Handmade terracotta bricks: traditional and current at the same time
The terracotta bricks are the basic unit used since ancient times in Italy for the construction of buildings, for building walls and for various types of coatings: today are one of the elements that distinguishes the Italian construction industry, and returned very way in recent years because of their eco-compatibility, as well as all elements created in handmade terracotta following the ancient rules that are still being carried out in many companies working in the traditional manner.
With the update of the means at its disposal, also the traditional manufacturing of terracotta has had an “extension” of the horizons, allowing mixtures ( all natural ) which gave rise to an infinite number of colors: you can find the cotto for your home at any gradation between the pale yellow and bright red, but you can also find it in white, gray or black.
Speaking of respect for the environment and green building, it is clear how the cotto is growing its importance throughout the world as a main element for the creation of walls and floors but also roofs and attics: in fact this material is made exclusively of a mixture of water and clay, from which the impurities are removed before it is processed and placed in the oven.
The best companies who work cotto in a traditional way then manually build every single piece that will make up the wall of your home; in this way each brick will always be slightly different from the other: some subtle depression in the surface, a beveled corner, a line that does not fit exactly are unambiguous indicators of the fact that the bricks are made by hand.
Since the processing requires much time, the value of a wall or a floor made of brick or artisan terracotta tiles is rather high, and continues to appreciate in time, as shown by the high market value of recovery cotto ( as the terracotta elements salvaged from old houses now abandoned are called).
Even the working processes are important and numerous, and allow you to choose the cotto that best suit your needs, even according to the environments in which it will be inserted: you will discover that this kind of product can be used both in a rustic setting than in a formal one, with both antique and modern.
The natural texture of handmade terracotta allows terracotta bricks to retain heat during the winter ( and this is also great if laid on the floor with underfloor heating ) and vice versa to keep the rooms cool in the summer.
The important thing for the terracotta bricks, then, is that they are tested with frost resistance tests, and generic resistance tests : only after passing these tests, cotto will be really ready for being placed in the marked and… in your house.
