Classification of Building Materials

The material which is used for the construction purpose is called building materials, it includes naturally occurring substances such as clay, rocks, sand, and wood, even twigs and leaves have been made use to construct buildings. Many man products are in use, apart from naturally occurring materials. The building materials manufacturers is well established industry in many countries and these materials are segmented into specific trades such as carpentry, plumbing, roofing and insulation work. Some of the classifications of building materials are fabric, mud and clay, Rock, ice, concrete, metal, glass, plastic.

Classification of building materials

Fabric:

For the people who use to roam and wandering the world over, the tent is considered as home of choice among that kind of groups. The two well known types include the conical shaped teepee and the circular shaped Yurt. By the development of tensile architecture and synthetic fabrics, this has been revived as a major construction technique.

Mud and clay:

The amount of materials used leads to different styles of buildings, but the deciding factor is the quality of soil being used. If clay is used large it means using the cob/adobe style, if low clay soil is used, it means it is associated with sod building. Soil and especially clay is good thermal mass. It is used to keep the temperature at constant level. Normally homes constructed with earth usually tend to be cool in summer heat and warm in cold weather. Clay use to hold heat or cold like stones, because it use to release the heat or cold over a period of time like stone, but heat or cold will remain for longer.

Rock:

Rock is the only long lasting building material available. Throughout the world, we can find many types of rocks with differing attributes, which makes them better or worse for particular uses. As rock is very dense material it gives a lot of protection at the same time the main drawback is, as a material it is too weight. Its energy density is also considered to be big drawback; it is very hard to keep warm as a stone without using large amounts of heating resources. Most stone buildings can be seen in the major cities, some development built entirely with stones such as pyramids in Egypt.

Metal:

Metal is used in framework for buildings like skyscrapers. Many types of metals are used for buildings. Steel is metal alloy its major component is iron, and is usual choice for metal structural building materials. It is strong and flexible but the prime enemy for metal is corrosion. These are some of classification of building materials.

Questions:

• Explain building materials?
• Briefly explain any one of the classifications of building material?