A MANUAL
of FACE BRICK
CONSTRUCTION

American Face Brick Association
110 SOUTH DEARBORN STREET
CHICAGO

Copyright 1920 by John H. Black for A. F. B. A.

Table of Contents

No man has more reason to feel pride and satisfaction in his art than the builder. From the time when men wove together branches of trees or piled up loose stones and mud for shelter to the present day, when they erect huge heaven-soaring structures of steel to house a multitude, the builder has played a most important part in the progress and development of human civilization.

Fundamentals of Building

The old Roman authority on architecture, Vitruvius, long ago laid down the three fundamentals of all good building, viz., firmness, utility, and charm. In working for firmness (strength, durability) and for utility (serviceableness, convenience), the builder, we might say, is an engineer; in seeking to give charm (attractiveness, beauty) to his work, he is an artist. In other words, the builder always has before him structural and artistic problems which, aside from his wit in planning the inner conveniences and serviceableness of the house, depend largely upon the material he chooses to work in. To what extent does this material meet the structural requirements of strength, permanence, durability, and to what extent the artistic requirements of attractiveness, charm, beauty, are the main issues.

Aim of This Book

This book is meant not only to show how perfectly brick, as a building material, meets all of these requirements, but to serve as a Manual for the master carpenter builder in offering various designs and plans of face brick houses, and in pointing out the practical methods of constructing either the solid brick, hollow tile, or veneered wall.

In fact, the book in many ways will be of use to the mason who will doubtless find in it helpful suggestions on the application of his craft to the problems of building.

Before giving briefly the reasons for the use of face brick, a word about the history of brick and its manufacture may be of interest.

THE STORY OF BRICK

The manufacture and use of brick go back to the remotest antiquity, far beyond the earliest recorded history, which is supposed to be about 3,800 B. C, the date of a clay tablet assigned to the age of Sargon of Akkad, founder of the Chaldean dynasty, fully two thousand years before the time of Abraham.

Babylonian Origin

Naturally the use of brick originated where clay, of which they are made, was abundant; and there is every reason to believe that the brick industry had its beginning in the broad alluvial valley of the Euphrates which is the traditional cradle of human civilization. At any rate, according to one authority, good brick have been taken from excavations in old Babylonia, dating back to 4,500 B. C, as good as the day they were made. And the same authority adds that brickmaking was doubtless practiced ten thousand years ago. It was Nature that gave the hint, for the sun hardened the mud along the river bank and cracked it into irregular pieces which the native could utilize, after shaping them to the desired size, for piling up in the walls of his crude hut. It was an easy step in advance to shape the mud beforehand while soft and lay it out in the sun to bake. This produced what we call adobe brick, afterwards greatly improved by mixing chopped reeds or straw with the soft mud before baking. It will be remembered how the Egyptian Pharaoh embittered the slavery of the children of Israel by compelling them to find their own straw for the brick they were required to make. At a very early date the dwellers in the Euphrates valley learned to burn brick, as indicated by the biblical story of the Tower of Babel; and by the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonian king (604-562 B. C), not only were well-burned brick made and used extensively, but colored enamels were successfully applied for decorative effects. Considerable remains of this ancient brickwork are still found, although for many centuries the ruined cities of the Mesopotamian plain were used as sources of building material for the more modern cities which have since come into being.

Spread of the Craft in Antiquity

From the Euphrates, brickcraft spread eastward to Persia, India, and China, and westward to Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The Romans, who were the great builders of ancient times, made very extensive use of brick in their immense building operations, wherever good clay could be found. From the numerous monuments of Roman brickwork that still remain, the brick are seen to be of an excellent hard-burned quality, and generally of a large, flat, thin rectangular or triangular form.

Brickwork in the Middle Ages

When the nations of Europe took form out of the ruins of the Roman Empire, they inherited among other arts that of making brick, and subsequently carried it to a higher state of development, especially in countries such as Northern Italy, Southern France, the Netherlands, and Northern Germany, where the absence of good building stone gave a natural impulse to brickmaking. In the great Gothic epoch of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, brick enjoyed a wide vogue and was freely and effectively used in the best types of building such as city halls, great churches, palaces, and mansions of the wealthy.

