Walk through any building market in north India and you will find two kinds of jali block: fired clay and precast cement. We make clay, so take this with that in mind, but there are good reasons to pick either one.
How they are made
A terracotta jali is clay pressed into a mould, dried and then fired in a kiln. The firing turns the clay hard and gives it its colour. A cement jali is concrete cast in a mould and cured with water. No kiln is involved.
Look and colour
Terracotta comes out of the kiln orange-red, and the shade varies a little from block to block. That variation is what makes a clay jali wall look warm rather than flat. Cement jali is grey unless it is pigmented or painted, and paint needs redoing every few years.
If the house already has exposed brick, terracotta will sit with it naturally. If the building is white or grey and modern, a white or cement block may suit it better.
Weight
Fired clay is generally lighter than dense concrete for the same shape, which helps on parapets and upper floors. Either way, a jali panel should be held in a frame and not carry any load.
Weathering and upkeep
Clay that has been fired properly does not need paint, and dust washes off with water. In damp, shaded spots both materials can grow moss; a soft brush deals with it. Cement can show white salt marks (efflorescence) as water moves through it, and painted cement jali shows chips and fading.
Shapes
Casting allows thin, sharp shapes, so cement jali comes in a very wide range of patterns. Clay has to survive drying and firing, so clay designs tend to have rounder, thicker ribs. Our terracotta jali range has five designs, and the white breeze block range adds eight more in the same 8 × 8 inch size.
Which one should you choose?
- Choose terracotta if you want a warm colour that needs no paint, if the building has brick already, or if the wall is a parapet where weight matters.
- Choose cement or a white block if the design needs very fine detail or a pale colour.
You can also mix them. Because our clay and breeze block ranges share one module, a wall can have a terracotta field with a white border. Try combinations in the pattern wall builder.
