Precision engineered clay blocks

Bricks in construction

The history of the building is dominated by the presence of bricks, because, in fact, these elements represent the principle itself of construction, namely the use of standardized elements and infinitely repeatable, and summable into shapes geometrically and statically suited to perform many functions. In all cultures of the world there is a local version of the so-called bricks, and what changes, at different latitudes, is the constituent material (clay, the local earth, straw mixed up with mud, even the dried animal dung).

In the European culture has been present for thousands of years, the classic solid red brick, made of clay mixed to form a cuboid and then baked to make the mixture a solid, compact and durable. In recent centuries, to the whole historic bricks, were added hollow bricks, produced with the same materials and lightweight thanks to a system of holes (typically symmetrical) that remove material and allow the creation of various types of walls and partitions lighter but equally resistant.

Among the many variants of hollow bricks, the porous bricks, for some time, represent a useful typology, much appreciated because the bricks so produced are still lighter than the corresponding counterparts drilled, because here is also the mixture to be lightened, thanks to the addition of additives of different nature, that during the cooking of the mixture burn, leaving pores in their place, or alveolus, non communicating between them and that make it less heavy.

Precision engineered clay blocks

Another improvement that the porous bricks bricks have achieved in recent years is to be precision engineered, that is a process that allows you to get bricks with surface perfectly flat and parallel. The utility of this improvement is easily understandable: with single precision engineered elements, the construction processes are faster and the final results are qualitatively better, even allowing for easier creation of plasters and surface finishes.

These particular characteristics of precision engineered blocks have made them, in recent years, among the favorite products for the construction of the perimeter walls of high performance energy, both because they can be produced in such dimensions as to realize an exterior wall with a single course of bricks ( by virtue of size often consisting in section) and because the number and the type of drilling as well as the quality of the mixture, of the additives used and other additional features, give the final product a considerable thermal inertia, which is necessary for an energetically efficient masonry. In addition, with the precision engineering, it has also come to the creation of shapes and sections which facilitate and speed the installation.

A remarkable example of how these products can reach levels of excellence and functional performance is the new product of Wiennerberger called ETICS Porotherm Bio Plan, a precision engineered brick, which expands the already excellent family products by Porotherm Plan, with a thickness of 30 cm and equipped with outer face adjusted with precision to be expressly designed to act as support for the systems of insulation panels.

The particular shape in plan of Porotherm Bio Plan ETICS allows a rapid laying with little mortar thanks to a series of side guides and growths that are complementary with each other, reducing the use of mortar to only horizontal courses, and with a minimum thickness. Furthermore, the stratification of the holes is differentiated, proceeding from the outside inwards, so as to ensure greater resistance to tear and the accession of the panel (thanks to the smaller holes), and facilitating the realization of the tracks for the installations ( through the larger holes), while the type of drilling the intermediate section is 45% and is also designed to achieve the walls in seismic areas.

From laboratory tests, a masonry that combines a coating system to the Porotherm Bio Plan ETICS provides energy performance by at least 25% higher than those of a traditional masonry of the same section. The thermal output alone, and in conjunction with insulating panels, is such as to suggest that product among those to be used in the construction of buildings to nearly zero energy.

The term precision engineered brick can not fail to bring to mind Porothon Consortium, which for more than 40 years in Italy, brings together the leading manufacturers of these building elements, such as Fornaci Danesi. In the wide range of Poroton branded products we find a great precision engineered masonry system called Porothon Plan TS, that, compared with traditional walls of the same section, provides the best thermal insulation values and very much in line with the dictates of the new rules relating to the containment of energy expenditure.


The grinding process of the poroton bricks used for this construction system (for the construction of external walls, for example, we speak of hollow blocks P700), which can be carried out both before and after cooking depending on the mixture they are composed of, determines a coplanarity of the upper and lower surfaces such as to allow the overlap perfectly, with little mortar, which, together with the special section of the interlocking bricks chosen provides a fast, efficient and perfect installation.

Available in thicknesses ranging from 25 cm to 45 cm, the blocks Porothon Plan adjusted for external walls allow you to create walls with thermal insulation performance and sound quite up other systems to make energy efficient buildings. Not to mention the equally excellent humidity and fire resistance.