Building with Brick in 5 Simple steps

Posted: 24 July 2009 by Selkirk

Tags: bricks

Building a new home is an enormous task, one which can seem overwhelming or daunting. The list of decisions you need to make can seem endless!

Brickwork remains the most prevalent feature in most contemporary and traditional home exterior designs. Therefore it makes perfect sense to select your brick first, and tie in colours and other design elements to the brickwork.

Selkirk suggests 5 simple steps to give you a head start and guide brick selection for your dream home.

Step 1: Planning
Visit your local brick selection centre and ask the service staff to look over your house plans with you. Experienced staff can help you visualise your home as a finished project and provide guidance as to which bricks best achieve this vision.

Step 2: Selection
There are several important factors to consider in the brick section process. Location, design, trends, budget and ultimately your own personality - all come into play.

Some questions you may ask yourself include:

What brick tones will best suit the landscape where the house will be built?
ie; sandy tones are often preferred in coastal regions vs earthy tones on regional property.

Are the brick colours and features suited to the design of the house?
ie; rugged, course brick construction in natural tones for federation style homes vs smooth, straight lines in pastel or bold colours for more contemporary designs.

Is it worthwhile compromising the desired look of the house for a couple of hundred dollars?
The cost between brick ranges is minimal overall, especially when compared to your total investment.

Step 3: Sampling
Don’t rush your decision! Narrow your brick selection to a few favorites and ask for samples to take away with you to consider over a few days before making your decision final.

Step 4: Colour-Coordinate
Many people find colour coordinating other building materials with brickwork a real creative challenge!

If you can, pair samples of your favorite brick with samples of other building materials (ie; roofing, frames, guttering) to give you a better picture of your finished project.

Step 5: Finishing Touches
Mortar is often taken for granted. However, mortar colours and finishes can have a dramatic effect on the final appearance of your home.

For example, using a light coloured brick with flush mortar joint finish in a matching colour will give the impression of a large single-coloured area similar to a rendered surface. Contrasting mortar however can create more dramatic results, highlighting the shape and colour of the brick.

Ask an expert for guidance when deciding the mortar colour and joint finish as a finishing element to your home.