HOW TO BAKE BRICKS
In the craze that is the making bucks out of real estate, the demand for building materials has significantly shot up. And economists tell us that when the demand is high, prices go up exponentially. One of the materials that are hot cake is baked bricks.
To make bricks, you need soil. The best type of soil for bricks is clay because of its ability to be compressed during production. It also retains the block shape better than the other soils, and does not break as easily as the others. You will also require a lot of water. A lot of firewood is needed for baking the brick, not forgetting the mold, which ought to be fashioned according to the desired size and shape of the bricks. The mold should be open on both ends. Dry grass is elective.
The first step in making bricks is mixing the ‘ingredients’ –that is, water, soil and grass (optional) – together. This should be done so well that there are no lumps of soil in the mixture. It should also have a thick consistency so that it could maintain the shape it has been molded into while drying.
A sizeable amount of this mixture – as much as the mold would carry – is poured onto the mold placed atop a flat surface. Make sure that the mixture is evenly distributed in the mold, and that there are no spaces within the mold that would not have been filled with the muddy dough. Do not have overflows; let the mold be rightfully filled.
Carry the mold and its contents to the drying area. This should be flat, and away from rain – its purpose is to dry the ‘dough’ – and children and animals that may distort the ‘dough’. Do this for as long as there is the mixture. Let the unbaked bricks lie in that state for two days. Please, do not stack one on top of another; they should not even touch each other.
After two days, stack the molded blocks in a neat arrangement. Leave some allowance for firewood. After all the blocks have been arranged in the appropriate formation, seal all the openings with mud. Insert firewood, start the fire, and seal the fired wood inside the kiln. Let it bake for two days.
Baked bricks are best served cool, with cement, sand and more water. In Kenya, a brick, depending on size, can cost anything from Kshs. 7 – 15.
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