BRICK MASONRY Brick masonry is employed chiefly for buildings, and in this country bricks are more extensively used for this purpose than any other material except wood, but it is not unlikely that in the future the use of brick will greatly increase here owing to the rapid consumption of our forests.
Good bricks (§ 72-82) have the following qualities to recommend them as a building material. 1. Bricks are practically indestructible, since they are not acted upon by fire, the weather, or the acids in the atmosphere. 2. Bricks may be had in most localities of almost any shape, size, or color. 3. Bricks are comparatively easy to put into place in the wall. 4. In most localities brick masonry is cheaper than stone masonry—even rubble,—and under some conditions is a competitor with concrete.
The disadvantages of brick as a building material are: 1. Owing to the smallness of the unit, bricks are comparatively expensive to lay, and require considerable skill to secure a strong and good appearing wall. 2. Ordinarily brick masonry is not durable, since
a considerable part of the face of the wall is mortar, which is not as durable as the brick. The recent decreased cost of portland cement makes this objection less important at present than formerly, but does not entirely remove it, owing to the difficulty of handling cement mortar with the ordinary mason's trowel 262).
Bricks are likely to continue to be an important material for the construction of buildings, sewers, tunnel linings, reservoir walls, etc.
In the past bricks have been regarded only as a cheap building material, and comparatively little consideration has been given to the artistic possibilities of brick masonry; but recently attention has been given to the architectural effect of different sizes and colors of the brick, varieties of bond, color of the mortar, thickness of the joints, etc. However, only the factors which affect the utilitarian value of brick masonry will be considered here.