Why some bricks have holes in them but others don't
Have you ever noticed that some bricks have holes in them, but others don’t?
If so, you might be curious about the purpose of the holes (or lack thereof).
As you might expect, the solid bricks and the "holey" ones are used for two different purposes.
Bricks with holes in them are used primarily for building walls and other types of vertical structures.
When a mason is laying a brick wall each layer of bricks is securely placed onto a bed of wet mortar. Some of that mortar gets forced up into the holes in the bricks.
Once the mortar has dried the mortar inside the holes secures the layers of bricks together much the same way that nails would secure two boards together.
That makes a wall built using holey bricks a lot stronger than a wall built with solid bricks.
Solid bricks (i.e. bricks with no holes) are primary used on floors, sidewalks, patios and other types of structures in which vertical strength isn't all that important.
Their differing uses aside, bricks with holes in them have the following advantages over solid bricks:
1 - Holey bricks are less costly to make than solid bricks because they require less raw material to manufacture.
2 - The holes in bricks allow the heat from the firing process to more easily penetrate the center of the bricks. That speeds up the curing process which allows the manufacturer to create more bricks in a day.
3 - Holey bricks cost less to transport than solid bricks because they weigh less.
4 - Since holey bricks are lighter than solid bricks, they are easier to lay. Therefore, masons can lay more bricks in a given period of time.
So there's your answer!
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