Brick Veneer - What is it?

Solid Brick vs. Brick Veneer

Solid brick and brick veneer structures use some of the same construction materials, but their installation techniques are different.

Solid brick houses (also known as double-brick and solid masonry houses) are built from either two layers of brick, or a layer of concrete block and an adjacent layer of brick on the exterior. The brick is part of the building’s structural support system; if the brick were removed, the building would suffer structural failures.

Brick veneer is not, contrary to popular belief, composed of thin pieces of brick, such as is found in veneer floors, patios, and decorative interior elements. Brick veneer houses look almost identical to solid brick structures, except that they are built using a very different technique. The house itself is constructed from steel or wooden framing, and then covered with wood sheathing or insulation. A single layer of brick is built near each exterior wall and attached to the house with metal ties. Veneer brick does not support the structural load of the building; if the brick were removed, the house would continue to stand.

Installation

Solid brick and brick veneer both use the same bricks, although each style becomes defined during installation. Inspectors can use the presence of the following elements as evidence that a wall is solid brick rather than veneer:

• header bricks. These bricks appear smaller than the other bricks, but they are actually the same size; laid sideways, only the short end is visible. The header bricks act as a bridge between the outer wythe (layer) and the inner wythe, and prevent the two from separating, which is especially important as the wall increases in height. Header bricks are found in every sixth row in many solid masonry configurations, although other configurations are possible. On occasion, metal ties are used to hold wythes together and, in this case, no header bricks may have been required, allowing the wall to appear like a veneer.
• reinforced arches. Surrounding windows in solid brick houses, there will be reinforced arches with blocks that face in toward the house to reinforce the opening.
• older brick houses (older than 30 years) are much more likely to be solid brick than brick veneer.

Brick veneer, unlike solid brick, can be installed any time after building construction has been completed. The home's exterior sheathing is covered with special paper to protect it against moisture and wire ties are attached at intervals, per building codes. The bricks are all laid horizontally (no header bricks) and are located several inches to a foot from the home. Weep holes are used to allow the space between the brick and frame walls to breathe and to permit accumulated moisture in this area to escape. Unfortunately, weep holes are often clogged by mortar as a result of the construction process. Clogged weep holes will allow moisture to accumulate behind the bricks, leading to decay that attracts pest infestation. Special vents can be installed in the veneer surface to relieve this problem, although many people consider them unsightly. 

Benefits of Solid Brick

• Solid brick is much more stable in the event of an earthquake or heavy winds. Solid brick houses are resilient and may last centuries.
• Because there is no interior wood framing system, termites and decay are not an issue.

Benefits of Brick Veneer

Builders specifically choose brick veneer for the following functional and stylistic qualities:

• It is relatively easy to install, since there is only one layer of masonry.
• It is generally more affordable.
• It requires a relatively simple foundation and support system. Solid brick homes, by contrast, are very heavy, and require substantial footing and foundation systems.
• The air cavity between the brick and the home helps to keep moisture out of the home and acts as an effective insulating space, especially if it is filled with insulation. Solid brick walls are poor insulators, and also may allow moisture to penetrate exterior walls and cause problems in the home. Note that the house wrap beneath veneer may leak during heavy rain, perhaps due to the holes that are placed in the wrap during installation.
  
• Like solid brick, veneer is durable and fireproof, it looks fancy, and it requires little maintenance and no paint or stain.

In summary, solid brick and brick veneer homes use many identical building materials, although they differ by their methods of installation. 

Installing Brick Veneer Inside Your Home

Thin Brick, Brick Veneer, Faux Brick, Half Brick, whatever they call it in your neck of the woods, lets get this show on the road!!
First, I feel like I need to open with a disclaimer.  I found a lot of conflicting info online about how to actually install brick veneer over dry wall. Some online sources recommend installing concrete backer board, or metal lath to your drywall before you put the brick on.  Others said that it was totally fine to install it directly to the drywall if you are using the right kind of thinset.  So I decided to ask the experts actually in my life (that do this day in and day out) what they thought.  They said that installing directly to the drywall is the way that they do it, and have done it for the last 25+ years.  So that is what I did.  If you at all have differing opinions or are concerned about replicating this project in your own home, please for the love of all that is holy take the extra precautions that will make it so that you can sleep well at night.
Now that I have officially sucked the fun out of the room we can begin!


The very obvious first step in turning the living room into a loft was brick.  Brick it all.

