Good afternoon, dear guests and subscribers of the "Build for Myself" channel!
When a bricklayer erected a box for me from a brick house, he told an interesting story about weather - bricklayers installed on the top row of fresh brickwork - bottles of water every two or three meters.
Usually, this was done at lunchtime and at the end of the working day all night long - so as not to interfere with the production process. And the next morning, the bottles were removed and the laying continued on. And so on until the whole house is completed.
At first I did not understand what this event was for, and then, the master explained ...
The thing is that the fired clay has a porous structure, since after molding the product, the particles of the raw material are soldered in a high-temperature furnace, forming voids. Because of this, brick is considered one of the most water-absorbing materials, which, like a sponge, begins to pick up moisture from everywhere.
Such water absorption is detrimental to the masonry mortar and significantly reduces its brand strength, and accordingly, the mechanical characteristics of the entire masonry, since the brick takes water from the cement, which has not yet entered into reaction. If the cement grains have not reacted with water, respectively, the masonry mixture has lost its quality.
You may have already heard that some bricklayers soak bricks in water before laying them... This is done in order to pre-saturate the brick, then it ceases to absorb water without taking it away from the masonry mortar.
Let's get back to the bottles :-)
To prevent the brick from absorbing water and taking it out of the mortar, the bricklayer used to put freshly laid bricks on the top row - a container with water with the lid down, loosening it by half a turn or plastic bottles, after making a thin puncture with the tip needles.
Water, drop by drop, gradually soaked the entire wall and retained moisture in the masonry mortar.
Today, rarely, but you can still find builders of the old school. They can put a bag of water or damp rags on the brick, but this method is not "long-lasting", since the fabric dries quickly in the heat.
Most often, they do not do this at all, since any soaking of a brick initiates the release of salts contained both in the brick and in the cement mortar.
Now, craftsmen strive more for beauty than quality, and not every customer likes white stains on the walls of a beautiful house.
The fact is that earlier they did not think much about the appearance, and the construction of the house went with one goal only - to build a reliable roof over your head for yourself and your family.
That's all, thank you for your attention, and I hope that the article was interesting to you!
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