Wooden brick: pros and cons, manufacturing technology

New building materials appear on the shelves of stores and shopping centers almost every year, and sometimes more often. Today, research in the field of construction is moving towards creating a more environmentally friendly and at the same time reliable material. In addition, the cheaper the cost of the new building material, the more affordable and popular it will become on the market. A significant contribution to this research was made by domestic specialists who created a product called "wooden brick".

The unusual brick got its name for its resemblance to a well-known building material. In fact, it is closest in composition and properties to a wooden beam, differing from it in its smaller size and method of laying. Visually, the material looks like wide blocks of 65x19x6 cm in size, on all its sides there are small grooves and locks with which the blocks are attached to each other. There are also options with smooth edges, but they are not used for the construction of load-bearing walls, but only partitions or cladding.

The technology for the production of such an unusual brick consists of several stages and looks as follows.

• A coniferous tree (cedar, larch, spruce or pine), sawn into beams, is brought to the production site and placed in special chambers for drying. The moisture content of the wood is reduced to only 8-12%, which allows the bricks to better retain heat inside the house.
• The dried timber is subjected to mechanical processing on special saws. With their help, the long material is divided into separate blocks, on which grooves and tongues are cut. Edges are processed to look decorative and to be joined with little or no gaps. This method of connection looks so neat that it does not require at all the presence of external finishing of both the side walls and the facade of a residential building, unlike ordinary timber or bricks.
• The finished brick is subjected to finishing grinding so that its surface is as even and smooth as possible. This surface can be compared to the surface of wooden furniture, which is made in a factory, and not by hand. The finished brick is most often not painted, only tinted with special compounds, as well as impregnations to protect against the effects of the external environment and pests.

By the quality of the material, wooden bricks, like ordinary timber, are divided into grades. The lowest of them is marked with the letter "C", and the highest has the postscript "Extra". The difference between the lowest and highest grade can be around 20-30%. By itself, a cubic meter of this new building material costs 2-3 times more expensive than ordinary brick, but its weight is much less, which allows you to save on the thickness and depth of the foundation, poured into the construction of a house or summer cottage. From the inside, such material can be finished in any of the available ways: cover with plaster and paint, mount drywall or glue wallpaper.

The distribution in markets and shops of such a versatile material as wooden brick has solved many problems and inconveniences associated with the construction of both brick and wooden houses. This is due to the large number of advantages of this material over other products.

• The construction of a log house in one year is simply impossible, since it is necessary to wait for the shrinkage of both solid trunks and the tree sawn into a bar.Wood bricks undergo a drying stage while still in production, so you can build a house under a roof in almost a couple of weeks, after which you can start installing the roof.
• Unlike timber, brick blocks do not deform during drying, since they are small in size. This not only reduces the amount of scrap in the manufacturing process, but also allows you to maintain a tight fit at the place of attachment of the grooves without cracks and gaps. As a result, less thermal insulation material and interior decorative coating are required.

• Installation of wooden bricks is carried out without the use of special construction equipment and can be performed not only by professionals, but also by beginners. In addition, plaster mix, sealant and sealant are not needed for wooden masonry, which will also save not only money, but also the time spent on the construction of a section of the wall. One of the most expensive elements of a brick-wooden house will be the foundation and rigid structures made of laminated veneer lumber and crowns, on which the masonry will rest.
• Unlike timber or logs, the small size of the brick allows you to build elements not only rectangular, but also rounded or irregular, as is the case with the use of conventional brickwork. Such houses look more unusual and decorative than ordinary square log cabins.
• The price of one cubic meter of wooden elements is slightly higher than ordinary bricks, but 2-2.5 times lower than glued beams. At the same time, wood, sawn into blocks, remains an environmentally friendly material that perfectly retains heat in winter frosts and cool in summer heat.

Of course, like any other material, wood brick is not without its drawbacks. Firstly, such material requires a competent professional design, since without the correct calculation of the loads there is a risk of the wall falling. Secondly, it is not recommended to erect too large or high-rise buildings from wooden blocks, since such structures will not be too stable. In addition, in the northern regions of our country, the air temperature in winter is too low, and such a material will not provide the necessary thermal insulation. In Novosibirsk or Yakutsk, it is unlikely that residential buildings will be erected using this newfangled material.

Both professional builders and manufacturers of such an innovative material doubt the idea of ​​making wooden bricks at home. To do this, you need to have an entire production hall in the backyard with high-precision grinding and milling machines. In addition, the purchase of certain raw materials will be required, which must meet a whole list of requirements. Almost no one has such opportunities, and those who have them, most likely, are already engaged in the manufacture and sale of this material.

All experts agree that the laying of such material can be easily done with your own efforts, if you follow certain rules.

• Brick laying should be done exclusively in rows.
• The block should only fit with its edge on the lock, and not vice versa.
• Laying is carried out in two rows, between which the heat-insulating material is laid. These can be either special blocks from a hardware store, or ordinary sawdust.
• Every 3 blocks, it is necessary to make a transverse ligation in order to give greater stability and reliability to the elements. Such a dressing is made of wood, like the masonry itself, and is done both on the inner and outer rows.

You can find many positive reviews on various construction forums and sites.However, there are also those who doubt the reliability of such a design and are even dissatisfied with the resulting construction. Most often this is due to the choice of a dishonest supplier, who declared the lowest grade of wood under the "Extra" label. Or this may be due to the fact that the buyer did not calculate the average temperature of the region and built a country or country house from this material in the climate for which it was not intended.

Users note not only the beauty and reliability of wooden bricks, but also its versatility. With its help, not only residential buildings are erected, but also various outbuildings, baths and even garages. Blocks that look like pieces of a children's designer are perfect for building a gazebo or a closed veranda in the garden, for erecting and finishing interior partitions. From them you can build a fence or lay out a flower bed. Those who want to decorate their site with unusual decor can make unusual designs out of it in the form of various shapes, benches and awnings.

For wooden bricks, see the next video.