page_title: House
section_title: Fired bricks
hierarchical_section_title: House / What are houses built from? / Fired bricks
context_page_description: A house is a building that is made for people to live in. It is a "permanent" building that is meant to stay standing. It is not easily packed up and carried away like a tent, or moved like a caravan. If people live in the same house for more than a short stay, then they call it their "home". Being without a home is called homelessness.
  Houses come in many different shapes and sizes. They may be as small as just one room, or they may have hundreds of rooms. They also are made many different shapes, and may have just one level or several different levels. A house is sometimes joined to other houses at the sides to make a "terrace" or "row house".
  A big building with many levels and apartments is called "a block of flats" or an apartment building. One of the differences between a house and an apartment is that a house has a front door to the outside world, whereas the main door of an apartment usually opens onto a passage or landing that can be used by other people in the building.
  Houses have a roof to keep off the rain and sun, and walls to keep out the wind and cold. They have window openings to let in light, and a floor.
context_section_description: It was discovered that if clay was used, rather than mud, very strong bricks could be made by "firing" (or baking) them in a "kiln" (a special oven). "Fired" bricks were like pottery; they did not wash away easily in rain and would sometimes last for thousands of years. The bricks were joined to each other with a type of cement called "mortar". Some houses built by the Ancient Romans are still standing 2000 years later.
  Bricks became one of the most common building materials. In most cities, nearly all the houses are built of bricks because they are long lasting, they do not need repairing very often. Brick houses are generally made strong by having all the main walls two bricks thick. Two walls are built side by side which are "bonded" (or joined to each other) by having some bricks set so they make a bridge between the two layers. The pattern of the bonded bricks can be seen from the outside. The two main patterns are called "Flemish Bond" and "British Bond".
  Because brick walls are heavy, a brick house needs to have a very firm base or "foundation" to sit on. This often means digging deep into the ground to lay a foundation before a brick house can be built.
  Houses with brick walls often have tiled roofs, because the tiles can often be made at the brick factory.
  Modern bricks and tiles come in a big range of colours, because different materials can be transported from different areas. People who are employing a builder to build a home are nowadays often shown pictures of all the colours of bricks and tiles that are available. This means that although in old towns, every house is made of the same type of bricks, in a modern suburb every house may look quite different. The bricks range from white through shades of red, yellow and brown and are sometimes very patterned, while the roof tiles include blue, green and yellow as well as the traditional red, orange and brown.
  In some countries, the clay for bricks does not set very hard, and washes away more easily. If the bricks are not very hard, then it is usual to cover them with plaster or cement, which can then be painted. In other places, brick walls are not very fashionable so the walls are plastered and made more elegant with decoration. Plastering or cementing over brickwork is called "render" or "stucco". In many countries such as Austria, Italy and Spain, the brick houses are usually covered with stucco and are often painted cream, yellow, orange, pink, red or "orchre" (which is a mustard colour).
caption: Tall narrow city houses of Poznań are painted in different colours.
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