Advice on selection of brick, steel brands

[sk1976]

Hi,
I am in the process of finalizing construction contract for a building in south Bangalore and look forward your suggestion on the following items.

1) Brick-> My engineer is suggesting Swami Chamber Bricks(SCB) costing Rs8.50/brick which I feel is costly. I hear from some sources that there is no need for
using this brick for column based construction and instead go for bricks costing around Rs6. Do you know of any good quality chamber bricks supplying bricks
around Rs6?

2) Steel-> Which make is good for construction of G+3 construction. I need around 29 tonnes. I was told that Indus TMT is a good option, but they say it is expensive than other brands like Kamadhenu. Do you have suggestions for this?.


Thanks and Regards,
Selva

[sudhu_kumar]

Go for Prime Gold or any steel that has ISI mark on it.I am using prime gold for constructing my house.

Yes you will get rs 5.30 or 6rs brick that will be good .Visit some sites where const is going on you will get an idea.

[chandam]

I am using a mixture of Indus and Chamundi Steels for the construction

Bricks - Costing between Rs.5.40 to Rs.6.00

Regards

[sk1976]

Thanks to both of you for quick reply.
Chandam:
Could you please share the brick supplier name(chamber) that offers from 5.40 to 6?.
What is the price difference between Indus and Chamundi?

Thanks in advance
Selva

[sk1976]

Mine is a column based construction with bricks used for walls. Regarding the selection of bricks, I hear from my engineer that the Swamy Chamber Bricks(SCB)
are considered top quality one, and the bricks are uniform in size and allow for good quality finish.Other brand bricks like MBT, TPW, etc that cost around Rs6
may not be uniform in all batches and the finish may be different. But the contractor says that this is not an issue as the same can be corrected during plastering
and we can get the same finish. He also says he will get the samples for approval by the engineer. Since the price difference is significant (SCB is 8.50 whereas the others come for Rs 6) and my construction is around 8000 sqft, I need to be conscious about the brick cost as well. Given this, What would be recommendation of the experts in this forum?. What are the pitfalls of choosing a Rs6 brick instead of Rs 8.50 brick other than cost?.

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Regards,
Selva

[ardesarchitects]

Hi Selva
8.50 brick will be suitable if you are looking for exposed brick works .8/- Bricks are fine edged,uniform color etc....will be advantage if you are exposing the brick. A regular 6/- brick will be good enough for plastered walls.I don't see any pit falls in using 6/- brick.Just make sure with the dealer to get same quality in every batch delivered.If your time permits Inspecting the batch at the loading would be a better option .


Regard
Ar.Praveen.N
Ardes Architects and Interior Designers
ardesarchitects@gmail.com

[sk1976]

Thanks a lot Praveen for your guidance. I will go with Rs 6 brick as all walls will be plastered.

[blackstallion76]

Friends,

Need suggestion. My contractor had loaded with TBW bricks from Jigani. I inspected the load and saw lot of unevenness in brick quality.
50% of them were very strong, but the rest had cracks and uneven sharpness. So, I checked one more brick by name Srinivasa Bricks from Malur.
Inspected the bricks and it was pretty strong/sturdy. Both are Rs.6.

Need suggestion on good strong bricks from you guys. Checked SCB, but its too expensive for G+2 floor construction.
Very difficult to find the correct quality of bricks. Please advice.

[JollyRogers]

You can check SRT & BBI Bricks. SRT is around 7 rupees and MBT should be around 6 rupees. I have found both of these bricks to be good.

[blackstallion76]

Please provide the contact info of MBT bricks. I am trying their landline number and nobody picks up.