In England

The use of brick in England began with the Romans in the early centuries of our era, but native brickmaking does not appear until well after the days of Magna Charta. In Henry VIII's time, English brickmaking, probably under Flemish influence, was greatly developed. But it was not until the days of Queen Anne and the Georges, in the eighteenth century, that brick building reached its greatest vogue, so much so that brick nearly drove out all other materials. This period accounts for those fine old country houses so representative of substantial comfort and dignity, scattered throughout England, which delight the eye of the traveler today. And ever since that time English builders have maintained a fine sense of the architectural values in sound and beautiful brickwork, as may be seen in many splendid examples of modern construction.

The Use of Brick in America

In America, aside from the adobe construction which the Spanish found in Mexico and Peru, the first brick were brought over from England or Holland. The native industry, however, had an early start in the seventeenth century, so that the Colonial times saw many fine specimens of brick building from New England to Virginia.

In the nineteenth century, up to about 1880, there was no general attempt to use brick to the best advantage. For the most part the brick building of that period was confined to the use of common brick for ordinary construction or for backing stone-faced walls. From that date, however, to the present, a growing taste has demanded and secured artistic effects in the brick wall by the use of specially manufactured face brick which, in a bewildering variety of beautiful color tones and textures, have been sympathetically and artistically treated by our leading architects, as may be seen all over our country.

MODERN BRICK MAKING

It is a long cry from the primitive method of mixing and molding brick by hand and drying them in the sun, to the modern technical methods and power machinery used by the American manufacturer. Determined by the kind of material, whether surface clay, fire clay or shale, and the kind of brick wanted, there are three chief methods of manufacture, slop-mold, wire-cut, and dry-press.

By the first method, the clay, in a soft condition, is pressed by the machine into molds which have been flushed with water—hence the term slop-mold—or sprinkled with sand, in which case the brick are called sand-mold. By the second method, the clay or shale is ground and tempered into the consistency of a stiff mud which is forced by an auger machine through a die, in the form of a stiff mud ribbon, having the cross section of a brick. This stiff mud ribbon is carried by a belt to a steel table under a series of piano wires strung on a frame which is revolved by the machine at proper intervals, cutting the clay ribbon into the desired sizes. These stiff mud machines will turn out as many as 100,000 face brick a day, and in some common brick plants they are built for a 250,000 to 300,000 daily output. The dry-press method reduces the clay to a fine granular form which is then, in nearly a dry condition, forced under immense pressure into the proper sized molds.

The brick as they come from the machines are known as "green" and require, except in the case of the best dry-press brick, a certain period of drying before being set in the kilns where, for from five to ten days, depending on the quality of the ware and the general conditions, they are subjected to a process of burning before they are ready to be built into the wall.

Burning the Brick

This process of burning passes through three main stages which require very skillful attention on the part of the burner. First, the water chemically combined with the material must be driven off; then the various impurities of the clay must be burnt out or oxidized; and finally, the ware, except in case of fire clays, must be brought to the point of incipient vitrification. Throughout the whole process there is danger of distortion or discoloration in the ware unless the fires are skilfully handled. Properly done, the brick come out of the kiln in their beautiful, natural colors, due to the constitution of the clay or the various metallic oxides contained in it. To enhance these effects, different clays are sometimes mixed in going through the machines, certain ores may be added to modify the color, the brick surfaces may be scored in various ways, or the ware may be set in the kiln so as to avoid or get the flash of the fire. So that when you specify a fine face brick, you are getting a product which Nature has taken long to create and to which man has devoted his best scientific knowledge and inventive art.

A Wide Choice Offered

The American manufacturer of face brick has far outstripped the rest of the world in the wide range of color tones and textures he offers. So that the prospective builder has before him the possibility of giving to the exterior wall surface an enduring color scheme of monochrome uniformity or polychrome blending, as his taste may dictate. The whole sweep of color, in smooth or rough textures, is at his command from the pure, severe tones of pearl grays or creams, through buff, golden, and bronze tints to a descending scale of reds, down to purples, maroons, and even gun metal blacks. Thus, instead of building for your client a house of a dull, insubstantial, unattractive appearance, you can, by the use of face brick, build a substantial, enduring house that presents to the eye a veritable symphony in color, at once a satisfaction to yourself as well as to him, and a cause of appreciative remark by his neighbors or the casual passersby. It will always stand to the credit of your art as a builder.

Growing Demand for Brick Houses

You represent the best work that can be done in your community. People come to you when they want to build because they know you as an able designer and one capable not only of giving them sound advice but of carrying the work through to a successful termination. Why then confine yourself to one type of building such as frame or stucco?

More and more people are going to ask you about a brick house, and for very good reasons which we intend shortly to give you. Why not tell them you can build a brick house as easily as you can one of frame or stucco; and what is more, why not tell them the fact, viz., that it is a better house in every way, safer, more enduring, more comfortable, more attractive, and in the end more economical!

Enlarge Your Field as a Builder

You will thus greatly enlarge your field of action, increase your profits, and gain a much higher standing in the community as an all-around builder. If you hesitate about taking up building in brick, it is doubtless because you share the common erroneous belief that it costs your client too much, or because you think it outside of your building practice, presenting difficulties you do not care to face. But we are very sure that a careful reading of this Manual will convince you of the pre-eminent value of the face brick house for your client, and of your complete competence to build it for him.

What You Owe to the Community

Then we want you to read this Manual because, as a citizen, you owe something to the community in which you live. And as a builder you can discharge that obligation in no better way than in building more enduring and more beautiful houses, as you can by building in brick. By doing so, your dividends will be not only in material rewards but in a higher standing among your fellow citizens. You owe it to yourself to make the most of your noble craft and thus take the place in the community to which it entitles you.

PRE-EMINENT MERITS OF FACE BRICK

The material you put into the walls of a house should, as Vitruvius said, always have structural and artistic merit. Face brick have both in a striking measure, and in consequence can show the strongest economic and personal reasons why they should be used.

Structural Merits of Face Brick

Structurally, bricks are a material easy to handle and when laid in the wall endure the heaviest pressures and strains. Hardened and matured in fire, they resist the ravages of flame. Examine the scene of any conflagration for evidence. Nor will they corrode or decay with the passing of time, as remains of ancient brickwork abundantly prove.

Artistic Merits of Face Brick

Artistically considered, face brick excel all other materials. Even a well-burned, selected common brick, with proper bond treatment and mortar color, may be made attractive, but the endless variety of color tones and textures found in face brick give to the artistic sense of the builder an unlimited choice. This variety is such that the most diverse tastes may be met in uniform shades or, preferably, in blended tones of the most delicate and charming effects. No other building material can approach face brick in the possibility of color schemes for the wall surface, either within or without—and the colors last, for they are an integral part of the enduring brick.

Effect of Bond and Mortar Joint

But this is not all there is to be said on the artistic side by any means. The structural necessity of bonding the brick makes possible any number of beautiful bond and pattern effects, as illustrated on pages 33-35; and the kind of mortar joint, struck, cut flush, tooled, or raked (Fig. 57), properly toned with a color to harmonize with the brick, produces the most charming results which, in sunshine or shadow, give ever varying artistic effects.

In the beauty of brickwork, you have a great opportunity to arouse and hold the interest of your possible clients. On that basis alone you can make a strong appeal in offering your services.

Economic Merits

But perhaps the strongest appeal you can make is based on what naturally grows out of the strength and beauty of good brickwork, and that is real economy. But don't be deceived by the superficial error of initial cost. A $4.00 pair of shoes are cheaper than a $5.00 pair, it is true, but if the $5.00 pair fit better, look better, and wear twice as long, the $4.00 pair are dearer, and you would lose not only in money but in personal satisfaction by getting them. Real economy would lead you to buy the $5.00 pair.

