Rebirth of the Legend of the Red Age

Chapter 38, Material Issues, the Magical Use of Wall Bricks

After settling the house construction procedures, a few days later, the foundation of the main house in the third courtyard had been dug, a rectangular pit 17 meters long, 9 meters wide, and 10 meters deep. A pit 10 meters deep, 8 meters wide, and 16 meters long was also dug in the front yard. The excavated soil was piled in a corner of the garden, forming a small earth hill.

That day, the father discussed with Wang Li: Wang Li, the foundation has been dug, and we now need some building materials such as stone, sand, etc. Do you have any considerations about these?
Wang Li said: Father, I have also been thinking about this issue these days. For basic building materials like sand, we can ask Lai San to go outside the city or find building materials merchants inside the city to buy them.

They were responsible for transporting it to the small dirt hill next to our garden. As for the basement, the underground warehouse in the front yard and the wall, I suggested using city wall bricks.

A few days ago, when I went to the North City with Zhang Fang and Li Ren, I saw that the North City Wall that was blown up when Kyoto was recaptured had not been repaired, and I heard that not only would this wall not be repaired, but it would also be torn down.

Now some people will go to the north city wall to carry city wall bricks home for their own use. We can also go to carry city wall bricks. This will not only save some money, but the quality of the city wall bricks is better than the blue bricks we bought, which can make the quality of these underground buildings better.

Father, the bricks and stones of some places on our family's wall have fallen off. I suggest that we tear down the entire wall, dig two or three meters deep underground as a foundation, and then use bricks to rebuild the wall to be 3 to 4 meters high and 50 to 60 centimeters thick. What do you think?
After hearing his plan, Wang Li's father thought about it and asked: If we use fewer bricks, we can go to the north to get them back, but our family uses too much. Will anyone take care of it? After all, it is now public property. Although no one is watching over it, it would be too conspicuous if we often move it.

Wang Li thought for a while and said: We should still use city wall bricks for the underground part. As for the wall, we can use blue bricks on the outer layer and city wall bricks on the inner side. This way, outsiders cannot see that our wall is made of city wall bricks, and it can also be more low-key.

Moreover, the blue bricks for the outer layer can be selected from the best ones of the original wall, which can also save costs. As for pulling the city bricks, we can go and pull them at night, which can be more low-key.

In fact, Wang Li planned to use more bricks in the underground part than Wang Li's father had imagined. His plan was to lay 1.5-meter-thick wall bricks on the bottom floor of the basement and warehouse, and one-meter-thick wall bricks on the walls around the underground building, and then use their high-grade cement and fine sand as adhesives, so that the underground part can be moisture-proof, warm and strong.

Next to the bricks, a half-meter-thick inner wall is built with steel bars, cement and blue bricks as a waterproof layer, which also strengthens the load-bearing capacity and earthquake resistance of the underground building.

The top floor of the underground building is made of reinforced concrete and sandstone, which is poured in an integrated manner according to modern pouring methods, making it more solid and beautiful. The thickness is expected to be 20 to 30 centimeters, so even if it is bombarded with artillery, it may not be able to shake the underground part of his house.

在砌完墙和地基以后就会形成一个长14米宽6米深8.5米的地下建筑，和一个长13米深8.5米宽5米的地下仓库。前院地下仓库会把墙建到7米高，然后是楼板。楼板的上面再铺1.5米厚的土，还原成主屋的前院儿。

The underground of the main house will be divided into two floors, each floor is nearly 4 meters high, and two floors will be built on the ground. The two floors above ground will also use city wall bricks and ordinary blue bricks. Although it will not be as exaggerated as the 1.5-meter-thick wall of the underground part, it will reach more than 30 centimeters. This is done for heat preservation and insulation.

Therefore, a huge amount of city wall bricks were used. In fact, this was also due to Wang Li's willfulness. He relied on the building materials in the underground warehouse in his front yard and the city wall bricks of the north city wall, plus the financial resources of his family, to build such an exaggerated house.

To be frank, although his house is in the form of a residential building, it was built with the quality of a fortress, which is a bit of a waste of materials.

But Wang Li didn't care, because he knew that there would be an earthquake more than 20 years after the house was renovated, and it would be impossible to renovate the house on such a large scale in the future. Therefore, he wanted to make the house a century-long project, or even a project that would not be destroyed for hundreds of years.

(End of this chapter)