We chose brick as our primary exterior surface for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that brick is one of the most durable, versatile and attractive building materials known to man.

Video Transcription

Michael: Even though there are plenty of modern innovations in home building some classic materials have stood the test of time. To give our project house a classic look that’s durable and low maintenance, we chose a brick exterior with lime stone accents. There are over 32,000 bricks on this house. And all the bricks were provided by Acme Brick, a Texas company that’s been making brick for over a hundred years. Dennis Knautz is president and CEO of Acme Brick. He says brick is a great choice for your homes exterior. Dennis: Brick won’t burn, they won’t fade, they won’t peel, they’re no maintenance. Brick will look as good today as they will 30 years from now when you pay off your mortgage, in fact, that’s one of the reasons why we put a hundred year guarantee on all of our brick. Michael: Brick’s not only durable, it’s versatile. When expert masons work with brick. They can use depth strokes of the trowel that cut and shape the brick. A little extra finesse is required around the windows and corners. To make sure that all the courses of brick are level, the masons lay the brick along a string line, tapping each brick into place for a perfect fit. Skilled masons can use brick to create interesting, and unique architectural features on a home. In this house, port hole windows and circle by brick add distinction and balance to a front entry way. Even an ordinary planter can be brought to life by creative use of brick. Now on our project house the home builder got a little ambitious with the design pattern. First they’re running normal courses of brick then they turn them on end and have the ends actually step out a little bit, then they went out another level, and then they did what’s known as a soldier pattern, where they’re all lined up in a vertical. And they actually kicked them out on top of this step outs so it looks like a walking soldier, a line of soldiers kicking their foot out. Lot of different things you can do, even on some odd angles and corners you can actually cut the brick and piece it in there. A million different choices when it comes to the design of the exterior of your house with brick. Brick can also be painted to create a pleasing effect. A coat of gray paint on the brick gives this 40 year old house a definite contemporary look. There’s a lot be said for antique as well. The bricks on this 50 year old house were already old when the house was built. Some of these bricks had definitely seen better days, but they’ve held up let well and each one adds a touch of character. Well Dennis obviously brick isn’t a new product but how long has it been around? Dennis: Michael, brick have been used for more than 9000 years dating back to the days of Mesopotamia. Michael: Wow! Dennis: In fact, we brought a couple of brick out today to show you some of the old brick that we have in our collection. Michael: That’s huge, what is it? Dennis: This brick actually came from the Great Wall of China. Michael: Oh, wow. Dennis: This brick was probably put in the wall around 1350 to 1550 A.D., so this brick itself is 500 to 700 years old. Michael: Well then it took them awhile to build that wall, that wasn’t just a 9 month project. Dennis: It’s more than a 1000 years I believe. This brick here actually came from the Roman form, in Rome, Italy. Michael: Okay. Dennis: And the Roman form was built about 200 B.C. Michael: So this brick is actually older. Dennis: It’s actually older, this brick is more than 2000 years old, makes this one brand new. Michael: Okay. We can’t probably buy this antique bricks. Let’s go over here and it looks like there’s a lot of choices, when you’re considering putting brick on your house, what type of features are you really looking for in the brick itself? Dennis: Well certainly color is one important feature, size is another feature, you want to make sure buy hard fired quality clay brick when you’re choosing brick for your home. Michael: And how do you know if it’s hard fired. Dennis: Well, there are several ways and techniques to use, if you’re on the job site when your brick arrive for your home, one of the ways is to pick up a couple of brick and clink them together to see how they ring. Let me demonstrate for you how that works. Michael: Ring that brick, show me how. Dennis: Here I have a couple of ACME brick and these are right here and available... Michael: Sounds like bells. Dennis: Sounds like bells. Michael: Okay. Dennis: Picked up a couple of other brick that we found on another job site from brand x, this brick here. Michael: That’s the code way of saying you didn’t make that brick. Dennis: That’s correct. Michael: And has a really dull sound to it. And why is that, why would that one *4:18 louder and have more of a bell, and this sound kind of a dull thud? Dennis: Well this brick may not have been cured to the proper temperature and for the proper amount of time. The process of making a brick is something that transforms the clay chemically into a brick and that vitrification process isn’t complete, you end up with a thud on the brick. Michael: And what does that mean when it’s on your house? Dennis: It means that there maybe still some clay content in the brick itself and over time it may be subject to failure. Michael: Okay, well we don’t want a failure on the side of our house. You said color, there are a lot of choices and obviously right in front there’s a bunch, I know there’s a lot of other colors besides these. What I’m really shocked about is mortar. There are so many colors that can go in between the brick, I mean how come there’s so many colors? Dennis: Well one of the things that you’re trying to do with mortar color is highlight certain colors in the wall. Most home buyers don’t realize but the mortar color actually absorbs 20% of the wall itself. Michael: So only 80% is brick, and the rest is mortar? Dennis: That’s correct. You use the mortar color to do certain dramatic things, as an example here we can take this color of mortar, put it in the wall right here, and it actually pulls out and highlight some of the red colors in this brick right here. Okay, so the bricks that are more red are going to stand out more and this will fade in more. Dennis: Yes. Okay. Well most people can drive around and see different colors of brick on a house, they’re not walking around though with mortar samples in their car and carrying up to a house and compare and stuff, how do you get to see all the different colors of brick, and the different colors of mortar, and then duplicate what they’re going to look like on your house? Dennis: Well one of the great ways we think to do that is to go to our website, brick.com. We have a free software package there called Design Online, where you can actually go in, select an elevation for your home, select some brick, select the color for your mortar, select roof color and trim as well. And you can mix and match and try and find the color that you like on your home. So you can drive your mouse instead of your car, and get exactly what you want on your house? Dennis: Exactly. For more information on how a high quality brick exterior can add beauty, durability, and value to your new house, visit us online at MichaelHoligan.com.