The foundation is the foundation of any building, which is why this stage of construction requires special attention.
The concrete most commonly used for pouring has various brands, on which strength depends. When broken bricks are added to the foundation, the class of materials used decreases and, accordingly, the strength of the foundation decreases. This factor will not affect the construction in any way if the construction of small buildings, cabins, garages, bathhouses is planned, but when constructing a cottage or multi-storey building It’s worth thinking about the possible consequences.
Main types of foundations
Depending on the structure, the materials used for its construction and methods of further operation, there are several main types of foundations, differing in design or type of manufacture:
Tape. Closed loop, made of reinforced concrete, brick or rubble concrete, which takes on the load of load-bearing walls.
Columnar. Pillars made of wood, brick, stone or concrete are driven into the ground and connected to each other by beams.
Slab. Distributes the load evenly over the entire surface, as it represents monolithic slab, filled to a certain depth.
Pile. Metal, concrete or wooden rods driven into the ground and united on the surface with a special slab.
Despite different technology, area and size, all types of foundations are united by the possibility of using concrete, rubble concrete (with the inclusion of stone) or brick materials.
Ways to save on pouring a foundation
The most common material for making strip beams, posts or slabs is concrete. For the most part, a product that is already prepared in production is used, which is delivered by large mixers to the place where the foundation is directly poured.
Often the cost of the services offered does not fit into the budget and builders try to find ways to save money that will not negatively affect the final result.
One of the options for reducing the cost is mixing cement, sand, crushed stone and water yourself, but here it is necessary to strictly observe the proportions in order to obtain a high-quality mixture.
The second way to reduce costs involves adding pieces of rubble stone to the concrete. To fill the foundation, you need to use durable, resistant to external influences materials. Most often, crushed stone is added, but the possibility of using broken bricks is not excluded. It is important that the brick be ceramic with high frost resistance, since silicate brick is susceptible to destruction in the ground.
Broken brick should be concentrated in the central part of the foundation, avoiding protrusions at the edges. Otherwise, the stone that has absorbed a large number of moisture can be subject to destruction, which leads to weakening of the base.
Should not be added to the foundation sand-lime brick or sandstone.
Is it possible to add to the foundation broken brick
News
In the first in Kazakhstan " Leroy Merlin» Deceuninck windows presented
On August 1, the opening of the first hypermarket of the Leroy Merlin network took place in Kazakhstan, in the city of Almaty. In the shop
ISOVER has developed the most elastic and warm slabs made of quartz for wall insulation
The Saint-Gobain company presents the new ISOVER Warm Walls Strong - mineral thermal insulation based on quartz
Deceuninck together with OKNA Kompas opened a showroom in Nizhny Novgorod
On July 25, a joint showroom of Deceuninck and the company opened in Nizhny Novgorod at 111 Gagarin Avenue
A rose hidden in a ball is an unusual lamp
Ball-shaped shades for lamps have long become a tradition. Moreover, compared to the variety of forms and
A house is like an iceberg: only a small part is visible!
In the heart of historic London, a new a private house Covert House, a project developed by
Chair "in a cube"
An original cube chair with bright upholstery in any interior can become one of the central objects of the furniture
Vegetable garden on the roof - again and again
Japanese architects often surprise us with unusual residential buildings. Due to the high population density, they have to
“Yin and Yang”: dining room furniture
What color furniture do you prefer to see in the dining room - white or black? Which design style do you think is best?
Brick foundations appeared much earlier than concrete foundations. Currently, they are used in private construction for the construction of houses up to three floors. If the technology is followed, a brick foundation is not inferior in strength to a concrete one, and you can make it yourself without the involvement of heavy equipment. How to make a tape or columnar foundation made of bricks with your own hands, what kind of brick is needed and in what cases are such foundations suitable?
A brick foundation is not suitable for all cases. Before choosing the type of foundation, you need to know the condition of the soil and the level of groundwater.
Attention! It is possible to make a brick foundation only on dry, hard, non-heaving and non-flowing soil and with a low level of groundwater.
If the soil is somewhat mobile, then a foundation made of ceramic red bricks can only be laid on a pre-poured concrete reinforced base. With high lying groundwater you need to use special components of the solution that will not allow the material to deteriorate from moisture.
It is forbidden to build houses higher than three floors on a brick foundation. This type of foundation is best suited for houses made of lightweight materials:
- wooden,
- frame,
- from foam concrete.
This type of foundation is not suitable for a house made of brick or monolithic concrete.
Pros and cons of a brick foundation
To decide whether in a particular case it is worth choosing brick or concrete foundation, you should know about its advantages and disadvantages.
- It has better thermal insulation properties than concrete.
- With proper waterproofing, it will last no less than its concrete counterpart.
- It goes well with any materials in the house and looks beautiful even without additional finishing.
- If damaged, a brick base is easier to repair.
- The brick base is less destroyed on moving soil, since it itself is mobile to some extent.
- It's easy to do it yourself.
However, this material also has disadvantages:
- At same sizes a brick foundation will cost almost twice as much as a concrete one.
- However, it is less reliable than concrete.
