List four advantags and one disadvantage of using clay as building material

Clay building materials can reduce the energy consumption of buildings due to their excellent insulation properties and their heat storage capacity. Clay building materials are robust, stable and, as a result, especially durable; their lifespan is more than 150 years.

Advantages of Clay as a Building Material

A healthy living environment especially requires the use of the right building materials. In general, building materials are strongly influencing the indoor climate and quality of living.

Clay as a Building Material

There are a number of advantages of clay for which it can be used in architecture. One of the main being the fact that Clay as a building material is ideal for tropical conditions in our subcontinent. Other than these natural clay – of which terracotta is made of, is the most flexible form of earth. It is essentially the least resisting material. Clay is the oldest known versatile building material which has lasted for centuries sustaining its value and utility, it is the most plastic and workable material as it takes shapes of a toy to a material used for making high rise buildings THE BRICK….clay is the most versatile product from plasticity moldability point of view. It can be molded in to any shape or size without least effort. It can acquire pleasing forms as desired by the architects. It is the eco- friendly building material available on earth. The common red clay used for the production of tiles is the most abundantly available mineral, with high plasticity and workability in wet condition. Clay is a healthy solution for modern day building construction. The structures made up of the clay have proven themselves for their versatility and endurance for ages. Clay was selected as the choice of material for various favorable reasons including the commercial considerations, natural availability and recyclable nature of clay. Looking into the current volatility of the manufacturing cost of cement, Clay proves to be the most cost efficient and sustainable.

Clay when fired leads to a porous structure which are filled with air when dry thus providing the best of the insulation properties largely useful to regulate the temperature (keeping cool in summers and warm in winters).

Wienerberger India introduced natural, environmentally friendly yet technologically advanced specialized clay bricks under the brand Porotherm to address this precise need for genuine clay based building material. The design of the product itself has been made keeping sustainability in mind with optimal usage of natural resources and energy with a very high level of automation enabling large scale production to cater to the growing demand from this segment.

According to production process, fire clay brick is divided into machine made brick and handmade brick. According to structures, fire clay brick is divided into solid brick and hollow brick, and hollow brick can be divided into load-bearing brick and nonbearing brick. Fire clay brick is made at different shapes according to different using requirements.

1.) Fire clay brick is environmentally friendly and belongs to resource recycling bricks, so we can rest assured use fire clay brick. Fire clay bricks won’t be harmful to our health.

2.) Fire clay brick has advantages of fireproof and heat insulation. Used clay brick can be used as concrete so that to save a lot of resources.

3.) The price of fire clay brick is not as expensive as that of other fire bricks. Light weight brick is more expensive than fire clay brick. Besides, fire clay brick is very cheap and very durable

4.) Fire clay brick has good moisture-proof function, it also has the advantages of fire insulation, heat insulation and moisture absorption.

1.) Clay brick is made of concrete and is much heavier than other masonry materials. It will make the whole building bear more weight, and it will increase the cost of the whole project.

2.) Clay brick’s soundproof effect is poor. When outside sound spreads into clay brick, because it doesn't have a lot of air holes, it can't isolate the sound very well.

3.) Clay brick’s main raw material is soil, and that will do harm to the environment. Clay brick manufacturing easily lead to the loss of soil and water. For this reason in China caly brick is being forbidden gradually.

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