Brick cladding
One of the most popular technologies for decorating a house from the outside is to clad it with facade bricks. The building acquires a beautiful appearance and, thereby, the cost of the building rises, if necessary, its sale.
Content
- Advantages of brick cladding video
- To the question of foundation
- To the question of the roof
- In which cases it is better to abandon the cladding
- Ventilation gap
- Cladding device
Advantages of brick cladding
Brick cladding, especially of frame buildings or timber buildings, provides reliable protection against atmospheric precipitation and gives monumentality to the structure.
Fig. 1. Brick cladding of wooden walls:
a - chopped; b - frame; 1 - old foundation; 2 - a new foundation; 3 - deformation gap; 4 - waterproofing; 5 - reinforcing mesh; 6 - flexible communications; 7 - ventzazora
Of course, for a long time, a building lined with high-quality brick is subject to high frost resistance and low water absorption, all this increases the service life of load-bearing walls.
If the cladding is made with high-quality front brick, the facade does not require special care.
There is a popular belief that after facing a building with brick, heat saving increases, but this myth is easily dispersed, since a ventilated gap is required between the supporting and facing walls.
A gap is needed to remove condensate from the load-bearing wall and since air is circulating, no heat saving occurs, however, during the day, the temperature changes and the lining allows to increase the thermal inertia of the building, which is a plus.
To the question of foundation
All companies involved in construction are guided by SNiP 3.03.01-87.
But when facing an already built house, a lot of problems arise, and experienced builders are needed here, often, only their experience and rational thinking can save the situation.
Firstly, it is necessary to solve the issue with the foundation, since the proposed brick wall will have a lot of weight.
According to builders, when facing a building with an area of \u200b\u200babout 100 square meters, the weight of the facing will be about 40 tons. This requires a solid foundation. And if there is a facing of a frame or timber house, the foundation may not be designed for such a large weight.
That is, before you start facing, you need to check the foundation. Although experienced builders believe that if the foundation was laid by specialists, they took into account the bearing capacity of the soil under the foundation, took into account the weight of the foundation itself, the foundation itself was constructed of reinforced concrete or concrete blocks (with a brand name not lower than M100) and this foundation has a good thickness - to perform brick cladding can. This is clearly visible in the photo.
Fig. 1 Wall of the house made of ceramic blocks - thermal insulation and ventilation gap:
1 - facing brick; 2 - ventilation gap; 3 - thermal insulation of thicknesses. 100 mm; 4 - ceramic blocks; 5 - plaster.
Why is foundation thickness important? Because, the facing wall must rely on a common foundation (Fig. 1) with the supporting wall of the house and can protrude beyond the edge of the foundation, in exceptional cases, no more than 1/3 of its thickness.
It is possible to install masonry on corners of galvanized steel. These corners, using anchor bolts, are fixed to the foundation.
If it is not possible to install the facing wall on a common foundation, as an option, after calculation, an additional foundation is built close to the original foundation, both parts of the foundations are fixed with anchors.
In this case, it is necessary to take all measures for waterproofing, to protect the foundation from heaving of the soil and its impact on the foundation.
Great difficulties can arise when facing a brick of a building with a complex geometric shape. Judge for yourself, you can’t do this on your own, experienced professionals are needed. In financial matters, this is a big expense, so think about whether you need it.
To the question of the roof
The next question in preparation for the facing of the building is the question of the size of the eaves overhang.
Very often, the eaves overhang is less than 250 mm. When the building was built, the roof was covered without taking into account future cladding and ventilation gap. The building stood, the roof arranged, and now the roof will not be able to close the lining, and even if the brickwork falls under the edge of the overhang, the roof will not be able to properly protect the brick walls.
A small overhang will not protect the facade of the building from atmospheric precipitation.
The conclusion is that the wall is constantly wet, resulting in the destruction of your beautiful cladding in 5-7 years. Of course, you can save your wall, but for this you need to make an effort and annually it is necessary to process the brickwork with hydrophobic compounds.
In which cases it is better to abandon the cladding
If there is no way to strengthen the foundation, if the building is with a complex configuration, if the roof above the first floor is adjacent to the facade of the second floor and there is no reliable foundation for facing the upper part of the building, think about future problems.
Under such conditions, it is best to abandon the brickwork of the entire building. And if you really want to have your own house in brick construction, it is possible to clad the first floor with brick, and the second floor, with complex architecture, can be finished with simpler material, for example, plastering.
Experienced designers will tell you how to beautifully finish and pick your option. If it is not possible to bring the facing wall under the roof and the roof will have to be dismantled to extend the overhang, it is better to abandon the brickwork.
Ventilation gap
We have already mentioned the ventilation gap between the brick cladding and the supporting wall, the minimum should be 25-30 mm. and this is if the bearing wall has a flat surface, but usually, if the house is made of timber, it has irregularities.
For such options, an air gap with a margin of unevenness is needed.
If the gap is small or absent, condensation will form on the inside of the brickwork, and this will lead to the development of micro-fungi, corrosion of metal fasteners and any negative consequences.
In order to avoid this negative, it is necessary to create good ventilation under the cladding. Air inflow is created by holes in the first two rows of masonry.
Typically, the vertical joints between the bricks in the first two rows are not filled with mortar, i.e. through one two bricks leave an air gap up to 10 mm wide.
Such a masonry looks aesthetically pleasing and does not catch the eye of the uninitiated.
In the upper part of the building, a gap is left between the roof and the cladding, it is usually covered with a decorative strip, it does not interfere with the exhaust air and provides good circulation.
Cladding device
Usually, the cladding is produced in half a brick.
Before starting work, they are determined with the color of the brick and what the seam will be, the color of the seam is stipulated, its shape is convex or concave, etc.
The very first row of masonry is mounted on waterproofing, if the facing wall rests on a corner, the waterproofing is laid on it.
When facing buildings from timber or logs, it is necessary to understand that wooden houses make shrinkage and the main shrinkage is done for several years.
But even after shrinkage, the tree will change its linear dimensions in connection with the changing temperature and humidity conditions.
Brick wall cladding:
and frame insulated with the use of a windproof plate; b chopped without insulation 1 ventilated air gap; 2 mounting part; 3 brickwork; 4 wind-insulated insulated slab, for example, PAROC WAS-25, WAS-35; 5 vapor barrier; 6 finish; 7 frame; 8 insulation; 9 chopped wall
Therefore, the cladding must be connected to the supporting wall using flexible connections - these are metal plates that are previously protected from corrosion.
One end of the metal plate is walled into the masonry, and the other is attached using wooden blocks with longitudinal grooves, these bars are fixed with screws to the supporting wall.
The screws can move vertically in the groove, thus, when the wooden wall is moving, the protective wall is not destroyed.
Many construction companies, before the installation of the facing wall, install vapor-permeable hydro-wind protection on top of the supporting wall.
