Help picking brick
Hi all,
Was wondering if people had any thoughts/advice on how to pick (what to look out for) a quality brick for a new construction house – in terms of performance etc.
Do bricks vary a lot and therefore one should think about:
+Ingredients
+”Baking” methods/conditions
+Water absorption levels
+Paint friendly options
+Other
Also, a lot of attention lately has been given to the concept of a exterior brick veneer walls being “water reservoirs” and the challenges that go with it… Again, any thought on things to consider when picking a brick to “limit” this concept?
Essentially, looking to ensure no mistakes with choice of brick are made, that could of been avoided had one taken the time to better understand all things brick! 🙂
Thanks!
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Replies
Roger S39,
Way out past my pay grade here, but I can offer a few observations gleaned from repairs and maintenance work I have done in the past. Common bricks historically were clay not cement and were fired. The density and hardness have ranged from the seemingly impenetrable street pavers I used for a walkway, to much crumblier grades that died horrible deaths from freeze spalling. I would surmise that the street pavers were not absorbing any water and the ones out of the chimney stack were absorbing way too much. These particular ones were almost returning to dust. Others I have encountered were almost glass like how they fractured when attempting to chisel out a pipe pass through.
I think many current face bricks are concrete or perhaps heavily modified concrete. I suspect that true clay brick will be more costly than concrete ones, but offer an appearance that is un-matchable. From texture and water absorbing behaviors observed, I also think cheaper ones will be more open to water. It is hard to tell 30-50 years after what the cost ranges were. Costs may also vary due to the visual appearance desired, with finely finished and uniform faces being more expensive. Oddly for pavers the reverse is often true with the tumbled look costing more. Local availability will be another cost factor, as you may fall in love with a brick choice that is only made in a distant part of the country.
Brick veneer and standard brick are very different animals when it comes to settling on building details. Standard brick traditionally sits on a brick ledge poured as part of the foundation walls, much like a rabbeted edge on a door or window jamb. The added concrete for thicker walls may not be a major percentage of the overall cost, but just the same it is there. An alternative method involves casting a wedge like profile to create the shelf. I have not seen any myself probably because the forming labor exceeds the cost of just doing a 10" wall. Attaching steel angles to a standard poured wall strikes me as a sketchy work around, but maybe it is done regionally.
The full brick method is best set at least an inch from the sheathing and WRB. The choices you will need to make about sheathing and house wraps are critical. There are numerous ways to screw up a brick wall beyond setting it too close to the framed walls. The most relevant ones for your inquiry are water related. Improper or lacking flashing details, mortar plugging the weeps at base (if even there), and improper support over windows and doors can all lead to less than successful long term outcomes. Good bricklayers are in very short supply and as they say "God is in the details". Go view samples of work done by anyone you select. Look at old and new work.
Veneer stone or brick are stuck to a mesh that is attached to the wall which creates another whole range of issues regarding supported weight, final drainage gap management, and of course the numerous flashing details any siding choice demands. The whole pantheon of Greek gods probably are in these details. Many on this site can help guide you better than I can.
Painted brick is a horror to me, though it is done. Most brick is a material that is inherently going to absorb moisture to some degree. The vapor pressure you speak of is very good at pushing the paint film off over time. Very careful preparation of the surface and oil based paints seem to be tolerable options though imperfect. Perhaps some environments are more forgiving than the midwest, but I can't find a good reason to paint brick other than someone bought a house and wanted a different color than brick.
Hopefully other will offer up more scientific and experience based opinions to guide you. Meantime, try using the search function on the site for "stone veneer" or "brick " and start reading. If you have experienced stored cardboard boxes in a musty unfinished basement then you have an idea of why wrapping your house up in a skin of water holding material will present a challenge.
Roger s39,
Like Mr. Berry, I'll qualify my comments by saying I don't know much about the subject.
I assume all bricks have to meet certain ASTM standards - this seems to bear that out: http://www.gobrick.com/docs/default-source/read-research-documents/technicalnotes/9a-specifications-for-and-classification-of-brick.pdf
From that my leap of faith would be that there isn't much to choose between them.
As far as water absorption, there are masonry sealers that can effectively limit it. I'm not sure how often they need to be re-applied to remain effective. http://www.saversystems.com/index.php/products/masonry-water-repellent-products/masonrysaver-water-repellent-for-brick.html
Malcolm,
Your not helping me recover from my disability ;). Aside from that, I have only used sealer on brick once and it changed the mortar's appearance slightly by darkening it and gave the brick a very slight sheen. It did help hold the water off. Maybe new products are less visible. As they say, test first on an inconspicuous spot first.
Roger,
It's probably not a good idea to design an wall assembly that relies on the bricks not absorbing water because they have been sealed anyway.
My experience with bricks veneer goes back to buildings I worked on in Ottawa 30 years ago, when like most architects at that time, I had at best a cursory understanding of building science. Hopefully they are all still doing well.
Thank you for the replies!
Follow-up question:
In a nut shell - if you had to decide between brick and cement siding is there a clear winner?
Essentially, trying to decide on whether to have brick run the entire way up a 2 story home (slab on grade with Zip sheathing), around all 4 sides, or have brick cover the first story and then do the Hardie plank siding for the second story.
Cost aside: important considerations are all performance related: thermal, sound, ability to prevent moisture problems (assuming correct/quality install)….. Its the million dollar question...
Brick V Cement siding.
If painting brick... is there a big difference between an acrylic latex (Duration) paint vs a mineral (Romabio)paint?
"building science" when I started as an architect in 1968 was that brick was typically used as part of a "cavity wall" assembly, usually in combination with cement block (CMU) back up, 4" of brick (nominal), 2" cavity, 4" CMU. Walls were carefully detailed with weeps, flashing, parging, etc. Looking back, this was essentially rainscreen construction, although that term wasn't used.
The only brick failure that I recall was when a brick with a glazed surface was used on a large project. Water was absorbed through the joints into the brick, then froze, and the glazed surface spalled outwards.
We used bricks of various types and absorbencies, reclaimed and salvaged old bricks, handmade bricks, without any issues. Recently, we did a custom house with brick on the exposed part of the concrete basement walls. again with no issue using Benjamin Obdyke Slicker Max Rainscreen.
Check out Glen-Gary Brick's website https://www.glengery.com/products/brick/handmade They have a tremendous variety of bricks and a lot of technical resources.