The Importance of Building a Home

Much more is this principle true in building a house. It is a very important undertaking for every man, for it involves considerable outlay of money and intimately concerns his comfort and welfare for a long period of years. A man rarely builds more than one house in his life-time, so that it is a serious matter to make a mistake,—he will always regret it. In other words, when he builds, he wants to avoid fooling himself, as he does, if he builds wrong; he wants to build right at the very start. This is what he certainly can do by building with brick. For out of the structural strength and artistic beauty of brick he gains advantages that make it the most economical investment in the end.

Upkeep or Maintenance

Take the items as they come, in their effect upon the value of the house. First, there is upkeep. So far as brick enter into the construction of a house, it requires practically no maintenance. You do not have to patch, repair, or paint a brick wall,—it wears. It is as sound in twenty-five years as the day it was built, and even more attractive. Figure up the paint bill for a frame house in ten years, then add the various little repairs necessitated by the shrinking, cracking, and decaying of wood exposed to the weather, and you have a neat little bill of upkeep, for the frame house, which is exactly nothing for brick.

Depreciation

Next consider depreciation which is a separate item from maintenance or upkeep, and is practically nil in the case of the brick house. Appraisal engineers have estimated it, for the brick house, at only one per cent a year, beginning after the first five years. And the one per cent in reality should apply only to such portions of the building as are subject to wear, as finished floors, plumbing, hardware, roofs, and the like. Approximately 60 per cent of a well built brick house does not depreciate at all through a long period of years. On the other hand, a frame house, according to the same authorities, begins to depreciate from the day it is finished at from 2 to 3 per cent annually. At the lowest estimate of 2 per cent a $6,500 frame house would depreciate $130 a year or $1,300 in ten years. A similar house of brick, worth let us say $7,000, would depreciate, allowing the full one per cent, $70 a year from the fifth year on, or $350 in ten years. That is, when you add to the $350 depreciation the $500 excess cost of the brick house, the resulting $850 is still less by $450 than the depreciation alone on the frame house. The wear and tear of time do not allow us to get away from these facts.

Saving on Insurance Rates

Furthermore, there is the matter of fire insurance, not a large one, but growing in the course of years to an appreciable sum. The reason for better insurance rates on the brick house is one that makes the strongest appeal to a man, and that is, safety from the fear and fact of fire, protection for himself and family from a justly dreaded misfortune. Acting on this reason, the insurance company will put from 19 to 37 per cent higher rate on a frame or stucco than on a brick house. Besides, you can carry 20 per cent less insurance on the more substantial structure.

Comfort and Health

Again the builder must consider the question of comfort and health. An 8-inch furred brick wall will require less coal to keep the house warm than in case of frame. This saving, however, is not nearly as important as uniform comfort which, especially in winter, has a vital bearing on the health and welfare of the family, more particularly as it affects very young or delicate children and old people, or even the strong who may, for the time being, be indisposed. The man who builds a good brick house saves on his coal and doctor bills.

Economic Value of Beauty

But if the brick house, because of its structural merits, is more economical on the score of upkeep, depreciation, insurance rate, comfort and health, it has a money value because of its artistic appearance. The substantial and attractive appearance of a face brick house makes the same appeal to everybody else as it did to the owner when he built it, so that if he desires, he can borrow more money on it, or if he must, can sell or rent it to better advantage. Beauty has a real economic value.

Sentimental Value an Asset

Finally, there is a sentimental value in owning the better house which can't be put in terms of money but is, nevertheless, real in terms of personal satisfaction. Every man feels a certain justifiable pride in his home if he knows that others admire it. This exerts an unconscious influence on him and raises his sense of self-respect. Besides, as a good citizen, a man should make his home as attractive as possible, not simply in the way of doing his share to improve his neighborhood, but as showing what he and his family stand for before the community, the soundest and best things.

