WHY USE BRICK?

To build with real fired clay bricks to use one of the most beautiful, enduring materials known to humankind. Clay brick connects us with a building heritage going back to ancient Egyptian times.

Inferior materials often try to look like genuine clay brick - try to persuade you they offer a real alternative. Genuine clay brick never imitates, never looks cheap; in real terms is never more expensive.

Real clay brick is timeless, classic - as contemporary as the mind of the architect; as stylish as the backdrop to a fashion shoot; as desirable as an 18th century English mansion.

In colour; texture, strength and permanence it has no equal.

TIMELESS DURABILITY

The history of clay brick is as long as it took human beings realise that in the magical combination of earth, air, fire and water, they had at their fingertips a unique and durable building medium. Sun-dried bricks go back to at least 13 000 BC, though kiln-fired bricks were first produced during the Bronze Age - around 3 000 B C.

Less than a year from the arrival of Van Riebeeck at the Cape, the first kiln of “hard, red Cape Bricks” was fired. By the time of the first British occupation in 1795, the clay brick tradition in Southern Africa was well established.

In Europe there are brick buildings still standing that date back to the 12th century - over 8000 years old. Modern brick-making techniques produce bricks that are even more durable. When you build in clay brick, you build to last - for centuries.

Under the auspices of the Clay Brick Association, which upholds the integrity of their members, you can specify many different grades of brick offering a varying ability to withstand the combined effects, over time, of moisture, soluble salts and thermal changes.

REALLY PRACTICAL

Easy self-build

The wide availability of clay brick makes it a ready option wherever it’s needed. To relatively unskilled labour, it’s a forgiving medium to work with.

During construction beats any weather

To anyone who has ever arrived on a building site after overnight rain, the use of real clay brick can be the difference between starting work or sending the team home for the day. Clay brick seldom becomes too wet, simply working with a dryer mortar is often enough to ensure correct adhesion. What’s more its ability to dry out fast is remarkable, and can make a real difference to completing a project on time.

REALLY VERSATILE

Cladding, filler, structure.

Very few building materials come close to the versatility of clay brick. Most materials are individually good at only one thing: as a structural element for instance, or as a thermal or acoustic insulator which must be painted or panelled to look like anything. Real clay brick combines the lot.

It works both as a structural element that can be used on its own - even in multi=storied buildings or in conjunction with reinforced concrete, as an aesthetically pleasing cladding material. As highly practical filler between concrete or steel structural members, its use is widespread.

THE REAL CHOICE

Making South African proud.

The desirability of real clay brick to the proud first-time house owner makes this the building material of choice in the creation of the new South Africa. Never can a building made with real clay brick be perceived as using second grade materials.

A real home

A real home is a lasting home, for only a home that will stand the test of time offers real security. Over centuries of use, real brick has proved its long lasting abilities. In the context of Africa, with a history of having to make do with inferior materials, the use of brick can go some way to restoring a nation’s pride in its home.

In applications like sub-economic housing, very few affordable materials are acceptable on their own. Most need painting or cladding to hide the fact that they’re made from cheap materials. With brick, even when used in semi-face walling, South Africans can show with pride what their houses are made of.

They can also be sure that because their most valuable asset is made from the longest lasting material, it can be handed down from generation to generation.

REAL CHALLENGE

Just as the nylon and polyester frenzy of the fifties ballooned and waned in favour of traditional natural cotton, so traditional natural clay brick continues to enjoy resurgent interest among architects and designers. The current ‘exposed industrial’ look that interior design companies are exploring is often based on exposed rough clay brickwork.

In the current move towards loft apartments and business units, it is often the material of choice - both as far as the aesthetics of the material goes, and from its ability to trap solar energy and slowly radiate it back into the building at night. For architects, this is but one facet of a material that in its structural possibilities is as fascinating and challenging now as it was a thousand year ago. Genuine clay brick has the uncanny ability to re-invent itself.

PRACTICAL

The wide availability of clay brick makes it a ready option wherever it’s needed. To relatively unskilled labour, it’s a forgiving medium to work with.

FIRE-RESISTANT & INSULATING

The fire resistance of a building material refers to the length of time a walling element is about to resist a fully developed fire. In every case, clay brick walls obtain maximum fire ratings. To the owner of a clay brick building this means peace of mind and substantial savings over time on insurance premiums.

The insulating properties of clay brick - both thermal and acoustic - are legendary. Real clay brick has a remarkable ability to resist the transmission of heat, and so is an excellent insulator - warm in winter, cool in summer.

The thermal capacity of clay brick - that is the ability to store heat energy - has a dramatic effect on a building's potential to store heat during the day and release it at night which helps to even out termperature fluctuations in extreme climates like South Africa. As far as acoustic insulation is concerned, the density of clay brick makes it a very efficient insulator of sound. There is no need to add further sound deadening panels.

AFFORDABLE

The cost of real clay bricks is low to start with, but when you take into account their immense durability and the fact that they are maintenance free, they cost even less over time than any other building material.

In addition other cost advantages include excellent fire, noise and thermal resistance as well as ease of construction and plaster adhesion. All the intrinsic advantages of clay bricks are retain even when they are plastered.

Because clay bricks don't deteriorate, and never go out of fashion, clay brick houses are always in demand and achieve higher resale values.