Tip 1: the house The style of your house already helps you a little with your choice of brick. Some facing bricks are more suitable for a rustic or cottage application, while others show up better in modern, contemporary architecture.
Whether your house is wide or narrow, high or low, the choice of the dimensional size of the brick will either emphasise or conceal this basic feature.
However you want your house to look: pale or dark, uniform in colour or varied, with a rough or smooth surface, brick really offers you all the possibilities
Tip 2: the walls A house consists of two types of walls: the outside wall and the inside wall.
The outside wall, which encloses the house, is generally part of a cavity wall construction. This consists of an outside layer in facing bricks, that provides the aesthetic weatherproof layer, an air space (with insulating material) to stop damp ingress, and an inner layer as the load-bearing structure.
Tip 3: the different types of facing bricks Facing bricks are divided into 4 groups according to their production process. Thus there are hand-moulded facing bricks, extruded facing bricks, Retro® facing bricks and brick slips.
All these facing bricks are obtained by firing clay at a temperature that, depending on the type of clay, can vary from 900°C to 1150°C. At these temperatures, the clay particles bond together very strongly and actually 'petrify'.
Tip 5: quality
First of all, go for quality, not price. Bear in mind that the cost price of the brick accounts on average for only 3% of the total cost of the house (e.g. on a house costing € 124,000, it is only € 3,700). In other words, you should not try to cut corners on this item.
But it is not just the quality of the brick itself that is important. Having your house built is a matter of trust. Experience, service and support are therefore of the greatest importance.
At Desimpel, the advice we give before, during, as well as after your purchase, is of the greatest importance. Because when it comes to bricks, we already have more than 200 years' experience. For us, bricks are not just a commercial product! Each and every brick is still a small piece of traditional perfectionism!
Tip 6: the roof covering, windows and doors Also give some advance thought to the roof covering, the windows and the doors.
In addition to the choice of material, the style and the shape, also pay attention to the colour. Look for a colour that goes with your choice of facing brick. You can also work the other way round by choosing an appropriate colour for the windows for example and then selecting a complimentary colour for the facing brick.
Tip 7: the pointing Following on from the above tip, you can fine tune your choice of mortar colour to match the colour or contrast with your facing brick, your roof covering or your window frames.
The pointing mortar can have a strong influence on the overall appearance of your façade. A paler pointing mortar gives your facade a lighter impression while a dark pointing mortar will make your facade darker. If you use a pointing mortar similar to the colour of your facing brick, your facade will be of a uniform colour.
Do not forget gluing facing bricks is also a possibility. With this technique, the bricks end up closer together and pointing is no longer necessary. This gives your facade a smooth look.
Some bricks are suitable for laying driveways and garden paths, while others can also be for the public highway and car parks.
In short, for every facing brick you will find the matching ceramic clinker or paver. In this way you can perfectly match the garden paths and terraces around your house in order to achieve a harmonious whole. And all of this with the solid and no-maintenance quality of fired clay.
Tip 9: ask the specialists for advice In the first place, the role of your architect, building developer, builders merchant or contractor is of inestimable value. He is the person who can indicate points for attention when you are choosing your facing bricks.
If you want to see the facing brick of your choice used in a complete house, you can have a look at one of the many reference houses on this website
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