As water dries out from precast {concrete blocks} shrinkage that occurs, particularly with lightweight blocks, may cause serious cracking of plaster and rendering applied to the surface of a wall built with them. Obviously the wetter the blocks the more they will shrink. It is essential that these blocks be protected on building sites from saturation by rain both when they are stacked on site before use and whilst walls are being built. Clay {bricks} are small and suffer very little drying shrinkage and therefore do not need to be protected from saturation by rain. Only the edges of these blocks should be wetted to increase their adhesion to mortar when the blocks are being laid.