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HOW TO CHECK QUALITY OF BRICKS ON-SITE?

 B19

Bricks are the building blocks of a building. If the quality of brick used in a structure is not good then it can lead to serious damages to the building. Therefore it is necessary to check the quality of brick before using it in any construction activities. There are some field tests that we can conduct in the field in order to check the quality of bricks. These tests are as follows.
  1. Clap Test
  2. Drop Test
  3. Shape and Size Test
  4. Water Absorption Test
  5. Efflorescence 
  6. Color Test
  7. Hardness
  8. Structure
  9. Examine frog in Brick

Here are some simple yet effective brick tests you can take to check the quality of bricks,

1- Clap Test:

If you clap two bricks together, they should make a metallic, clear ringing sound. This test helps you determine the reaction of bricks against sudden impact.

2- Drop Test:

Drop a brick from a 4 feet height, if it does not break then the brick is of good quality. If the bricks are broken it indicates low impact value and is therefore not good for construction.

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3- Shape and Size Test:

All bricks should be of a similar size. Take 20 bricks at random and align them together and form a stack to check. You want to make sure that the bricks are all uniform in size for construction purposes.



4- Absorption Test:

Soak a brick in a water bath for about 24 hours. The weight of the brick should not increase more than 20% of its original weight. This will help you understand the level of absorbed moisture content in extreme conditions.



5- Efflorescence Test:

Place a brick in a water bath for 24 hours and dry in shade. If there are white/grey deposits on the surface then the quality of the brick is low as it contains soluble salts. You want to measure if the bricks contain any soluble salts and avoid efflorescence on brick surfaces.


As per IS 3495 – 1992. To check the presence of efflorescence following procedure is adopted,

  1. Take a flat tray and fill it with a 2.5cm height of distilled water.
  2. Treat five bricks as a test specimen and place these bricks vertically one after another. On a tray containing distilled water.  Now wait until the water is absorbed by bricks
  3. Again fill the water up to same height 2.5cm and allow it to absorb water as above (Second evaporation)
  4. Now after second evaporation, examine the brick for efflorescence as below:


6- Color Test:

Make sure the brick you select has bright and uniform color throughout its body. A good quality brick will have a uniform color throughout.

7- Hardness Test:

Use a fingernail or a sharp tool to try and scratch the surface of the brick. If the brick is unscathed, it’s a good quality brick.

This is basically to test the hardness of the bricks. No impressions indicate good quality.

8- Structure Test:

Break down a randomly selected brick in half and check if its homogeneous and free from any lumps, holes, or defects. Cracks and holes in bricks indicate low quality.

9. Examine frog in Brick

Check the size of the frog and it should be 100mm x 40mm x 10mm. Any other lesser size of a frog leads to improper motor filling and requires more amount of mortar if the frog dimensions are more than above which makes structure uneconomical.



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