Taking it all in all, you can tell your clients that in building a face brick house, they get more completely than in case of any other material the structural values of permanence, fire-safety, comfort and health, and the artistic value of beauty, out of which follow a real economy and a genuine personal satisfaction. What, then, are the facts about the real economy of a face brick house? To begin with, we frankly admit and, in fact, assert that such a house costs more than the less substantial frame or stucco house,—as it ought, because it is worth more. It wears better, it looks better, it sells and rents better. You can never get something for nothing. You have to pay for it. But what we can show from actual figures is that the face brick house at the start costs only a little more than the frame or stucco house and in the end, when all the bills are paid, costs much less. It is a question of initial and final cost. Let us first look at the initial cost.

The Test of Figures

The accompanying table gives the results of actual figures obtained during the past ten years from all parts of our country by face brick manufacturers. As the prices of material have changed greatly, during the period in question, the percentages of difference will prove to be the only instructive figures, and are calculated on the total costs of the houses. The bids for 1919 we have in our files for reference and we are ready to show them to any interested person. As frame construction is generally the lowest, we take it as the base of comparison and give the percentage in excess over frame for (1) a solid, 8-inch brick wall, or face brick on common brick backing; (2) a brick veneer wall, or face brick in place of clapboards or shingles on frame; (3) a face brick on hollow tile wall, 8 inches thick; and (4) a stucco on frame wall.

A moderate sized 7-room dwelling is used as a typical example and is the same in every respect, except the exterior wall construction. First class face brick are used and the solid wall is furred.

Table of Percentage Differences

These figures represent from nine to twenty-two bids in each case, on which the average is given. Different contractors in the same place and different parts of the country sometimes show considerable divergence, but in view of the wide territory from which these bids have been gathered and the time covered, the averages may be taken as indicative of about the constant percentage of difference in initial cost.

The Face Brick House Saves Money

It should be noted, in the case of the 8-inch solid brick wall and the brick on tile wall, that they are both over two inches thicker than the frame or stucco wall. But taking the 8-inch face brick solid, or hollow tile, wall as a fair comparison with frame and stucco, you can readily calculate what you really save by paying a little more at the start for the more substantial construction. Reverting to the economies of the face brick house you will find that the maintenance and depreciation items alone on the frame construction will, in a very few years, entirely wipe out the 5 or 6 per cent excess initial cost of the brick, to say nothing of all the other items that go to make your face brick home all the time an investment of a permanent and remunerative value.

Thus, a $7,000 frame house would mean, figuring excess cost at 6 per cent, a $7,420 face brick house. Depreciation at the lowest estimate of 2 per cent annually on the frame in five years would be $700; add to this a repainting bill of $250 and you have a total of $950. For the five years under consideration there would be no depreciation at all to be calculated on the brick house, but a repainting bill of about 385 for doors, windows, and outside trim would have to be charged up. This means that the difference of 3865 between frame and brick upkeep or maintenance covers, in five years, more than twice the $420 excess initial cost of the brick. You may well suggest to your client that to be penny wise and pound foolish in building a home looks like an inexcusable folly. As you are his trusted adviser in all such important matters, you can not avoid your obligation of giving him the advice best suited to his interests.

Lumber Enters into the Problem

Please note in the figures of the table the decided tendency toward a diminished difference of percentages. The probable explanation is the rising price of lumber which has, from all accounts, by no means reached its crest, and which is forced by the tremendous demand now being made for that material in the world markets. Lumber is one of those staples of such wide and varied use that it is well to consider seriously its conservation, both in guarding its supply and in maintaining a reasonable price. We are all interested, for everybody at one time or another uses some form of lumber.

Need of Saving Lumber

However wide and varied the normal use of lumber may be, it is at the present time, due to the conditions in which the great war has left us, subject to abnormally excessive demands and will be for a period of years to come. When you consider that even in fireproof homes built of concrete, stone, or brick, lumber bears from 20 to 25 per cent of the cost of the building, and that now 80 per cent of the houses in the United States are built entirely of wood, you can easily guess why so much used to be said, even in pre-war times, about the disappearance of our forests and the advancing prices of lumber.

