Brickwork façades

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History of the brick

Brickwork façades

One of the oldest known building materials used by mankind

Brick masonry

The history of one of the oldest building materials used by mankind

In addition to wood, stone and plant fibres, bricks are one of the oldest building materials. Clay-like loam is mixed with sand, shaped and baked in a furnace. The first bricks were made by hand and therefore had irregular dimensions.

Approx. 7500 BC.

The oldest bricks (still clay bricks) were found in 1952 during archaeological excavations in Jericho (7500 BC).
From approx. 3000 BC.

Smoothed bricks were used in around 6300 BC. Burnt clay was first used on a large scale in a brick form at the beginning of the third century BC.
About 600 BC.

The Ishtar Gate, which was built in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. (604 to 562 BC) and is now on display in the Pergamon museum in Berlin, is a remarkable example of the level of perfection achieved by baking and glazing bricks in the Babylon era.
Approx. 100 BC to 400 BC.

The Romans built their entire Roman Empire with baked bricks. Thin bricks are typical of the Roman architectural style that are still visible in many of today’s buildings, although they were probably covered with render or plastered in their original state.
Approx. 12th to 15th century

At the time of the Gothic era, due to a lack of suitable natural stone, a unique architecture style was developed; the so called Gothic brick.
Approx. 2nd half of the 19th century

Up to the Neo-Gothic period in the 19th century most brick buildings were hidden below rendering.
Approx. 1920s

Important buildings were built in brickwork in the 20th century. The period of so-called brick expressionism has been of exceptional importance. Particularly impressive buildings were built in the major cities in northern Germany, in the Ruhr area and The Netherlands.
From approx. 1960 onwards

The single-shell brick façades that were widespread in the post-war years are no longer being built. Since then, the brickwork masonry is highly popular as a building material.
From 1963 onwards

Remmers embarked on developing an extensive program for the repair and maintenance of brick façades.
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2000

Remmers receives a patent for the Funcosil Façade Cream for effective protection of brick façades against driving rain. A new generation of protective substances is revolutionising the market.
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2010

In 2010 the Bernhard Remmers Prize is awarded to recognise the excellent restoration of the wharf warehouse B, the oldest building in the warehouse area in Hamburg.

Dirt crusts disfigure a building and offers no protection for a façade. Thanks to its large inner surface, a layer of dirt is an excellent absorber of moisture and pollutants. These usually react to the underside of the incrustation and cause damage to the building, even when it is initially concealed under the crust.

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Desalination of natural stone and other mineral building materials with the help of compresses is a well-known technique for significantly reducing damaging salts in building structures.

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The Remmers restoration mortar system was specially developed for supplementing mineral building materials or replacing these materials. Why then replace damaged bricks?

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Cracks in the brickwork must be repaired, regardless of their cause. The Remmers spiral anchor system is used to connect parts of the masonry to each other simply and highly efficiently, so that the brickwork is strong again.

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Joints can make up to 20 % of the overall façade. Therefore, the form and colour of the joints have a decisive impact on the appearance. Also, the joints on the building have a technical function.

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Remmers anti-graffiti products belong to the class of semi-permanent graffiti removal systems. Graffiti and paint smears can be removed from treated surfaces easily thanks to the use of a high pressure water jet equipment (hygrothermal cleaning).

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For preventive and sustainable protection against moss, fungi and algae, a liquid protective layer against green deposits can be applied before hydrophobing or paint. It forms a protective layer on the substrate, which only becomes active when there is damage. In this way, effective protection against green attack is guaranteed for a very long period.

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Water plays a central role in the weathering of mineral building materials. One sensible (precautionary) measure to prevent damage is hydrophobization.

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As an alternative to a hydrophobic agent, the water-repellence of the façade can also be achieved using a silicone resin paint or a transparent silicone resin paint. This naturally changes the character of a façade but is a highly effective and easy maintenance option, in some cases the only way, to protect masonry from moisture.

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