When choosing the building products for your home or construction project you want the very best. That means building with good looking materials made to last a lifetime – or even longer!
For centuries, bricks have been the favoured building material and they are just as popular today. You can still see centuries old brick buildings around the world standing proud as proof of the durability and beauty of brick.
Today bricks are proving to be an invaluable building product in a world concerned with an increasingly fragile environment.
All building products use energy in their manufacture (known as embodied energy) but the long term environmental benefits of bricks far outweigh their embodied energy.
So what are the great benefits that bricks deliver over a lifetime?
Long Lasting
It is well known that bricks have a long life. There is no need for continual replacement of bricks eliminating further use of embodied energy.
Low Maintenance
Bricks need very little maintenance, perhaps just an occasional wash. Other materials such as render, lightweight products and timber require constant maintenance in the form of repainting, repairs and resealing.
High maintenance products use additional energy to be maintained with an adverse impact on the environment.
By building in full brick the internal walls of your home will need little maintenance and will reduce noise levels for a quieter lifestyle.
Durable and Strong
The durability and strength of bricks are features that enable your home to last a lifetime.
Robustness of bricks means they can withstand the day to day knocks and scratches you would expect in your home. No need to keep touching up walls with paint and mending holes.
Why wouldn’t you build your home in full brick to maximise the benefits?
If you are building a major project, technical advice on the durability and strength of our bricks is available from the Austral Bricks experts.
Bricks are Healthy
Because bricks have virtually no emissions they are so safe they can be specified for homes where people with acute allergies will be living. So sleep tight in your brick home!
Bricks Can be Reused and Recycled
Bricks have such a long life they can be reused, with their original properties and features intact. This reinforces the incredible life cycle of bricks.
They are also inert and can be recycled as filling and stabilising materials and aggregates.
What an amazing building product!
Sustainable Living in Comfort
Thanks to the thermal mass of brick you can live a sustainable lifestyle in comfort. And, you can maximise the benefits with a passively designed, full brick home.
As part of a well designed building the thermal mass in bricks can;
- Significantly reduce operational energy usage for heating and cooling.
- Achieve optimal thermal comfort naturally for the benefit of family members in climate extremes.
By naturally moderating temperature fluctuations, the thermal mass in bricks can be reduced to reliance on artificial forms of heating and cooling.
This significantly reduces the energy used during the life of a home as space heating and cooling uses the largest proportions of energy in an average Australian home (Australian Greenhouse Office 1999).
For Further Information please refer to the following brochures: