This article is part of a blog series on new building materials used in the construction industry, exploring what they are, why they are cheaper and why they are more durable than traditional materials.

Many materials are used in construction like wood, concrete, and plastic. Sadly, many of these have an ecological, economic, and geopolitical impact. We need to find alternative solutions for these materials so the construction industry can contribute to solving these problems.

What do we call building materials?

Historically clay, natural stones, or wood have been the base of materials used in the construction industry. For example, the Great Wall of China was constructed 600 years ago mainly with earth and stone. Builders were mixing sticky rice flour and slaked lime as a base for their mortar to bind the bricks together and avoid growing weeds.

Lately, sand and lime have been introduced into the fabric of buildings and structures. All these materials are refined to produce cement, concrete, or glass.

Building materials can be either recycled or not.

Materials classification

Materials are either organic or inorganic.

Organic building materials derive from natural sources and are renewable. They include bamboo, wool, straw, and cork.

Inorganic materials are used in building and infrastructure construction. They comprise iron, steel, alloys, glass, ceramics, bitumen, chalk, and clay.

Most frequently used building materials

The construction industry materials are governed by national and international standards and codes, depending on the built structures.

Project owners could ask their architects to determine which materials should be used, based on their artistic preferences, project deadlines, and cost considerations.

The most frequently used construction materials are described below.

Bricks

Masonry accumulates pieces of material that are held one above the other with mortar, to create a structure. Bricks are rectangular blocks traditionally made from heated and dry clay. They have high compression resistance. They are used to construct walls and foundations as they are fire-resistant and durable.

Pros: Low-skilled laborers can assemble bricks. Increasingly, companies are using robots to assemble the bricks as their shapes and sizes are homogeneous.

Cons: Bricks are vulnerable to seismic destruction and break easily.

Concrete

Concrete is one of the most frequently used building materials. It is made of fine and coarse aggregate, mixed and glued with cement or water. Concrete can be reinforced with steel to strengthen the structural malleability of the construction. Concrete is lightweight and waterproof. It is used in foundations, residential and commercial buildings, bridges, culverts, and sewers. It is a good fire protection material.

Pros: It can be compacted in all sorts of shapes, making it versatile. It is a hard material with good thermal storage capacity and sound insulation.

Cons: Sad news for the climate crisis: it emits a lot of CO2.

Aerated concrete

Much like concrete, this is made of coarse aggregate, mixed, and glued with cement or water. However, it is cured under heat and pressure in an autoclave, which makes it lighter than regular concrete. It can also be used as a brick alternate product.

Pros: It has high thermal insulation properties and is a lightweight material.

Cons: It is not a good sound insulator and it absorbs water.

Plastics

Plastics have a bad reputation for being unsustainable, but is it well deserved? We do not think so and here is why. They come from natural, organic materials such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, and salt. Polymers for plastics can now be produced through bioengineering, rather than fossil fuel-based chemicals, and have great durability and insulating properties.

Plastics in construction are used in many areas pipes, drainage, and insulation. They are waterproof and earthquake-resistant.

Material applicability

You can adopt different materials for specific uses.

For example, to insulate a building for heat and sound you can use components like squeezed polystyrene, polyurethane, mineral wools, rock, glass wool, foam glass, or wood fiber to reduce fire hazards. Alternatively, you can employ fire-retardant building materials made of combustible components including gravel, sand, concrete, steel, cement, glass, ceramics, or clay.

Your constructions should avoid highly flammable building materials like straw, paper, cardboard, and sheep’s wool.

To improve sustainability

To build environmentally friendly construction, the building materials should be recyclable, but not treated with harmful substances, sourced locally to shorten shipment time, made of renewable raw materials, and have a long service life.

In conclusion:

Sourcing building materials continues to be challenging, worldwide, in 2024 due to long delivery times and inflation.

Positive building material trends consist of increasingly important sustainability. Alternative solutions emerge for materials like concrete, known for its high CO2 emissions.

Using natural building materials (wood, clay, etc.) is very trendy.

Universities all over the world, are researching innovative and ecological materials.

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