Brick difference help

[Matt42]

Hi,

A brickie is coming to finish off our seat. It's been like this for months i.e. never finished and waiting for the granite seat. Anyway, I just thought I could go to wickes and get 10 orange bricks for him that would match the ones already used. The builder who did it so far did a disappearing act so I cant ask him.

However I took the brick to wickes and theres are different to the one I need. Can anyone help tell me the brick I need and where to go to get it? If it isn't wickes then maybe Jewsons?

Thanks

Matt

 

[CBW]

Afaik, unless you know the make and type, then you’ll need a brick library, so a builders merchants is likely. Has the bricky stated that you supply the bricks?

 

[Matt42]

No. He's more of all rounder I think rather than a brickie. I only need max 10 bricks and didn't want to be paying him to traipse round the county only to get a 'near' match which would look rubbish!

 

[noseall]

Hi,

A brickie is coming to finish off our seat. It's been like this for months i.e. never finished and waiting for the granite seat. Anyway, I just thought I could go to wickes and get 10 orange bricks for him that would match the ones already used. The builder who did it so far did a disappearing act so I cant ask him.

However I took the brick to wickes and theres are different to the one I need. Can anyone help tell me the brick I need and where to go to get it? If it isn't wickes then maybe Jewsons?

Thanks

Matt

Wickes, FFS. They are a DIY centre not a builders' merchants. One of those bricks looks like a brick. The other looks like a reconstituted concrete impersonation of a brick. Awful match

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You'll have to take a few of the existing bricks around a few local merchants and see if you can find a match you're happy with.

 

[Matt42]

As an update. So bricks being finished today (photos to follow). Question, guy has put in the slate coping but left gaps between them. It looks rubbish. He says they are expansion gaps. Surely it's hot for them to expand any more in this weather and they can expand sideways. It looks really naff plus the rain will get in between the gaps in due course. Any advice?

 

[Nige F]

Mask up and seal with a polysulphide sealer ?

 

[opps]

Did he also explain why he cut the returns longer? Image number 2, it looks like he has overcut by 20mm

The expansion excuse make little sense to to me. Was that also his excuse for not fully pointing the underside of the slate?

As per @Nige F 's post, you can use tape and, rather than polysulfide, I would say use a MS polymer, eg CT1. Alternatively, use coloured grout.

Mapei have a wide range of grout colours

Mapei Coloured Grouts and Sealants

Customize your space with the new Mapei's coloured grout and sealant collections. Browse the complete Mapei range and choose the best product for you here.

www.mapei.com

MS polymers- CT1 have a larger range of colours than most other brands.

CT1 - CT1

CT1 will successfully bond: Metals (including lead) Glass Mirrors Wood Polystyrene Unique adhesion on virtually any material in most applications without the need for additional fixings. CT1 is the ultimate solution for sealing.

www.ct1.com

Alternatively, just ask him to point them, and possibly cut away the excess slate.

 

[Matt42]

He's coming back to finish the pointing (does it take two lots of work?) and he said he left them slightly longer as he didn't know what I wanted. I have been on holiday so this is slightly forgivable. So he will trim those back but my feeling is that he should take them up again and re lay them so they are flush? Wont polymer not look as good? Sounds like a job to cover up a bodge job? I have a few spare slates so if he breaks some lifting them out again then I'm covered somewhat.

 

[opps]

He's coming back to finish the pointing (does it take two lots of work?) and he said he left them slightly longer as he didn't know what I wanted. I have been on holiday so this is slightly forgivable. So he will trim those back but my feeling is that he should take them up again and re lay them so they are flush? Wont polymer not look as good? Sounds like a job to cover up a bodge job? I have a few spare slates so if he breaks some lifting them out again then I'm covered somewhat.

They can be cut in situ, but it is (much) more difficult to do it. He now runs the risk of accidentally cutting in to the brick or scuffing the adjacent slate. If he is confident that he can do them in situ, then let him carry on.

I don't understand why he wanted to give you the option of slates that don't line up...

Apropos the polymer, I personally would rather a coloured grout that matches the colour of the slate, but you are looking at a bag of grout in excess of a tenner, and will end up binning 90% of it. You also run the risk of the guy letting it run down onto the brick faces.

I don't want to malign him, I don't know the full back story or how much you paid for his labour.

At the moment, a lot of my exterior work is thorough a brick pointer. He is on site with scaffolding, customers decide to have the windows painted at the same time. I can only guess that he, your guy, was worried that if he tried pointing it at the same time, the slate might move. I am being generous.

 

[Matt42]

He came back today. The slate coping is ours and we agreed he hadn't listened fully! He is going to take them up. I have a few spare coping stones fortunately. He said I wouldn't get them properly aligned as the seat brickwork isn't straight for which I accept there'll need to be some polmer/grout etc somewhere. But I said I'd rather it was at the back where the plants can overgrown into any 'differences'. Perhaps I am too fussy lol!

 

[Mister Banks]

I dont think you are being fussy wanting a neat job, unfortunately some tradespeople don't know what a neat job looks like!

 

[robinbanks]

He says they are expansion gaps

A 600mm slate, when heated by 100 Celsius, expands about 0.4mm

 

[Matt42]

A 600mm slate, when heated by 100 Celsius, expands about 0.4mm

Peanuts then?

 

[opps]

He came back today. The slate coping is ours and we agreed he hadn't listened fully! He is going to take them up. I have a few spare coping stones fortunately. He said I wouldn't get them properly aligned as the seat brickwork isn't straight for which I accept there'll need to be some polmer/grout etc somewhere. But I said I'd rather it was at the back where the plants can overgrown into any 'differences'. Perhaps I am too fussy lol!

Appreciate that the brickwork might not be straight or at right angles, but that still doesn't explain the fact that the returns were cut too long.