3 Ways Bricks Can Improve Your Home’s Energy Efficiency
Strategic and considered materiality choices are key for building an energy efficient living environment, affecting not only the functionality of the home itself, but also its sustainability and longevity.
Explore below three ways in which bricks can improve your home’s energy efficiency, developing a comfortable, durable, and sustainable living environment for its residents.
01
Thermal Mass
The thermal qualities of bricks makes them an optimal material for increasing energy efficiency, regulating the internal temperature of the home to ensure a comfortable environment. With a high level of thermal mass, bricks can effectively absorb heat from the external environment, then transferring this energy into the home. Not only does this provide a more pleasant internal living environment and temperature for homeowners, but also reduces energy consumption and heating costs, providing warmth and reducing reliance upon utilising additional heating sources.
02
Energy Sustainability
Championing environmental sustainability, the inherent resilience of brick as a material ensures that the lifespan of the product exceeds those of lighter materials, enhancing the ability of the product to be reused and recycled in new projects. By incorporating bricks into your home, the invested energy used to create the brick in the manufacturing process is made more efficient with the materiality’s longer life cycle, thus reducing the embodied energy of the product itself.
Furthermore, certified carbon neutral bricks manufactured at Austral Bricks’ Longford, Tasmania plant reduce carbon emissions at the manufacturing stage, with energy efficient production methods prioritised to reduce the bricks’ environmental footprint.
“Strategic and considered materiality choices are key for building an energy efficient living environment, affecting not only the functionality of the home itself, but also its sustainability and longevity.”
03
Environmental Durability
A longstanding heritage material, bricks are renowned for their enduring, durable attributes, weathering environmental pressures whilst remaining intact and aesthetically appealing. Unlike alternative building materials that require replacement or frequent maintenance, the durability of brick ensures that the aesthetic and functional quality of the material can withstand environmental stresses and extreme conditions. This simplistic upkeep of an enduring material such as brick not only ensures that homeowners reduce time and money spent on the materiality, but also reduces energy spent upon maintenance, repairs, and restoration of the home, future proofing out-of-pocket expenses.
This range echoes the iconic Hawthorn brick that gives so many of Melbourne’s historic inner city homes their distinct character. The Hawthorn range captures red, tan and brown base clay colours, and are further highlighted with dark and strong blue char and black frit, giving them a rich historic ambience. When combined with Daniel Robertson’s heavy textured face, the result is that no two clay bricks are the same, lending it a truly unique, handmade aesthetic.
The richly textured San Selmo Classico range brings with it a strong European heritage. These elegant kiln-fired clay bricks are manufactured in Italy and feature a beautiful, tactile surface inspired by recycled bricks. The result is a distinctive rustic finish that will create a genuine warmth in any project. Ideal for both modern and traditional homes.
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