5 Types of Bricks and How to Choose One

In the history of professional construction practices, brick is one of the oldest materials for homes and building projects. It is also arguably the most durable since brick walls, foundations, pillars, and road surfaces are still intact from thousands of years ago.

When asked to think of a brick building, you might conjure up an image of a red brick schoolhouse or a similar traditional structure, but "brick" doesn't refer to a single material. Bricks can be made of many different materials for different purposes. The types of bricks are categorized according to their component materials and method of manufacture.

Here, look at the five most common types of brick that are the best for construction and home renovation—burnt clay, sand lime, concrete, fly ash clay, and engineering bricks—and the uses for each.

What Is Brick?

Officially, the term "brick" is used to denote a building unit made of shaped clay, but in modern times it refers to any stone- or clay-based building unit that is joined with cementitious mortar when used in construction.

Typically, brick sizes are about 8 inches long and 4 inches wide, coming in various thicknesses. Sizes also vary by country. Standard brick prices vary widely from $.25 per brick to $4. Larger stone- or clay-based building units, such as those used in foundations, are called "blocks."

Advantages of Brick Construction

There are many advantages when bricks are used in construction.

Aesthetic: Bricks offer a variety of natural colors and textures.
Strength: Bricks offer high compressive strength.
Porosity: The ability to release and absorb moisture helps regulate temperatures and humidity inside structures.
Fire protection: When appropriately prepared, brick can resist fire at maximum protection ratings for up to 8 hours.
Sound attenuation: The amount of sound a brick wall blocks out varies, but standard forms can block an average of 60-70 decibels, and brick walls can be constructed to block over 200 decibels.
Insulation: Bricks absorb and release heat slowly for excellent thermal insulation compared to other materials. By helping to regulate and maintain the constant interior temperatures of a structure, bricks can save 50% more energy than wood.
Wear resistance: Strong composition resists wear and tear common in other materials.

Tip

Unlike wood, bricks are man-made, requiring no excavation, deforestation, or exploitation of non-renewable resources.

How Bricks Are Made

You can make bricks in various ways, often from a clay-based material, molded into shape, and then fixed in form with heat or other drying processes.

The oldest bricks used natural clay and were dried in the sun. Sun-dried bricks may be the oldest type but also the weakest. Over time, techniques were developed to make bricks stronger and more resilient to weight, heat, weather, and erosion.

You can mix clay with concrete, ash, or various chemicals to change the composition of brick to achieve desired qualities. Firebricks are specialty bricks usually used for fireplaces. They are made from fireclay, mostly containing silica and alumina.

How Bricks Are Categorized

Brick can be categorized in several ways. For example, you can divide brick into the types used for "facing" (exposed) vs. "backing" (structural and hidden from view) by how they are manufactured: "unfired" (air-cured) and "fired" (oven-baked), or by using: "common" bricks (used for residential construction) and "engineering" bricks (used in heftier civil projects).

Tip

Bricks can be categorized according to different features, but categories overlap, and the taxonomy—though very descriptive—is imperfect.

Bricks can also be categorized according to their shape:

Brick veneers are thin and used for surface cladding.
Airbricks contain large holes to circulate air and decrease weight for suspended floors and cavity walls.
Perforated bricks have many drilled cylindrical holes and are very light in weight.
Bullnose bricks are molded with round angles.
Paving bricks contain iron for underfoot paving applications.
Capping bricks top freestanding walls.
Hollow bricks are about one-third of standard bricks' weight for non-load-bearing partition walls.

Categorizing Bricks by Raw Materials

In modern construction practices, bricks are categorized according to their component materials and method of manufacture. Under this classification, there are five common types.

01 of 05

Burnt Clay Bricks

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Burnt clay bricks are very old building material found in many of the ancient structures of the world. Burnt clay bricks are the classic form of brick, created by pressing wet clay into molds, then drying and firing in kilns. In appearance, these bricks are solid blocks of hardened clay, usually reddish.

Burnt clay bricks are typically sold in four classes. First-class burnt-clay bricks are the best, offering the best quality and strength. These high-grade burnt clay bricks have no noticeable flaws and cost more than lower classes.

When burnt clay bricks are used in walls, they require plastering or rendering with mortar. Uses for burnt clay bricks include masonry walls, foundations, and columns.
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Sand Lime Bricks

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Sand lime bricks (calcium silicate bricks) are made by mixing sand, fly ash, and lime. Pigments may also be added for color. The mixture is then molded under pressure to form bricks. Sand lime bricks are not fired in kilns in the same manner as burnt clay bricks; instead, the materials bond together by a chemical reaction that occurs as the wet bricks dry under heat and pressure. Sand lime bricks offer advantages such as:
- Their uniform shape presents a smoother finish that doesn’t require plastering.
- They offer excellent strength for load-bearing structures.
- They are gray instead of the standard reddish color. Different pigments can be added for ornamental purposes.
- Less mortar is required during construction.
- Edges are straight and precise, making construction easier.
- They do not effloresce salts and minerals.
Sand lime bricks are often used in structural foundations and walls, exposed brick and pillars, and, when the pigment is added, for ornamental uses.
03 of 05

Engineering Bricks

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Engineering bricks are used primarily in civil projects where strength and resilience against the elements are essential. They are clay-based and can be mixed with many other materials.

What sets engineering bricks apart from other types is their extreme durability: They are fired at excessively high temperatures to produce a brick as hard as iron. They also have very low porosity and are used in places like sewers, retaining walls, manholes, foundational work, and underground tunnels, where resistance to water and frost is crucial. They come in two classes, A and B, with A offering higher compression strength and lower water absorption for the toughest conditions.

Tip

"Fire" or "refractory" bricks are also fired at extremely high temperatures and manufactured from specially formulated earth with a high aluminum oxide content to withstand incredible heat for use in places like chimneys, barbecues, and pizza ovens.
04 of 05

Concrete Bricks

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Concrete bricks are made from solid concrete poured into molds. They are traditionally used in internal brickwork but are more frequently used in exterior work, such as facades and fences, to provide a modern or urban aesthetic. Concrete bricks can be manufactured in different colors if pigments are added during production.

Due to their durability, concrete bricks can be used in almost any construction except underground since they tend to be porous.

Continue to 5 of 5 below.
05 of 05
Fly Ash Clay Bricks

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Fly ash clay bricks are manufactured with clay and fly ash—a byproduct of coal burning—fired at about 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit. This type of brick is sometimes described as self-cementing since it contains a high volume of calcium oxide and expands when exposed to moisture. This tendency to expand, however, can also produce pop-out failure. Fly ash clay brick has the advantage of being lighter in weight than clay or concrete brick.

Typical uses for fly ash clay brick include:
- Structural walls
- Foundations
- Pillars
- Anywhere that improved fire resistance is required

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