Building a house
Building a house
Minerals are used to build houses.
Think of all the metal used in nails and screws. Bricks are made from clay, and cement and plasterboard are also made of minerals.
Can you think of any other building materials made from minerals?
Find out more about the minerals used in buildings
Bricks and tiles
Bricks and tiles are made from clay minerals. When wet, the clay can be shaped, and then fired to make floor, wall, and roof tiles, as well as house bricks.
Clay
Illite is a clay mineral used to make house bricks and tiles.
Properties of clay:
- easy to shape when wet
- strong and rigid when fired
- impermeable when fired
- a thermal insulator
Cement
As well as being an ingredient in bricks, clay minerals also make up much of the material used to stick them together - Portland cement.
Clay is mixed with limestone and other minerals, including one called gypsum that is added to help the cement harden.
Calcite, gypsum and illite are used to make cement
Minerals used to make cement
Different minerals make up cement. Limestone (containing the mineral calcite) and clay make up a lot of the bulk. Gypsum helps it to harden.
Properties of cement
- easy to shape and sticky when wet
- quick to set (or harden)
- strong and rigid when set
- impermeable when set
Plasterboard
When powdered gypsum is heated and then mixed with water, it can set into a solid mass. This makes it a very useful building material, producing the plaster and plasterboard that form the walls around you.
Gypsum
As well as being used in cement, powdered gypsum is used to make plaster products.
Properties of gypsum:
- easy to shape when wet
- quick to set (or harden)
- strong and rigid when set
Nuts, bolts, nails and screws
There are many minerals rich in iron. Iron is probably the most important metal used in building. When it is made into steel, it can act as a framework in large buildings and skyscrapers.
Bolts, nails and screws are often made of steel but are coated with another metal, such as zinc, to stop them rusting.
Minerals used to make nails and screws
Goethite and magnetite are minerals that contain a lot of iron and are used to make steel. Steel nails are coated in metals like zinc to stop them rusting. Zinc comes from the mineral sphalerite.
Properties of nails and screws:
- strong
- rigid
- hard
- rustproof
Plumbing and wiring
In the past, the pipes carrying water to your taps would have been made from lead. Lead comes from a mineral called galena, but because we now know lead is poisonous, copper and plastic pipes are used instead.
Copper is also used in electrical wiring, as it is an excellent conductor of electricity.
Bornite and chalcopyrite are used in modern plumbing and wiring
Minerals used in plumbing and wiring
Lead was once used to make pipes. It comes from the mineral galena, but as we now know it is poisonous, copper is used instead. Copper comes from minerals like bornite and chalcopyrite and it isis also used for electrical wiring.
Properties of copper:
- impermeable
- flexible
- stretchy (if you pull hard)
- a good electrical conductor
Windows
What would a house be without windows? Dark!
The glass in windows lets natural light into your house and allows you to see outside.
Glass is made from quartz. It is melted down, and mixed with other ingredients to produce glass of many different sizes, shapes and colours.
Quartz
Quartz is used to make glass. It is melted down, and mixed with other ingredients to produce glass of many different sizes, shapes and colours.
Properties of quartz:
- hard
- rigid
- impermeable
- transparent (see-through)
House numbers
You can't have a house without numbers - the postman wouldn't know where to find you!
Many house numbers are made from metal. The ones in the picture are coated in a metal called chromium that comes from a mineral called chromite.
Chromite
Chromite contains the metal chromium. Chromium is used to coat other metals to stop them rusting.
Properties of chromite:
- does not rust easily
- is good for use outdoors