(Just a reminder, this is what we started with)

Installing brick veneer is a really simple project, I feel like the hardest part was not eating a massively frosted sugar cookie at the end of every day.  (You’ll see why in a second!)
I bought the brick from a local shop (the same amazing guys that we used at the restaurant).  You can expect to pay $5.00+ per sq/ft.  If you are in Southern Utah and recreating this project Quickstone is 100% who you want to work with.
Because we decided to install the brick directly over drywall, the first thing that we did was clean the wall really well.  Make sure that all of the dust is off the wall and wipe everything down with a slightly damp rag.  If you are dealing with grease and/or grime you’ll want to use something more heavy duty like TSP to get all of the oils off.
The next step is to get level lines on your wall.  You can use a chalk line, a laser level, or (if you are lucky like me!) you might already have lines on it!  The look that we were going for was a little imperfect, having such a large space between the level lines worked out so well  (That way I’d have something to recheck everything on every 4 rows or so, but it isn’t row by row perfection.)

Like I mentioned earlier, using the right product for the job is CRITICAL.  We used OmniGrip from The Home Depot.  Its is a spreadable mastic and it worked so so well.
When you are ready with your lines, the first step is to spread a thin layer of OmniGrip all over your wall and let it dry.  This will give the adhesive that you are putting on the brick something to grab to so your bricks aren’t sliding all over the place.



When you are spreading adhesive to the back of your brick, you want a good thick layer.  Like a perfectly frosted sugar cookie.


Then, once you have the entire brick covered, use your trowel to scrape out a line in the center.  This creates a suction cup of sorts when you are sticking the brick to the wall.

Press it down firmly.  You’ll get the hang of the entire process really quick.

The best way to work is to start at the bottom and work in a medium sized section.  I didn’t want the brick to be perfectly spaced, so I just used my finger to check the spacing.  In the picture below you can see a piece of wood that is the new baseboard.  We used this to figure out the spacing from the floor.  The brick settled down a little, so in hind sight it would have been better to install this first, but it wasn’t a big deal to cut 1/8” off of it.


It took about a day and 1/2 to get to this point (with 2 people buttering the bricks and 1 placing them).


When we started working on the second wall I decided that I wanted the brick Soldier style above the windows (Soldier style is when the brick stands in a uniform vertical line)


Which meant that we needed to change the brick above the doorway that had already been installed.


You guys.  Lets go back to the installation debate.  The internets say installing veneer to drywall is a bad idea because you are essentially only adhering the heavy wall to paper.
That sounds absolutely HORRIFYING.
But. There is not a doubt in my mind that installing it directly over drywall is a great option.  Check out the brick that we pulled to change the style above the doorway.


That is the paper from the OTHER SIDE of the sheetrock.


Crazy right?
To finish off the rows along the windows and doorway we tried a few different techniques.

The first (pictured on the left) was using a brick hammer.  Which is basically a hammer with a chisel on one side.  On a scale of 1-10 I would rate this technique around a 5.  If you are going for rough imperfect edges it is great, but if the edges along the doorway are the only places that the brick is broken it looks a little weird.  And it is hard to break the piece in an exact size.
The next technique (on the right) that we used was a wet tile saw and it worked SO well.  It was easy to control the cuts and worked especially well for the long cuts along the ceiling.

How to install Brick Veneer

Here are the small steps of installing Brick Veneer on your wall.

Step 1

Prepare Wall for Tile

Make sure the wall is smooth and clean. Dust and debris will make it more difficult for the glue to properly bond. Then, use a level and a straight piece of wood to create a temporary “ledger” across the bottom of the wall. The ledger is a guide that will allow you to keep the bricks straight and level as you tile. When you’re finished, the ledger will be removed.

Step 2

Cut Bricks

Start by cutting several thin bricks in half using a tile “wet” saw or a diamond blade grinder. Doing this prior to installation will save time during the process so you’re not continuously stopping to cut more bricks.

Step 3

Install Corner Bricks

Start your installation at the bottom corner of the wall. Use a notched trowel to spread mastic over a small section of the wall (Image 1). Next, press a full brick to the outer edge of the lower corner of the wall. Continue upward with a half cut thin brick with the same application technique: full brick, half brick, full brick, half brick, etc. (Image 2). This creates the start of your “running bond” pattern, which is the most common layout of real brick masonry partitions.

Step 4

Install Full Rows

Continue this technique about halfway up the wall to start. Then, go back down to the bottom of the wall and start running the full bricks to complete the first row, or “course.” Work your way up the wall, row by row.

Step 5

Make Sure Rows are Level

Check that the courses are running straight by using a 4-foot level. You have about 20 minutes to adjust the veneer bricks before the adhesive begins to set.

Step 6

Leave Space for Grout

Create grout joints of 3/8” to 1/2” wide between bricks and between upper and lower rows, as well (Image 1). Measuring by eye is encouraged to give a more authentic look. Alternatively, you can rip down some scrap wood on a table saw into 3/8” strips to make grout spacers (Image 2).

Step 7

Install Remaining Bricks

Once you’ve reached the halfway point, continue with the corner bricks the same way as Step 2. You may finish the remainder of the wall to the ceiling height. Continue the laying of full bricks to complete the remaining rows. Stand back from the wall every so often to “size up” the job and to check for even running courses.

