What Are Building Materials ?
The term ‘Building material’ can be used for any material that gets used for construction of buildings. Earlier ones were all naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood whereas, with the passage of time, man-made products are being brought in to use, where some are more and some less, synthetic. The manufacturing of these is an established industry typically segmented into trades, such as masonry, carpentry, insulation, plumbing, and roofing work. They provide the make-up of habitats and structures including homes. Mentioned below are a few that have been in use since times immemorial, and a few of the more recent ones.
Mud and Clay
Muds and clay have been used as building materials for thousands of years, and they continue to be popular today, especially in developing countries and for sustainable construction projects
Clay it is very good at keeping temperatures at a constant level. Homes built with mud tend to be naturally cool in the summer and warm in winter.
Rock
Rocks are one of the oldest and most versatile construction materials in the world. With times came different forms of mortars to hold the stones together, cement being the most commonplace now.
Stone buildings take a long time to heat up, and once hot they radiate heat for a long time before cooling down.
Wood
Wood is a generic building material and is used in building just about any type of structure in most climates.
Wood can be very flexible under loads, keeping strength while bending, and is incredibly strong when compressed vertically, but is susceptible to fire hazards.
Sand
Sand is one of the most important construction and building materials in the world. It is mostly used with cement, and sometimes lime,
to make mortar for masonry work and plaster.
Sand is also used in a concrete mix.
Man-Made-Material
Fired Bricks
Bricks are much similar to mud-bricks but, they are fired after air-drying, making them a ceramic material.
They gained popularity in the mid-18th century and 19th century; supplemented by cinder blocks s during the late 20th century. Still in use for the inner parts of masonry walls.
Cement Composites
Cement bonded composites are made of hydrated cement paste that binds wood, particles, or fibers to make pre-cast building components.
Various fibrous materials, including paper, fiberglass, and carbon-fibre have been used as binders.
Steel
Steel is a metal alloy major component of which is iron, and is the usual choice for metal structural building materials due to its tensile strength.
It is strong, flexible, and if refined well or treated, lasts a long time.
Concrete
A mixture of Portland cement, gravel and sand, and water is called concrete, and it hardens to give a rock like structure. Concrete has a rather low tensile strength; hence it is generally strengthened using steel bars and then it is referred to as reinforced concrete.
It has been the predominant building material in the modern age due to its longevity, formability, and ease of transport. Recent advancements, such as insulating concrete forms, combine the
concrete forming and installation of insulation.
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Concrete
Recently, synthetic polystyrene has been used in combination with structural materials, such as concrete. It is lightweight, easily shaped, acts as an excellent insulator against effects of temperature, moisture.
It is usually used as part of a Steel Reinforced Concrete EPS Panel, wherein the insulating EPS is sandwiched between two concrete forms reinforced with steel bars. EPS concrete-based building products are fully recyclable and offer significant environmental benefits.
Gypsum Concrete
Although plaster and fibrous plaster have been used for many years, especially for ceilings, it was not until the early 1990s that it got considered as a serious contender.
With an abundance of gypsum available worldwide, Gypsum concrete-based building products, offer significant environmental benefits.
Plastics
The term plastics covers a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic products that can be moulded or extruded into objects or fibers. Plastics vary immensely in heat tolerance, hardness, and resiliency.
High performance plastics such as ETFE have found an ideal use in electrical ducting, water storage & pipes and drainage ducts due to its high abrasion resistance and chemical inertness.
All these materials together are generally referred as building material.