Why in ancient Rome they built from thin plinths and did not save the solution? Brick sizes in different centuries
Perhaps many paid attention to the details of ancient Roman buildings made of thin bricks. It is thinner than modern standards, and the masonry was often made with the same mortar thickness as the brick itself:
This is the so-called plinth. A flat brick with almost square dimensions. In ancient Rome, the size of the plinth was 50x55x4.5 cm, and in Byzantium - 30x35x2.5 cm.
Then the layer of mortar in the masonry was either half the plinth or equal to the thickness (height). What is the reason for this? At a superficial glance, it is clear that there was an overrun of the solution. Perhaps it was cheaper to knead it from the right components than to mold bricks, dry them, burn them. Historians write that the seismic resistance of buildings increased this way. Maybe due to the fact that the brick is not as strong as mortar.
The ancient mortar is very durable. In Ancient Rome - on the basis of Roman concrete with the addition of volcanic ash (minerals burnt in a volcano). Therefore, the ancients focused on the strength of the mortar, and not the brick (as we do in our time).
Another observation: large bricks are inconvenient to take with one hand. You will have to work with both hands. Or did they work in pairs then? One puts the mortar, and the other put the plinth?
In the Roman Empire, plinth was also used in a different format. Size 40x10x4 cm. In general, it is interesting to trace the evolution of bricks. Probably, the small thickness of the plinth was associated with the drying rate. The thinner, the faster it dries. And also the mass is fired more qualitatively.
Plinthus of the Byzantine format was also used in Russia in the 10-13th centuries. during the construction of temples.
Then there were periods of construction from white stone (lime blocks) and later the transition to brick. Why did the transition from plinths to the usual brick format (albeit large) change - there is no information. Moreover, the size of this brick has changed over time:
In the 17th century. the size of the brick was also inconvenient. It is extremely difficult to take a brick with a width of 144 mm with one hand. If only the hands of the builders were bigger! And the weight of the brick is big. A modern solid brick weighs just over 4 kg. Large bricks weighing 6-7 kg are difficult to lay with one hand. Apparently, heroes were not only in fairy tales, but were also in the construction of those times.
Among the references to the size of the brick, the following information can be noted:
The walls of the towers of the Kremlin of Nizhny Novgorod (1500-1511) were lined with large-sized bricks (30x14x8 cm). The walls of the Kolomna Kremlin (1525-1531) were built of stone and faced with bricks measuring 32x16x8 cm. Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye, built in 1532 from bricks with an average size of 30x14x8 cm. The walls of the Smolensk Kremlin (built from 1595 to 1602) were laid out of large-format bricks, the size of which was 31x15x8 cm. Peter I set the dimensions of the brick - 28x14x7 cm.
These are translations into our metric units. In older texts, dimensions are written in vershoks.
Another table with changes in brick sizes:
Modern single brick has dimensions of 250 × 120 × 65 mm. There is one and a half and double (in height). But for easy grip, it has remained 120mm wide since 1927. (NF standard was introduced - normal format). The format is the same in Germany. But in the UK, the standard for brick is 215 × 102.5 × 65 mm.
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