How to use different types of clay in construction?

The excellent quality raw materials are essential for the strong foundation of your house. If you use top-notch construction materials, your house will stand firm over the years, but if you compromise on the quality of raw materials, you will never be able to own a well-built home. 

A vast selection of raw materials is being used in the construction process. One of the most vital construction materials is ‘clay’.

In this blog, Graana.com will tell you all about the role of clay in construction industry, including its different types and uses in the construction process by different construction companies. 

Clay is a mineral made up of aluminium silicates that give it a paste-like consistency. Usually, it is obtained from demolishing various rocks, such as granite. 

In the construction process, two forms of clay are widely used;

• It can have elastic characteristics when mixed with water.
• At the same time, when it is dried or heated to a temperature greater than 800 degrees Celsius, it can be transformed into a very consistent material.

 

 

Types of clay in construction

While estimating the cost of construction in Pakistan, you must also include the cost of different types of clay used in construction. Some of the types of clay widely used in construction and development projects include:

 

Brick clay

Bricks are the building blocks of any building. They are composed of brick clay that comes with many impurities. When cooked, it gives off a reddish or yellowish colour, although its tone depends directly on the iron oxide content of its composition.

It is widely used in ceramic works and house construction, including walls, roofs, terraces, garden spaces and façades.

 

Kaolin clay

It refers to the purest clay and is widely used in construction. It has a white colour and is often used as a porcelain base. It is refractory and has little plasticity. It works best at a temperature between 1250 and 1450 degrees.

 

Stoneware clay

It is a lump of clay composed primarily of feldspar. When prepared at a temperature of more than 1000 degrees, it acquires excellent plasticity and adapts minimal absorption capacity.

This clay is used for making bricks and interior decor items for the house. 

 

Bentonite clay

It is the clay that comes from volcanic ashes and has remarkable plasticity due to the small size of its molecules.

It is used as a mixture with porcelain or earthenware pastes, where the amount to be combined must not exceed 3 per cent, since otherwise, it would generate cracks in pieces due to its high content and concentration of iron.

 

Potter’s clay

As the name suggests, potter’s clay is used in pottery, modelling and other related decoration items. When cooked at a temperature between 900 and 1050 degrees, it becomes reddish, light or brown – giving it the name of ‘red mud’.

With this, you can create figures with an excellent finish that do not require enamel to embellish any environment.

 

Refractory clay

Refractory clay is another type of clay in construction. It is clay with high resistance to temperature. It is widely used to model murals and manufacture bricks for refractory ovens. To melt this clay, one needs to have a temperature that exceeds 1500 degrees.

 

Ball clay

It is a clay with a high content of organic matter, which in its pure state has a grey or dark tone in its pure form, but when cooked, it changes to a light tone. It has an excellent shrinkage capacity; therefore, it is always used with other types of clay.

 

Types of clay based on the source

 

Following are the types of clay obtained from different kinds of sources.

 

Primary clay

Primary clay is found in rocks and hilly areas. It is white or a little grey and has a plastic-type consistency. 

 

Secondary clay

Secondary clay is a type of clay formed when it separates from the rock from which they originate and settle down on the ground. 

Secondary clay comes in various hues such as red, black, grey and yellow. These, unlike the primary ones, are plastic and highly useful for pottery work.

 

These are types of clay that are widely used in the construction process. If you are about to construct your own house, we suggest you go through the types of clay in construction to develop a fair understanding of the construction materials used in the place.

Visit Graana blog for more construction-related content. If you have any questions or suggestions, let us know in the comments section below.