Everything you Need to Know about Brick Slips
WHAT ARE BRICK SLIPS?
Brick slips are inherently the faces of bricks. Otherwise known as ‘brick tiles’, ‘thin brick’ or ‘veneer bricks’, they are typically clay bricks that have been cut so that their face can be used as a tile. The thin slices of the brick mirror the appearance of traditional facing bricks and engineering bricks.
In the UK, brick slips are available in an extensive range of styles, colours and designs that complement both traditional and contemporary projects. They are often used for finishing an exterior build but also make an efficient, cost-effective and durable material for modernising an interior wall. Installing brick slips is incredibly easy to do, given that their appearance replicates modern brick applications with the caveat that building a wall from scratch isn’t necessary.
How else are brick slips used?
USES FOR BRICK SLIPS
Slip bricks are predominantly used in two main applications.
- Brick tiling– replicating the exposed brick look is particularly popular with architects and designers. The traditional and authentic appearance of conventional brickwork is simple to replicate when using brick slips, particularly for brick feature walls in interior applications. By simply tiling slips onto the surface, by using a powerful adhesive, 10mm spacers and a traditional mortar mix, replicating that classic brick look has never been easier.
- Brick cladding– brick slip cladding systems have proven increasingly popular in the market over the past few years. There has been a resurgence in using brick slip cladding for large commercial buildings. The frames are interlocked, filled with slips and subsequently finished with a mortar, which masks all traces of the structure behind it. It is exceptionally easy to apply brick slips, compared to traditional bricklaying.
HOW ARE BRICK SLIPS MADE?
Nearly all types of brick slip are cut from the face of standard clay bricks. This is the preferred choice for many brick manufacturers wanting to create bespoke units of the product in different thicknesses, or for a project that utilises authentic-looking, handmade bricks. Slips are usually machine cut into diameters between 15mm and 30mm, straight from bricks that have been extruded or moulded by hand, and kiln-fired.
It varies in some instances, some brick manufacturers create single-face brick, in which case only one slip is possible. However, it’s common for bricks to have two faces, where two sheets can be cut from a single brick.
BRICK SLIP CLADDING
Other frequent applications for brick slips are as finishes for external wall insulation.
Much like conventional slip bricks, the units can be bonded to the substrate or supplied as pre-insulated cladding panels. These methods are incredibly handy for upgrading solid wall properties to achieve modern energy efficiency standards. From an aesthetic perspective, this yet again helps to preserve a traditional brickwork appearance.
For new commercial properties, if architects and designers are looking to imitate a traditional masonry appearance, insulated slip brick cladding is a fantastic solution. This type of cladding can help to reduce wall thickness compared to conventional brickwork, thereby increasing the amount of available internal floor space.
