Tip 1: How to get an even colour of the façade?
Because products made of burnt clay are made from “natural” raw material, colours may vary slightly between consecutive batches of one type of brick. However, such colour variations should not result in “colour patches” in the masonry. That’s why you should make sure that you have the total number of bricks you need before you start your project or lay different packages of bricks diagonally. Also make sure that when you reorder bricks or when you receive several separate shipments, a sufficient number of packages of the previous batch is mixed with the new pack.
Tip 2: How to protect newly-laid facing bricks against environmetal influences?
If you are not going to use the bricks on site immediately, we recommend protecting them well against rain and/or moisture rising from the ground. Most Desimpel facing bricks do not need to be moistened before laying. If necessary, you can wet softmud bricks 12 hours before laying. We recommend leaving an expansion joint every 12 meters in the building’s façade. Newly-laid brickwork is most vulnerable during work and right after finishing. In order to improve the stability and visual quality of your project, take a number of protective measures:
take precautionary measures against shocks and vibrations that can normally be expected
in dry and warm weather, spray newly-laid brickwork lightly with water in order to prevent it from drying out too quickly
during rain or snowfall, protect the top and the top rows of newly-laid masonry up to at least 60 cm (allow for some ventilation). This will help prevent the ingress of moisture which may cause saturation of the masonry, and will notably decrease leeching and efflorescence. At temperatures below freezing, protect newly-laid brickwork with insulating mats to prevent frost damage to the mortar.
Tip 3: How to protect your façade from staining?
The porosity of bricks plays an important role in the staining of façades. In areas where masonry is directly exposed to large quantities of rainwater or where outside walls are set at an angle, ideally choose a brick which does not absorb too much moisture to prevent moss growth.
If you build along a heavily used street or road, i.e. with high quantities of CO2-emissions, and you want to use a light-coloured facing brick, we recommend using a brick with a low porosity.
Please note: Porosity depends on the type of clay and the clay mixture used, the way the brick is formed – softmud bricks are always more porous than extruded bricks – and firing temperature.
Tip 4: What to consider about the joints?
To a decisive degree, that is 20 to 25 %, joints determine the look of a building’s façade. Flat joints or sunk-in plane-concave joints will give a wall surface a different appearance. The type of sand and cement used as well as any additional colouring will determine the colour of the mortar, which will either emphasise the bond or, on the contrary, bring out the homogenous colour of the building’s face (by using so-called tonal or matching joint mortar).
Combinations of bricks and joint colour offer an unlimited number of design options.
Tip 5: Do Desimpel facing bricks suffer from effloresence?
Efflorescence is caused by salts in the masonry. These salts dissolve in the moisture present in every new brick project. As the brickwork dries, water is carried to the surface of the brick where it evaporates and deposits these dissolved salts.
All Desimpel products have low soluble salts content as defined in EN771-1 (category S2) and do not suffer from abnormal characteristics. Good site practice of protecting bricks in storage and during construction will minimise the potential effect.
However, the most frequent kinds of efflorescence are:
Sulphate efflorescence: This more persistent efflorescence is mostly requiring help of a light acid solution (10% acid/90% water). It is recommended to contact us for appropriate advice.
Potassium and sodium efflorescence: On surfaces exposed to rain they will wash away of themselves. On other surfaces they can be removed by brushing off and/or by using under normal pressure.
Tip 6: How to deal with leaching?
When laying bricks, rain might wash cement out of the joints which can drip down the bricks. A cement film will remain that is hard to remove. Try to wash off the film as quickly as possible. If this is no longer possible, a light acid solution might help. Please use caution and avoid any contact with the mortar joints if possible. However, the best method is to prevent leeching altogether. That’s why do not lay bricks when it is raining and always cover newly-laid brickwork well.
Tip 7: Why it is not a good idea to use cheap bricks with a painted façade?
People often assume that for a façade that will be painted, a cheaper brick would do. Because paint provides a protective layer, right? Wrong, due to the fact that most types of paint are water-proof or sometimes even vapour-proof, internal condensation occurs which makes the brick more vulnerable to frost damage. If you decide to have the façade of the building painted, you should already plan for it during the design stage.
Complicated structures with water outlets running through narrow channels are not well suited for painting. These areas will quickly be stained by a film of dirt.
The wide available range of colours of Desimpel facing bricks offers an alternative to exterior paint.
Tip 8: Are bricks an environmentally-friendly building material?
Sustainable construction is a concept which will gain increasing importance in the coming years. What is important to note is that “sustainable” does not only refer to the life-span of a building, but also to the eco-friendliness of building materials and buildings. Sustainable construction means to build high-quality buildings. It means to build in a more sustainable way by keeping in mind today’s and tomorrow’s quality standards and the sustainability of the natural environment. A building should cause minimal environmental impact when it is built, used and torn down. To reach this objective requires an integral approach to the construction process whereby the activities of all parties involved need to be assessed thoroughly with regard to the use of environmentally-friendly and natural resources such as energy, raw materials, water and space and the generation of garbage.
That’s why it should not come as a surprise that people demand sustainable and eco-friendly building materials.
A brick consists of clay, sand, water and fire – all natural elements. It contains no toxic substances and can be recycled endlessly. When comparing the energy consumption of naturally available raw materials, a ceramic brick turns out to be a perfect environmentally-friendly building material (whereas cement-based building materials, for instance, may require a firing temperature of up to 1500°C).
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