Facing brick types and colors of photo textures and shapes

The facing brick is outwardly more attractive than the ordinary one - after all, it is an element of the wall decoration and should not “hit the face with dirt”. It is used not only for cladding, but also for the manufacture of beautiful fences, and in some cases for interior decoration. As you can see in the photos below, the types and colors of facing bricks differ significantly. And what exactly - read on.

Types of facing bricks depending on the material of manufacture

The main ingredients used in brick making are cement with limestone and clay. Apply substances of a natural origin to coloring. It turns out a material resistant to fierce frost, impermeable to water and environmentally friendly. Depending on the production technology and the ingredients used, the facing brick can be: ceramic, clinker, hyperpressed and silicate.

Ceramic brick

This type of cladding material may be solid or hollow. This brick is made from certain grades of clay. This does not affect the appearance, but the load on the supporting structures (directly dependent on the severity of the materials) is different - this should be taken into account when buying a brick.

As for the front surface, it is decorated in many ways. The classic version is a smooth plane (shiny or matte). A textured finish that imitates a completely different material (for example, stone) is possible. Popular finish - glazing, giving the surface an elegant look and beautiful shine. A great option for making mosaics.

Ceramic hollow bricks.

Clinker brick

This type of product also applies to ceramics, however, it is a more modern variation. Due to the addition of a special type of clay and firing at a very high temperature, it turns out a very strong and durable material. It is useful where the load is large and constant. With clinker products it is good to arrange the openings of windows with doors, pave paths in the country house or courtyard area, decorate the base.

Since the brick has a high density and a minimum of pores, its water absorption is very low. This fact increases the resistance to frost. The lined plane can serve for a long time without being covered with cracks and chips and without losing a beautiful look. But in the increased density there is a small trick - an increase in thermal conductivity.

Both the palette of the colors of the clinker stone and its overall characteristics are distinguished by a wide variety. For example, there is a form called the "long brick", the length of which is really solid - 52.8 centimeters. Its width and height are 10.8 and 3.7 centimeters.

Clinker hollow bricks.

Hyper-pressed brick

This type of product is obtained without the use of firing. Instead, it is used a high pressure method, acting with it on molded products. Components such as sand and clay are excluded from the composition of this brick. It uses limestone, cement additives and special dyes.

Thanks to technology, a brick has a very textured chip, similar to the look of a natural stone surface. This is often played up by artists, designers, the result is a very original building. In addition, a brick of this type is simple to process, while its properties are preserved.

Hyperpressed products have increased strength, they are not afraid of severe cold, and their shape is just perfect (there are no bumps or deviations from right angles). However, the thermal conductivity is quite high (because it depends on the density). Here, perhaps, the only drawback. However, it is easily corrected by the use of a heat insulator.

Hyper-pressed brick.

Silicate brick

This type will cost the least, but according to its external characteristics it is one of the last places. Therefore, silicate products are used less often for cladding. People want to see the walls of their homes beautifully and tastefully decorated, while other materials allow us to do this better than silicate bricks.

Full-body silicate brick.

Hollow and solid facing brick

Bricks for facades can be monolithic (solid), filled with material throughout the volume and having a solid weight. From them it turns out stronger facing (but also colder).

Hollow cores are products with internal cavities (round, square, rectangular). This brick has a low weight and better retains heat by keeping it inside the voids.

Types of facing brick colors

When choosing a shade to finish the facade of a house, look at the range of windows, doors, roof and other elements. Also depends on the choice of color size and shape of the building.

So, if the facing area is small, then the eye can see fewer color tones of the brick. Many of them seem dimmer and paler than they really are. Therefore, when making small details, choose colors that are brighter, more succinct, so that they play as they should.

If you want to see some not very bright or darkish tone in all its glory, then use a sufficient area. Suppose you lay out the whole big wall with such a brick. Keep in mind that very dark colors are often perceived as solid black.

Also remember the combination of colors when they are nearby. Together they look different than alone. If their brightness is approximately equal, then they can change tones (in the masonry of the Bavarian type, this is important). This effect is especially noticeable when framing one color with another. But on the border the opposite is noticeable: the colors acquire a rich edge (dark - dark, light - light), as if trying to separate themselves from each other.

Colors of front ceramic and clinker ceramic brick

The range of colors of these products is extensive, but even one color can vary in shades by party. After all, the resulting color depends on the firing, as well as on the presence of certain impurities (usually metallic). For example, iron gives red. The bigger it is, the brighter the brick.

And if the lining is carried out by using products from different batches in turn, then not very aesthetic multicolored groups of bricks can turn out on the walls. Experienced masons, however, figured out how to cope with this: they take bricks from one lot, then from another, then from the third. As a result, the wall comes out uniform color - the color differences are small and not striking.

And a number of manufacturers also decided to help consumers by releasing packs of bricks, the color of which is different. Even more than that - sometimes even the surface of individual parts has smooth transitions of shades. All of the above features are the norm for this type of brick.

In order for you to appreciate all the color features of ceramic facing bricks, we give below a photo of not individual bricks, but masonry of certain colors of ceramic bricks:

The colors of the hyper-pressed brick

There is no firing, so the color of the pigment added to the molding material sets the tone for the products. Due to this fact, all the bricks are painted evenly throughout the volume, and the batches do not differ in range from each other. However, the added cement with its dirty gray color reduces the brightness of the products. They can always be distinguished from clinker and ceramic bricks by a slightly grayish shade - the so-called "concrete".