The Wastes of War

But picture what the war has done, and its inevitable effect upon the demand for lumber. According to a comprehensive report on the Direct and Indirect Costs of the War recently issued (November, 1919) by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the direct cost to the warring nations amounts to 186 billions, of which the property loss on land was thirty billions and on sea seven billions. To this must be added forty-five billions as loss of production. That is, not only were vast amounts of property destroyed, but the normal supply was greatly lowered. Take the matter of houses alone, not only were great numbers of them destroyed in the warring zones, but neither could they be replaced, nor could the new houses be built which were normally required by the community. Fortunately for us in America the war destroyed no property, but for a period of two years it prevented normal building to the extent of hundreds of thousands of houses. As a consequence, in Europe all the waste places must be rebuilt and, in both Europe and America, new houses in great numbers must be erected to catch up with normal requirements. There is a house famine the world over.

The Lumber Burden of America

Where is all the needed lumber so lavishly used in building to come from? The average normal supply would not be sufficient and the supply cannot be increased for a period of years simply because Russia, which normally supplies 50 per cent of the lumber for the European markets, has fallen into such industrial chaos, and needs so much material for her own reconstruction that, according to one authority, she will not be able to export lumber again before 1922 or 1923. In consequence, the burden of supplying lumber to the world market at the present time will fall upon America. The effect upon prices, as well as upon quality of product, will be inevitable. The excessive demand will not only compel injurious denudation of our forest lands, but will more and more force the cutting of inferior timber.

How to Save Lumber

In view of such conditions there is urgent need of conserving our lumber supply by every available means, the simplest and most direct of which is to confine lumber strictly to its legitimate uses or, at any rate, not use it where more fitting materials are at hand. Take the abnormal demand pressure off lumber in every possible way, and we reduce the danger of a lumber famine that threatens us for some years to come. Thus, lumber should not be used in the exterior walls of a house, where it is exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather or to the trial of fire, especially when building material such as brick, which is nearly as cheap, and considering its durability and fire-safety, far more economical, is everywhere in evidence.

Lumber has its very legitimate and varied uses, but among them is not outside work where wind and rain and frost and fire search out its weaknesses. In view of its very nature and the great variety of its proper uses, it should never displace the exterior masonry wall, which in stone, tile, or brick makes the most secure and enduring structure. If the 80 per cent of building in this country, now done of frame, were put into brick, or other durable and fire-resistive materials, it would result in a great economic national gain, people would have better and more substantial houses, and the lumber which everybody needs would be conserved for the legitimate uses to which it is admirably adapted.

TYPES OF FACE BRICK WALL

There are three possible ways of using face brick in building a wall, determined by the backing up material employed, each of which will be given special attention in the following pages.

First, there is the solid brick wall, consisting of face brick with a common brick backing. Of the strength, permanence, and structural value of this construction there can be no question. Objection is sometimes made to its cost but, in view of the facts we give later, this objection loses its force and proves to be a claim of actual economy. The only other objection heard is that of the dampness of the wall. This comes from one or both of two causes, pervious mortar joints, or sweating due to condensation of interior moisture on the cooled wall. Either condition may be completely overcome by furring the interior wall surface, a method recommended in this Manual, and provided for in the plans offered. The furring provides an air space that insulates against dampness and cold. With this furring, the other methods, sometimes employed, of mixing so-called waterproofing material with the mortar or of using colorless liquid waterproofing on the surface of the brickwork are not necessary. Even the furring, in certain climatic conditions as proved out by local experience and practice, is not needed. But in any case, it must always be seen that all the exterior joints of the wall, especially the head or vertical joints, are solidly filled with mortar. The possibility of efflorescence, which occasionally appears on the surface of the brick when the outside of the wall has been subjected to excessive moisture, may be prevented to a great extent by avoiding such ledges and projections in construction as permit the soaking of water into the surface of the brick work. See Glossary, page 110.