Which brick to use
The foundation supports the weight of the entire house, so you need to choose the highest quality materials for it. The brick for it must meet the following requirements:
- have no voids
- strength grade - from 150,
- frost resistance - at least 35 cycles,
- density - 1600 kg/cub.m,
- water absorption - 6-16%.
The so-called iron ore brick or clinker meets these requirements; the disadvantage of the latter is high price. Sand-lime brick cannot be used for the foundation; only solid ceramic bricks are used.
Important! When purchasing, pay attention to quality. Over-burnt or under-burned material has less strength. A sign of poor firing is a scarlet color, a sign of “overexposure” is concave or convex edges.
Types of brick foundation
Brick foundations can be strip or columnar. How to choose which foundation to make?
Red brick columnar foundation is suitable for light buildings such as frame and panel buildings country houses, gazebos and wooden baths. The advantages of this type are low price, no need to make blind areas, you can do it yourself. Disadvantages - needed good waterproofing, exposed to frost heaving of the soil.
The strip base is more durable; it is made when a basement or ground floor is planned in the house.
Strip foundation
Before you build strip foundation, make markings. Mark the corners and perimeter of the building, and then the location of the internal walls.
Trench
For strip base, both deep and shallow, dig a trench. For a shallow one, its depth will be about 50 cm. The higher the soil moisture, the wider it should be. The bottom of the trench is compacted, then a sand cushion is poured in and compacted again.
Concrete base
If the foundation is intended for a house, it must be poured under concrete base. For the lungs outbuildings this can be neglected. To pour concrete, make a formwork approximately 5 cm wider than the intended brick base and about 10 cm high. It is lined with roofing felt, concrete is poured and left for 2-3 days.
Solution
For the lower underground part it is used sand-cement mortar in a ratio of 3:1, for the base part you can use cement-lime mortar.
Masonry
You can lay out the brick in any standard way. Corrugated reinforcing bars are placed above the first row and in front of the last. For transverse reinforcement, a wire mesh is used.
Columnar foundation
For a columnar foundation, rectangular or square pillars are made. Their size depends on the load on them.
- For one-story house from lightweight material pillars 38*38 cm or 38*51 cm are sufficient.
- Columns under the inner ones load-bearing walls they make it thinner, usually 25*38 cm.
- For two-story house the size of all pillars must be at least 51*51 cm.
First of all, it is necessary that the base is level and solid. You cannot fill the holes immediately before starting work, otherwise the soil will not be dense enough. Then the site is marked.
In selected places, they dig rectangular holes 50-80 cm deep and slightly larger than the thickness of the pillars - leaving a reserve for backfilling.
Geotextiles are placed at the bottom of the pits, and sand or small crushed stone is poured onto it, leveled and thoroughly compacted. Geotextiles are needed to prevent sand from going into the ground. Ruberoid is placed on top - it waterproofs the lower surface of the pillar.
The solution is made from M-400 or M-500 cement.
Then you need to lay out the pillars in the holes. Every 4 rows of bricks, a reinforcing mesh made of 5-6 mm wire is placed.
Each layer of masonry is checked using a level - it must be strictly horizontal, all pillars must be in the same horizontal plane.
Under the intersections of the walls, pillars are made 51*51 cm, in other places - 38*38.
Waterproofing
For brick foundation waterproofing is required. Without her construction material will quickly begin to be destroyed by moisture from the soil.
Roofing felt or more modern ones are used for waterproofing roll materials. You can also coat the foundation with bitumen. Additionally, you can dig a trench and place a perforated drainage pipe in it.
Base
Usually the base of the house is laid out of the same brick from which the foundation was made. Sometimes it is possible to use sand-lime brick for the base of the foundation, but this is not recommended. You can line the walls and base with brick, then you need to take this into account when laying the foundation and expand it by about 12 cm - this standard thickness facing brick.
The brick for facing the foundation is a special facing or clinker brick. Which brick is better for the plinth, everyone decides for himself; both of these options are durable and have all the properties building bricks, they look beautiful. Cladding can be connected to walls different ways how to do this - look at the video.
Broken brick foundation
Is it possible to make a foundation from broken bricks as an additive to concrete? Indeed, broken brick, for example, from an old house, is used in private construction as an additive to concrete instead of crushed stone, but concrete of a high strength class cannot be obtained in this way. In this way, you can make a foundation for a small, lightweight structure (gazebos, verandas, extensions). To obtain a satisfactory result, the following rules must be observed:
- use only solid ceramic bricks, not sand-lime bricks,
- grind it down
- add it in an amount no more than 1/3 of the volume,
- concentrate the brick in the center of the structure.
It should be noted that in any case, a foundation made of brick or cast concrete will be much stronger and more reliable. Professionals categorically do not recommend making a foundation for a house using old broken bricks.
Conclusion
Thus, a brick foundation is not suitable for all buildings and not for all types of soil, but in cases where it can be used, it is not inferior in properties to concrete. From brick you can make a strip or columnar foundation for both a house and a garage, gazebo, or bathhouse. In order for the base to last a long time, it must be properly waterproofed.
