Construction Materials: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners
Construction Materials
1. – What must we take into account to choose a construction material?
To choose a construction material, we must pay attention to:
– The weather of the place where the building is going to be set.
– The effort that each element of the structure has to support.
– The cost of the material.
– Esthetical condition.
2. – Which groups of construction materials do you know?
Stone, cement, mortar, concrete, plaster. Ceramic, wood, and metals. Are the construction materials what I know.
Stones
3. – What are the types of stones that we most use in Galicia? Why?
Granite and slate are the types of stone we use in Galicia. Because they are abundant in our quarries.
4. – What are the most common shapes of stones?
Stone can be shaped into blocks to construct buildings, or into panels for use as decorative panels to cover walls.
5. – Could a column be constructed from a stone? Why?
Yes, we can construct a column with stone because it supports compression.
6. – Could a beam (biga) be constructed from a stone? Why?
We can’t construct a beam with stone because it isn’t resistant to bending and tension.
7. – What type of stone could be used to construct the roof of a building? Why?
For constructing the roof of a building, we use slate because it’s resistant to water.
8. – Mention the advantages of stones as construction material, please.
The advantages of stones are:
– Support compression
– Water proof
9. – Mention the disadvantages of stones as construction material, please.
– Don’t support tension.
– Don’t support bending.
– Not good thermal insulators.
Ceramic Materials
10. – What types of ceramic materials do you know?
The types of ceramics I know are: bricks, tiles (azulejos, tejas), and porcelain.
11. – Why are there so many different ceramic materials?
There are different types of ceramic materials because they are easy to mold.
12. – How can a ceramic object be made?
We can make ceramics objects with these steps:
– Molding gives the clay (arcilla) the required shape.
– Drying to evaporate the absorbed water.
– Firing: to eliminate the water that forms parts of minerals.
13. – Can any ceramic material be baked by the sun? Why? Explain your answer, please.
A ceramic can’t be baked by the sun because the process is made between 1000º C and 1500º C, so it needs a big temperature.
14. – Could a column be constructed from a ceramic material? Why?
A column can be constructed by ceramic because the ceramic supports compression.
15. – Could a beam be constructed from a ceramic material? Why?
A beam can’t be constructed by a ceramic because the ceramic doesn’t support tension, so it doesn’t support bending.
16. – What type of ceramic material could be used to construct the roof of a building? Why?
The type of ceramic material that we use for doing a roof is the roof tiles because it’s waterproof and light.
17. – Can any ceramic material be used outdoors? Why?
The type of ceramic materials that can be used outdoors is the porcelain because it’s completely waterproof.
CERAMIC MATERIALS: Advantages: The advantages of ceramic materials are bending, cheap, durable. Disadvantages: The disadvantages of ceramic are that clay (arcilla) they don’t support tension and bending.
STONE
Stone is a natural material that we extract from quarries (canteras)
TYPES OF STONE; granite, slate (pizarra) and marble (marmol)
Sand (arena) small stones. We use it for road foundation and for mixing with cement.
CEMENT is a dry grey power that binds other materials together
Cemento es un polvo gris que une otros materials.
MORTAR IS A MIXTURE OF CEMENT, SAND AND WATER (ES UNA MEZCLA de cemento, arena y agua)
It’s best to mix the cement and the sand first because it mixes better without water.
When cement and water come into contact they start a chemical reaction
Setting is the chemical reaction
CONCRETE (Hormigón) is mortar with pebbles (trozos de piedras) – cement, water, sand and pebbles.
The pebbles are harder and stronger than the mortar, the concrete is stronger than the mortar.
We use concrete to make structural elements such as foundations, columns, beams, etc.
We make molds with the shape of the element that we are going to make and then we pour the concrete into it.
To remove the air which can be trapped in the mold, the concrete is vibrated to help the bubbles come up
REINFORCED CONCRETE
Reinforced concrete is concrete with steel bars inside (barras de acero dentro)
Another type of reinforced concrete is made with cables of steel instead (en lugar de) of beams of steel. We put the cable. The cable made a big pressure. As it will stop the tension of it.
PLASTER
Plaster is a soft solid that we use for aesthetic purposes.
USE OF BRICKS
Are used to make walls.
They are arranged in crossed patterns so that the construction is stronger
STONES: natural material extracted from the quarries
( blocks, panels, chip stone, sand)
Some types of stones
GRANITE outside walls
SLATE roofs
MARBLE inside items
Advantages
➢ support compression
➢ water proof
Disadvantages
➢ don´t support tension
➢ don´t support bending
➢ not good thermal insulators
➢ quite expensive
➢ difficult to work with
CERAMIC PRODUCTS
(artificial materials) BRICKS-ROOF TILES FLOOR TILES-PORCELAIN-WALL TILES
(natural material)Made from CLAY by:
1.- MOULDING gives the clay the required shape
2.- DRYING to evaporate the absorbed water
3.- BAKING or FIRING ( between 1 000ºC and 1 600ºC) To eliminate the water
that forms part of the minerals