the very many other questions stand as the main ones that most building project owners always ask. Low priced bricks are not always the best neither are the expensive ones too. The cost of bricks is not only in the price of the bricks you are buying, but also consider how your property will look afterwards, is your property going to develop cracks soon and how durable the bricks and building materials are. This often translate to the true value of a property and thus the price has to be in proportion to the desired value of the property. Getting something affordable is however key to your choosing the right type of bricks for your project and this is where you can consider Vaka Concrete as your building project partner.
2. Quality, strength and durability
Its a cliché among building project owners to say, “I want the best quality bricks” or “I need high quality bricks”. How then do you separate the high quality bricks from the low quality bricks. Well the easiest option is. . . buy your bricks from a professional brick making company such as Vaka Concrete. See it this way, the larger companies have invested millions of dollars in proper brick making technologies and have hired specialist to make sure that every brick produced is of the highest and best quality. So why not go for the well established brick makers? Apart from that these are some of the characteristics to look out for in buying quality bricks:
3. Characteristics to look out for in buying quality bricks:
- Defined straight edges – simply by looking, you can tell if a brick’s edges are well defined.
- Right angled corners – needs a little bit more care but you can always lay the bricks side by side and see if the edges and corners lie flash against each other.
- Strength-minimum-14 days•7mpa; 28 days•12 mpa+ – this is the more complicated stuff hey. But for a quick test, just break the bricks and see how quick you can do it.
- Fine homogeneous aggregates.
- Non fading synthetic oxides to preserve colour for longer.
4. Colour – black, red, amber, orange, slate gray, plain.
On finishing your project you need the right color of bricks to match you choice of finish. Plastered walls more appropriately will use plain coloured bricks or slate gray or even any color will do here. Its only magicians who will see through walls anyway. But there comes a finish with bricks, this is where you really need to consider the color of the brick to use. Some property owners would prefer a red finish, or an amber more commonly refereed to as orange bricks. These different coloured bricks (black bricks, red bricks, amber bricks, orange bricks, slate gray bricks, plain coloured bricks) can be matched to the roof colour, or even to match the wall paint etc.
5. Type of bricks – stock, common, farm, face.
Different types of bricks are available for construction projects and the advisable type of brick to use is largely dependant on the type of structure or construction project. A farmhouse type of construction project would not really need attention to the symmetrical architecture of the bricks. This is more appropriate for such type of projects and usually the best type to use will be the hand made bricks. When you are considering a more modern look, you should look for bricks that are well defined in shape and corners. These are usually the machine made stock bricks and face bricks.