Step 8

Apply Grout

Allow brick to dry for at least 24 to 48 hours. Then grout in between joints using Portland cement mixture squeezed through a grout bag and apply to joints in small areas at a time.

This way you can install brick veneer on your wall.

Brick Veneer vs Stone Masonry

While this issue is not at the center of the unity debate, we in Ontario should realize that Canadians in the rest of this country think we’re a little nuts because of our fixation with brick houses. Our theory is that people in Ontario were raised on stories like the “Three Little Pigs”. We want a house that nobody can huff and puff and blow down.

What most people in Ontario don’t realize is that there are two very different types of brick houses: brick veneer and solid masonry.

Solid Masonry

Solid masonry construction is also called ‘Solid Brick’, ‘Double Brick’, and sometimes ‘Brick and Block’. In its most common form, a solid masonry wall consists of an outer layer of brick and an inner layer of brick (a layer of brick is called a ‘wythe’ in masonry circles).

The reason why solid masonry is a more accurate description than solid brick or double brick is because the inner wythe may not be brick. Because the inner wythe will never be seen, concrete or cinder block is sometimes substituted for brick.

As a brick wall increases in height, there is more and more danger that the inner wythe will separate from the outer wythe. To hold the two wythe’s together, header bricks are installed, usually every six rows. From the outside, header bricks look like regular bricks except they are shorter. In reality, they are the same size as a normal brick, however they are installed sideways so that the end of the brick is visible from the exterior of the building. The header bricks act as a bridge between the outer wythe and the inner wythe and prevent the two from separating.

Therefore, most solid masonry walls display header bricks in every 6th row or course. Sometimes, every brick in the course is a header brick, however there are a number of common patterns. It is not unusual to see two long bricks followed by two short ones then two long ones then two short ones. (The long bricks, by the way, are called stretchers.)

Sometimes bricks are installed over windows with their long face parallel to the wall but the brick standing on its end. These are called soldiers.

It is possible to build a solid masonry wall using metal ties to hold the two wythes of masonry together. When this is done, no header bricks will be visible and the wall can easily be mistaken for a brick veneer wall.

So What’s so Good About a Solid Masonry Wall?

There is no question that the big bad wolf will find this wall the hardest to blow down. Structurally, solid masonry walls are very strong and can, if properly maintained, provide hundreds of years of service.

What is Brick Veneer?

If solid masonry is so good, why is it that most brick houses built in the last 30 years are brick veneer construction?

Firstly, we have to understand the difference between brick veneer and solid masonry. The biggest difference is that with solid masonry, the brick is holding up the house. With brick veneer, the house is holding up the brick!

When we say brick veneer, we don’t mean those little thin slices that you glue on your kitchen wall. We mean an honest to goodness brick. However, the wall is only one wythe thick. Behind the brick veneer is a wood frame wall which is actually holding up the house. The brick veneer is, in effect, siding!

Insulation

Brick veneer became the norm when building codes began to require insulation in the exterior walls. One of the best insulators is air. Most good insulation does nothing but trap air; that’s why most insulations are light and fluffy. Brick is not exactly light and fluffy. Therefore it’s not really a very good insulator. A brick veneer house then, is really a wood frame house where the cavity between the studs in the wall can be insulated.

The walls are built, covered with sheathing and often insulated before the brick is even installed. As the brick is being installed, metal ties are nailed onto the wood frame wall. It is important that they be nailed into the studs and not just into the sheathing. The metal ties are then bent so that they are horizontal where they become imbedded in the mortar joints as the brick veneer wall is constructed. The brick veneer is built on the outer edge of the foundation wall so that a one inch air space remains between the brick veneer and the sheathing.

How Waterproof Is Brick?

The short answer is “not very”. With a wind driven rain, moisture will pass right through a brick wall. The one inch air space behind the brick allows this water to run down the back surface of the brick. At the bottom of the wall cavity, a plastic or metal flashing collects the water and allows it to drain out through weep holes. You’ll find weep holes spaced at approximately 32″ (every fourth brick) along the top of foundation walls and above doors and windows.

 Not only do the weep holes let the water drain out of the wall, but they also allow the wind to get behind the brick and pressurize the one inch airspace between the back of the brick and the sheathing. Believe it or not, this extra air pressure reduces the amount of rain that gets forced through the wall.

So Which is Better?

Well that depends on your criteria. Solid masonry walls are certainly stronger, however brick veneer walls are plenty strong and are certainly better insulated. In the big scheme of things, the differences between the two types of construction should not be important enough to affect a purchase decision. In the interests of national unity, you shouldn’t even care whether the house has any brick.

Line drawings are from Carson Dunlop’s Home Inspection Training Program