Red Bricks Vs Grey "fabricated" Bricks

[pantieileen 2]

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Edited October 12, 2011 by pantieileen

[Merxx 0]

The grey brick might be hollow brick or concrete brick which is commonly used in US... red brick is more common in asia countries. But i dun no what the price difference.

[watchthewaves 0]

Went to check out on my reconstruction progress this afternoon and i saw the house behind me under renovation as well. Noticed the few differences

1) I'm using red bricks for all my walls but the house behind me is using grey longer but thinner bricks (not sure if his is bricks but i could see a hollow portion inside his bricks).

Is his better or mine better?

I'd rather use the solid red bricks. Believe they are stronger than the hollow bricks.

2) Drove by the house behind me to check out who's the builder but saw no signboard (ie those signboard that states TOP, builder name, engineer name, owner etc etc).

How come his don't have? illegal?

Might not be illegal. Could be that permit obtained, but did not put up the sign. So works approved, but offence in not putting sign up.

3) I created an attic, could see the house behind me still maintained his tile roof. But the entire stretch his stretch and mine were built in the same timeframe so technically the roof also same age. So this means his project is smaller scale than mine

4) I extended backyard, he also did so its the same

5) His house bought in June 2010. Construction just started beginning of this year too (mine 3rd Jan 2011) but his progress seems so much faster than mine. Why? Smaller scale?

Could be. Could also be they have more workers?

Just KPO lah but my foreman says the house behind job is "illegal" wonder how true..then i start to wonder if i'm paying ALOT ALOT more than him. just for the main difference (new roof and new attic) then wonder if mine is worth it

i got pictures of his bricks will post it when i get home.

[kardtoon 0]

Not necessary solid bricks better than hollow bricks but they do seem to be better than the concrete ones.

"Fired clay bricks usually have holes in them, sometimes 3 and sometimes 4 or 5 depending on size (but sometimes none) so they heat evenly during the firing process. Adobe bricks (don't use them) aren't fired, so they have no holes. They also aren't very strong and they aren't resistant to water penetration -- in winter, water can get inside and freeze to ice, causing spalling. Bricks come in modular size, queen size, and king size, in addition to specialty sizes. Most builders use king, because masons charge per brick, not by square footage covered, and also because larger bricks require less mortar per square foot of coverage -- mortar costs a lot more per square foot than does brick. Concrete brick (called crick) is better than adobe, but no brick is as good as fired clay which is rated WS for weather severe. WS brick is all I use; it's rated for Alaska freezes and for Arizona summers. By the way, rebar is sometimes run into the holes in cement block (usually 8 by 16 inches) and then filled with concrete or mortar for hurricane resistance, but I've never heard of trying to fit rebar through multiple courses of overlapping brick. Instead, we use brick ties to attach brick to the wood frame behind it."

My builder uses the holes in the bricks to fill with concrete so that they bricks bonds better with each other and helps in better stability.

[pantieileen 2]

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Edited October 12, 2011 by pantieileen

[dreamhouse 0]

for my house reno - red bricks were use for exterior walls and hollow ones for interior walls...

don't know if it is the norm or contractor trying to save $