“With regard to burnt brick… If not made of good clay or if not baked sufficiently, it shows itself defective… when exposed to frosts and rime. Brick that will not stand exposure on roofs can never be strong enough to carry its load in a wall. Hence the strongest burnt brick walls are those which are constructed out of old roofing tiles.”

—  Vitruvius , book De architectura

Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book II, Chapter VIII, Sec. 19

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Vitruvius 203
Roman writer, architect and engineer -80–-15 BC

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“Dimension stone, flint, rubble, burnt or unburnt brick,—use them as you find them. For it is not every”

Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book I, Chapter V, Sec. 8
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“There are also half bricks. …As the bricks are always laid so as to break joints, this lends strength and a not unattractive appearance to both sides of such walls.”

Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book II, Chapter III, Sec. 4

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