How bricks are made
A look at how the world’s building blocks are created
If the well-known story of The Three Little Pigs teaches us anything, it’s that bricks are tough – very tough. But not only are they hard, they’re pretty cheap and easy to produce, too, which is why for the last 5,000 years they’ve been one of the cornerstones of construction around the world.
Making a brick is like making a very hard cake. First brick-makers take the ingredients – modern bricks are usually made of clay, but they can be made of other substances such as shale or concrete. They can also include smaller amounts of other materials designed to change the brick’s colour or texture. Then everything is ground down to a smooth consistency and mixed with water to make it nice and malleable. The bricks are then set into the desired shape using one of three processes, called extrusion, moulding or pressing, with extrusion being the most popular one.