Brick Classification

Brick Nomenclature Frequently, the Builder must cut the brick into various shapes. The most common shapes are shown in figure 7-50. They are called half or bat, three-quarter closure, quarter closure, king closure, queen closure, and split. They are used to fill in the spaces at corners and such other places where a full brick will not fit. The six surfaces of a brick are called the cull, the beds, the side, the end, and the face, as shown in figure 7-51. Brick Classification A finished brick structure contains FACE brick (brick placed on the exposed face of the structure) and BACKUP brick (brick placed behind the face brick). The face brick is often of higher quality than the backup brick; however, the entire wall may be built of COMMON brick. Figure 7-50.-Nomenclature of common shapes of cut brick. Figure 7-51.-Brick surfaces nomenclature. Common brick is brick that is made from pit-run clay, with no attempt at color control and no special surface treatment like glazing or enameling. Most common brick is red. Although any surface brick is a face brick as distinguished from a backup brick, the term face brick is also used to distinguish high-quality brick from brick that is of common-brick quality or less. Applying this criterion, face brick is more uniform in color than common brick, and it may be obtained in a variety of colors as well. It may be specifically finished on the surface, and in any case, it has a better surface appearance than common brick. It may also be more durable, as a result of the use of select clay and other materials, or as a result of special manu- facturing methods. Backup brick may consist of brick that is inferior in quality even to common brick. Brick that has been underburned or overburned, or brick made with inferior clay or by inferior methods, is often used for backup brick. Still another type of classification divides brick into grades according to the probable climatic conditions to which it is to be exposed. These are as follows: GRADE SW is brick designed to withstand exposure to below-freezing temperatures in a moist climate like that of the northern regions of the United States. GRADE MW is brick designed to withstand exposure to below-freezing temperatures in a drier climate than that mentioned in the previous paragraph. GRADE NW is brick primarily intended for interior or backup brick. It maybe used exposed, however, in a region where no frost action occurs, or in a region where frost action occurs, but the annual rainfall is less than 15 in. Types of Bricks There are many types of brick. Some are different in formation and composition while others vary according to their use. Some commonly used types of brick are described in the following paragraphs. COMMON brick is made of ordinary clays or shales and burned in the usual manner in the 7-31