We all know that selecting your home’s outdoor look can be challenging, there are so many different varieties of materials available, all with their own advantages and disadvantages. However, it seems that recently one material is starting to make more of a stylish comeback.
Many are favouring brick for their home exterior because of the materials positive properties.
For example, its versatility and array of contrasting colours which can be used to produce interesting brickwork patterns.
Brick is an increasingly popular building material which has been around for donkey’s years. Bricklaying is a stone-age building technique where clay is taken from the ground, shaped and fired. In the UK, bricks are specially designed to fit a man’s hand, they’re nine inches long, four inches wide and two inches tall to make them easy to pick up and lay.
Once the brick is created it then remains that shape and size forever, unless destroyed or damaged, and is a material which is weather-resistant, doesn’t fade or decay and, when used, should last over 100 years. It’s no wonder this material is making a comeback – it’s such a diverse, versatile, trendy and sustainable building material.
When building with brick, the design possibilities are endless as each design, texture, pattern or colour will leave your home with a different exterior look. There are plenty of choices all of which can enhance your property’s appearance. With the most popular and commonly used brick patterns being Running Bond which is the most used bond and is composed of stretchers offset by half a brick per course and, Flemish Bond which is made up of alternating stretchers and headers. However, we are starting to see an increase in more unusual brickwork patterns, such as Basket Weave Bond. This is one of the oldest patterns in bricklaying and is similar to a checkerboard design as it’s created using pairs of bricks which are laid horizontally and vertically to create the illusion that they are weaving in and out of each other. In addition to this, Running Bond can be individually laid to create bespoke and unique patterns.
In recent years, more brick trends seem to be emerging. For example, contrasting brick colours can be used to add more personality to a build. Lighter shades of brick, such as grey and white, are recently being used as they are lighter colours and therefore don’t attract as much heat. In addition to this, a recent and industry-wide trend is the need to be more environmentally friendly and as bricks are a very sustainable building material they are being used more and more. Many projects are being built using reclaimed bricks which limit the environmental impact. To continue, as bricks are dense and have high levels of thermal mass they help the environment by absorbing and storing heat.
Building with brick will always be a popular choice as the material offers a world of possibility. It’s a smart choice that has so much to offer. It’s a functional, resistant, versatile and diverse all-purpose material.