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Stone, bricks and concrete are materials that can be used in construction of buildings. Each materials has its own characteristic that makes them different to the other materials. In other word, each of these materials have their own advantages and disadvantages, hence, the best option of material should exhibits a balanced of characteristics ranging from its strength , elemental damage resistancy, durability , availability, longevity, costs, protectiveness, and lastly, the ease of use.
Stone is the most basic natural building materials. People all over the world have used them together to create homes to suit their local weather conditions. In general, stones are used as basic structural components in buildings. Stone structures have existed for as long as history can recall. It is the longest lasting building material ever used, and is usually readily available. Stones are also extremely durable. It does not rot, corrodes nor can be burnt easily. It gives the structure of buildings the look of permanence and strength. Mostly, stone buildings can be seen in most major cities, even in some civilisations were built entirely with stone such as the Pyramids in Egypt. Stone is a very dense material so it gives a lot of protection. Its main
draw-back is its weight which is very heavy compared to bricks and concrete. This will lead to the high-cost of transportation from the quarry to the construction site. Plus, building stone structures are also relentlessly time-consuming affair.
On the other hand, bricks, are usually made of clay. Blocks of clay bricks are formed in a mould by extruding clay through a moulding device and then cutting them to the proper size. These heat-hardened bricks is much more of flame retardant and moist-resistant than that of concrete especially in crowding cities. Due to its property for being more of flame retardant, it resists heat damage from fires which is useful for protection.Not to mention its moist-resistancy feature is to avoid water particles from degrading the brick strength as the water from any source such as the rain, disrupt the solid-bonds of the brick .This will promote relatively high longevity to the building. Besides, bricks are highly-resistant against compressive forc which is advantageous for skyscrapers builts. Bricks are also known for its ease of fitting regular shapes, primarily the shapes of polygons. However, although bricks are strong but it is not strong as stone. Bricks are also not expensive compared stone nor is cheap as concrete, it costs moderately.
While, concretes is formed from combining water, a special cement and a grinded rocks. Concrete solidifies and hardens after mixing with water and placement due to a chemical process known as hydration. The water reacts with the cement, which bonds the other components together, shortly a moment later creating a stone-like material giving it strength.
In addition,it is commonly used in buildings due to its relatively short time-consumption affair. Concrete can be formed into many shapes due to its fluidity before it hardens, thus, this helps in designing complex shapes of buildings. Plus, the raw materials to make it are widely available than that of bricks. Concrete has a rather low tensile strength, it is generally strengthened using steel rods or bars. Concrete has been the predominant building material in this modern age. In addition, concrete comes cheap and is durable, however it is considered to be less strong and short-lived than brick and stone buildings. Concrete has relatively high compressive strength, in which it can withstand strong compressive force. Moreover, concrete has a very low coefficient of thermal expansion, in other word, concretes are less resistant to stretching force due to thermal expansion on a hot day. Hence, as is stretches beyond limit, it cracks. Concrete that is subjected to long-duration forces is prone to creep, which may cause a building to become unstable and unsafe for further protection compared to stone and bricks.
Therefore, stone can be chosen as the material for construction. Reason is, although building a stone structures costs a lot of energy, time, and money, the most important objectives to building is its capability to keep the safety of people’s life. It is sure no one would want to stay in a building that is unsure of its strength to provide shelter while the stone is very reliable one. In addition, stone is the strongest compared to the other two. Stone are also readily available to get. Besides, stone is extremely durable. In significance of its supreme durability, elemental damages such as fire, floods, storms as well as any other natural disasters except earth-quake can neither destruct nor devastate stone structures as easy as the other buildings which is built with bricks or concretes.
Plus, stone consigns the building the look of permanence and strength in which the other two materials lacked of. It is proven that stone are truly the best choice for shelters even before the foundation of bricks and concrete due to its undisputable strength, for example, the existence of Pyramid in the Egypt which was constructed thousand years ago using stones and yet the
so-called primitive building still stands firm until today. It is also believed that for derelict buildings, concrete structures are the first to run down, followed by brick structures, while stone structures may last for thousands of years even after going through various violent nature’s course. Last but not least, the appearance of permanence and strength in a building also convince its visitors the feeling of calm and safeness which would then considers it as the best building for whatever purposes it is made for.