- We build a house from foam blocks with our own hands
- Floating foundation
- DIY foundation formwork
- Foundation for a stove in a bathhouse
Forget about nails. IS simply got rid of the debris by placing it in concrete.
A little theory. Concrete is fake diamond. Its strength is determined by the strength of the frame made of crushed stone. That is, imagine that crushed stone was poured into a barrel without a bottom and compacted tightly so that not a single pebble could move. Very tight. Like rush hour on a bus. This is almost finished concrete. But if the barrel is removed from this dense column of closely packed stones, it will spread out. To prevent them from falling apart after the formwork is removed, they are held together with construction adhesive - cement. And in order to fill the voids between the stones, sand is added.
All this, after adding water, thoroughly mixing, compacting and hardening, is concrete.
Those. You don’t need to add “a little crushed stone,” but quite a decent amount. I have already given the ratio of ingredients cement: sand: crushed stone is 1: 3: 4. Since you already have a ready-made cement-sand mixture, then you can use the ratio: for one part of the cement-sand mixture (CSM) - one part of crushed stone (gravel). Those. Add a bucket of crushed stone (or gravel) and half a bucket of water to the DSP bucket. If it becomes difficult to mix, you can add a little more water.
Now about the reinforcement. Since concrete works well in compression, but is 10 times worse in tension, steel reinforcing bars are added to it. Steel works well in both compression and tension. Since cement adheres very well to steel, the reinforcement works well together with the concrete as a single unit. The reinforcement is placed in the zone that experiences tension. This is the bottom part of beams or slabs, or for elements extended upward on the sides (for example, columns). Moreover, the greater the ratio of the height of an element to the width of its base, the more justified is the use of reinforcement along the side surface.
If the foundation has an approximately cubic shape, or the loads are insignificant, then you don’t have to spend money on reinforcement. Moreover, sprinkle metal objects in formwork as a filler does not make much sense. They will not form a frame (they will “float” in the body of the concrete), and, therefore, they are no more useful than ordinary steel-only gravel.
If you still wanted to use reinforcement cage, then it is enough to use a wire mesh with a diameter of up to 5 mm in increments of 10-15 cm. It should be placed horizontally at the bottom and vertically along the perimeter of the foundation walls. Protective layer(clear distance from the reinforcement to the concrete boundary) 15-30 mm.
By the way, you need to make preparations for the foundation: 30 cm of sand and 20 cm of crushed stone, which are separated from the concrete with a layer of roofing felt.
Broken bricks should not be thrown into a landfill if you live outside the city and continue construction, repairs or landscaping. Broken bricks can be used for a number of jobs and below we will tell you how and where this can be done. By using combat, you can save a lot of money, so don't miss the opportunity to keep your wallet tight.
Application of brick fighting
Broken bricks can be used in next works :
- — Preparation of concrete,
- — Backfill under the screed,
- — Improvement of paths,
- — Filling gabions,
- — Road alignment,
- — Landscaping territories.
Let us immediately note that you can use a combination of red and white brick, while white scrap is more durable, it is not so afraid of moisture and does not crumble into construction dust under its influence.
Bedding and concrete
Fight is an excellent substitute for gravel in concrete production, the proportion of broken bricks in the mortar can be from 5% to ¼. Such concrete can withstand loads well, does not crack or delaminate under the influence of temperature and humidity changes.
You can also replace broken bricks with expanded clay when adding under the screed. In this case you won't have to order additional material and you can save money. When using scrap for backfill, it is important to reinforce the screed with a metal mesh, which is laid on top of the bedding, under the screed. Mesh cell size from 20/20 mm.
Paths and roads
With the help of combat, you can level the road near your house. To do this, broken white or red brick is poured into road potholes and compacted manual tamper. Such “patches” will preserve the health of the car, and you won’t have to remember “fools and roads” when leaving the cottage.
Fighting can be used to strengthen and decorate paths in the territory country house. To do this, the path is first trimmed, 3-7 cm of debris is poured on top of the soil and it is compacted. If you have broken brick of two colors, you can mix it and sprinkle the path with this combined material - it’s beautiful and practical, because walking in the autumn slush on a hard path without puddles is more pleasant than on a swampy path.
Broken brick perfectly allows moisture to pass through, and after compaction it becomes an almost monolithic hard layer.
Gabions
Broken bricks can be used to fill gabions, that is, constructions different shapes which are made from metal mesh with cells of different diameters. On suburban area gabions are used to create enclosing structures near swimming pools, flower beds and even fences.
Broken bricks are poured into a gabion with a fine mesh until the structure is completely filled. Before backfilling, you can sift the waste, after which large pieces are sent to the gabion, the fines are used in concrete works and for decorating paths.
Landscaping works
If there are a lot of uneven areas in your suburban area, then they can be leveled with broken bricks. In this case, there will be no subsidence of the soil at the work site, the area will become smooth, like an alpine lawn. It is important to place the brick in such a way that there is still room to put it on top fertile soil– nothing will grow on baked clay.
It is best to control the accuracy of site leveling work laser level, it will also help to divide the site into separate landscape zones.
Don’t forget to get rid of broken bricks if, by the will of fate, you have one. This material can be used in many ways when carrying out landscaping, construction or repair work.