Did you go home and make some concrete after Concrete 101? Well, you may want to try brick-making…it’s a great workout, full of laughs and at the end you have some new building materials!
The day they told us we’d be making bricks, I was pumped! I had heard rumors that it was kind of like playing in the mud and I found out they were true. What wasn’t said, however, was how tired I would be after the whole process. Here’s why:
1. Start with a large pile of crusty hard dirt mixed with sand. It should be about 5 feet in diameter and 2 feet high.
2. Level the top of the pile but build up the edges (about 4”) to make a “volcano.” Pour water on top of the pile until it’s good and soaked.
3. Select some stompers who will mix the concoction with their feet. That’s right, their feet! As they stomp, have one or two people adding more dry dirt to the muddy mixture. Continue this process until the pile is completely mixed or you’re completely exhausted.
4. Take a brick mold and dunk it in water. Put sand in it, enough to coat the sides.
5. Roll a chunk of the muddy mixture into a basketball sized lump. Bending with the legs, pick it up, place yourself over the mold and slam it in. Seriously, you need to slam it. Oh, and watch out for the mud splatter in your eyes.
6. Repeat step 5 four times, as each mold makes 4 bricks.
7. Take the mold to the specified drying location. Careful, it now weighs about 45 pounds! Place edge of mold on ground and smack the bricks out. Slowly pull the mold straight up.
8. Repeat steps 4-8 about 25 times per person, until the large pile is gone.
Then it’s time for another pile…
Alyssa and I after a day of brick making.
So, the next time you head off to Menards or Lowes to buy your building materials, just say a little prayer of thanks; thanks that you don’t have to make everything you need to build with, before building it.
Of course, this process would be much more fun to watch, so I made you a little video to supplement the course. Enjoy the rest of brick making 102 by clicking below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT_l1RYEshY
But before you click, here’s a fun connection to history. I recently visited Huaca de Luna y del Sol, ancient ruins uncovered in the past 20 years. Guess how they built the temple? With the same style of mud bricks that I made at the children’s home! Seriously! The entire temple was constructed with handmade mud bricks. Bricks were so important in that culture that each family paid a temple tax in bricks. What do you think about that? It would be like us filling out our tax papers and realizing we’re a bit off. “Here you go Mr. President, 250 mud bricks.” Interesting to think about…
