Why Brick Slips are Popular for Commercial Builds
WHAT ARE BRICK SLIPS?
Brick slips are thin cuts of full-sized facing bricks. Handmade, wirecut or reclaimed brick slips are moulded and fired in the same way as clay facing bricks, ensuring high quality, stability and strength. Brick slips offer an elegant rustic or traditional look for modern commercial builds, either in feature walls or for external cladding. It’s not uncommon for brick slip cladding to appear indistinguishable from regular clay brick walls. These products are also commonly referred to as: brick tiles, slip bricks or brick veneers.
BRICK SLIP CLADDING
All of Modular Clay Products’ brick slips are moulded the same as bricks (as previously mentioned) but are also made to withstand all types of weather conditions, including frost and heat. They are thoroughly tested for heat resistance, insulation and their overall performance.
Nowadays, architects are finding themselves turning to brick slip solutions for commercial projects.
Brick cladding is an ideal solution for both internal and external applications, giving you some distinct aesthetic qualities without adding depth and weight of standard-sized bricks. If you’re planning on installing brick slips internally, you will be using far less space. If you’re using them for an external project, they can simply be fitted onto an existing substrate without the need for extensive building work, therefore saving you time and money.
What else is behind their rise in popularity?
WHY ARE BRICK SLIPS SO POPULAR?
Brick slips are exceptionally popular where new facades are required to give a commercial building a fresh look, or for cladding, when rendering has been applied. They are frequently being used in numerous commercial projects, from new builds to nice-looking feature walls. If you use the right type of brick slip, buildings can blend into their surroundings nicely, while offering their own unique presence. They can be used to match existing or nearby brickwork in terms of region, size and age, which comes from the help of reliable brick suppliers like Modular Clay Products. This presents exciting and interesting opportunities for architects and developers to capitalise on.
Brick slip systems have really taken off in the last few years, as many architects and designers recognise the practical and aesthetic advantages that are possible with brick slips.
Many architects are becoming more clued into the benefits of using bricks, as bricks themselves are a timeless material, and there are no signs to suggest they are losing popularity. However, slip bricks also are proving an ever-popular choice because they offer the same tangible and distinct features as brick, while being comparatively lighter and easier to handle.
They offer a traditional finish which can quickly be applied to less expensive materials such as concrete blocks or timber frame construction. Slips are proving popular in urban areas; new developments are often shoehorned into smaller spaces, and there is a very good reason for this. Speed and time are both of the essence, and if premises have to be demolished to make room for new commercial builds, developers want to avoid this as disruption to the community is something they want to avoid.
Brick slip cladding is often preferred than using traditional brickwork because slips are an ideal solution to save time and labour costs.
To find out more about brick slip uses, click here.
FEATURES OF BRICK SLIPS
To summarise, here are a few key features:
- They are easy to install, on existing surfaces or on panels for precasting (see precast bricks).
- There are numerous colour and finish ranges to choose from, including glazed brick slips and with handmade, wirecut finishes.
- Veneer bricks are heat resistant.
- They look like real-life clay bricks.
- Slips can come in numerous sizes, from standard to long format brick dimensions.
Please also refer to our common brick slip questions blog here for more information.