Photo of facing hyperpressed brick and its color:

Colors of silicate facing brick

It is easiest to paint such a brick over the whole mass, for which purpose the dye is added to the mixer capacity, where the mixture is prepared. To measure the right amount of paint, use the dispenser. It is important not to overdo it: too much paint is expensive and can lead to a deterioration in strength. And if you put a little dye, the products will turn out pale and ugly. Sometimes, in order to save, only one face layer is subjected to staining on both sides.

The main colors in which silicate bricks are painted are as follows:

Types of front surface

The design of its relief or texture helps to diversify the types of facing bricks. At the same time on the spoon (butting) make roughness, indentations or depressions, forming a pattern. It can be ordered or randomly applied. To obtain it using several methods.

The texture on ceramic and clinker bricks

In those bricks during the production of which firing is used, the relief is easier to create: apply the necessary patterns to the wet molded products, and then dry them and send them to the stove to complete hardening. This method of application does not damage the surface, so that the corrugated bricks remain as strong as smooth.

Their variations are quite impressive and it is not possible to show all the samples within this material, but some of the most interesting textures can be seen below:

In addition, other methods of creating textures are used.

Shotcrete. With this method, a crumb of mineral origin is applied to the face of the products - this is done before firing. Due to soldering of a crumb with a brick surface the original invoice is formed. And the combination of different colors allows the product to play with new colors, smoothly converging into each other.

Note that a high temperature is required here (in order to melt mineral particles and bake them with the surface), therefore only brick bricks are subjected to shotcreteing. The resulting decorative products can be beautifully trimmed columns, corners of the mansion, windows with doors.

However, the relief is worse in care than a smooth plane. And the gunned brick collects more dirt. And if it is white or light cream, then you have to clean it often enough, making a lot of effort.

Ceramic brick shotcrete with mineral chips.

Masonry of shotcrete bricks.

Engobing - ceramic coating. Liquid ceramic mass (engobe) is used here. It is applied by watering or sprayed onto surfaces (already well dried), completely covering the color and texture of the products. This is followed by kilning. As a result, the brick acquires a ceramic coating with a thickness of about one millimeter.

Sometimes, in order to achieve a certain effect (for example, the illusion of antique brickwork), the entire front surface is not covered with an angobe, but only certain areas. So interesting color transitions turn out.

As regards the operational properties, they are about the same as those of other types of bricks. However, it should not be forgotten that the finish layer is thin enough, so you need to act carefully in order not to accidentally scratch and chop it.

Some types of engobing are presented below:

Frosting. This technique is very close to the previous one. But here it is not a clay-based mixture that is used for decoration, but a special composition glaze. It is much stronger and more decorative. In addition, such a surface, resembling a glass, gets protection from moisture. You can experiment with shades and patterns with might and main - glazing it fully allows. Firing is required - without it, the finish will not harden.

Examples of ceramic bricks covered with glaze:

Texture for hyper-pressed bricks

Since high temperatures are not used in the manufacture of these products, they are different for imparting relief way than in all the above methods. To do this, they began to use the method of splitting bricks, getting products that look like natural stone. Visually, it looks about the same as a chip on a broken piece of rock. By betraying brick, various chips, manufacturers produce entire product lines with certain textures. The same manufacturers began to give their names to the produced invoices, therefore, hyperpressed bricks can be found on the market, which apparently have the same chip, but different names.

Splitting is done with special equipment. This equipment presses a kind of guillotine that splits bricks in the desired plane, resulting in an invoice, which is called chipped. To give a brick, for example, an invoice called a “torn brick”, a stab or even a flat workpiece, along the perimeter of the front surface, is subjected to additional chips with a special machine tool. Thus, plunging billets to various treatments, the following textures of the hyperpressed brick are made: crushed, torn, rock, wild stone, marble, Finnish.

The texture of silicate brick

Silicate brick cannot boast such a variety of textures. However, modern technologies make it possible to create a rusticated and crushed texture on the front surface of this brick.

Varieties of facing brick

It is by facing that you can magically transform a house, which is an ordinary rectangular “box”. Having done something exclusive, original and impressive. And to make it easier to cope with this task, manufacturers produce a special front brick - figured. With him, even a complex pattern to lay out - not a problem.

Figured ceramic bricks

With such products beautifully decorate the space around the doors with windows, process corners, curtain rods, and revet the columns. The face and the sides usually differ from the standard shape. Next, we describe the main varieties.

Above, almost all popular forms of ceramic bricks are provided, but depending on the manufacturer they may have differences.

Hyper pressed figured brick

Hyper pressed brick, also boasts a huge variety of shapes.

About the size of facing bricks

Bricks of single size are used most often. Their long part has a size of 25 cm, and the other two sizes are 12 and 6.5 cm. Half-and-a-half bricks are thicker — instead of 6.5 cm, this parameter is 8.8 cm. There are also double products that have a thickness that reaches 13.8 cm. These are all domestic measurements.

If we talk about the standards of Europe, then they mainly use bricks of a slightly different size: 24 cm. Length, 11.5 cm. Width and 7.1 cm. Thickness.

The Americans, too, are different: 25 by 6 by 6.5 cm or 24 by 6 by 7.1 cm (the latter is clinker, it is often done in Europe using NF standards Germany).