Browse Forums Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1 Sep 20, 2010 4:12 pm Our scaffolding recently went down and we got a clear look at the bricks. They have all been laid quite nicely but there is one problem - the bricks used for the lower part of the facade are quite different from the bricks used for the top portion. The top portion was laid last, and I don't think they had many bricks left to choose from. You can see that the colour difference continues around the side, but it's mainly the front we're concerned about. Can anyone suggest a method of making this look even apart from replacing those bricks? Our builder is asking the brick manufacturers the same question currently. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover Re: Advice on brick colour variations 3Sep 20, 2010 5:36 pm Looks terrible. Looks like two entirely different batches of bricks. Short of rendering the top half of the house, I can't really see any other option besides pulling them down and redoing them. Best of luck, at least your builder is looking at this and not just telling you to accept it. I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Advice on brick colour variations 4Sep 20, 2010 6:01 pm Yeah those bricks clearly haven't been blended properly - that's something that the brickies should have done when laying them. As the others have said; I don't think there's much that can be done to fix them short of rendering or replacing the lot. It's not really the manufacturer's fault though as they usually have directions on the pallets as to how to blend them. Best of luck with getting it fixed Re: Advice on brick colour variations 5Sep 20, 2010 6:48 pm Thanks for your comments everyone! It's good to know that others don't find it acceptable, that give me more confidence to make sure the builder fixes it. They have been quite good with other issues, so I'm expecting we will get it fixed one way or another. Are there any standards that specify how bricks should be blended? Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover Re: Advice on brick colour variations 6Sep 20, 2010 7:13 pm WOW, that's a massive difference. I would not be accepting that. At least your builder seems to be chasing this up for you. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=37229 - our Iris 4! Re: Advice on brick colour variations 7Sep 20, 2010 10:12 pm We are having a similar problem with Porter Davis at the moment. The bricks were delivered in 2 large lots and one small lot and the result looks terrible. I would be very interested to see what Metricon say about yours. We also have some mortar issues. I am disappointed that they have not seen it as a problem thus far. I have just emailed my CSC about it so we shall see what they come back with. Here are my photos, notice the top half is a slightly different colour to the bottom half, a quarter of the garage wall is a different colour, random sections are different colours. It is the same all over the house. Here is some of the ** mortar, I have complained already but nothing has been done yet. These were prior to cleaning, but cleaning has made no difference, it looks worse now that the messiness has gone but the poorly blended bricks are still there. I wasn't sure if it was just me being overly fussy at first, but I don't think it is supposed to look like that. Good luck, it is very disappointing when the brickwork is badly done. Keep us updated on what happens. Does anyone know what our rights are in relation to such poor blending? Re: Advice on brick colour variations 8Sep 20, 2010 10:29 pm As per Building commission's Guide to standards and tollerance 2007, Cl 3.06 page 26, Masory areas that vary in color are defective if the units are not blended in accordance of manufacturers instructions. It also says "Display panels and display homes may be taken as representative of the range of variations to be expected. Re: Advice on brick colour variations 9Sep 21, 2010 9:31 am Those look pretty bad Fallen_Apple. They definitely have to do something about that. Thanks for that info khpatoary, I will use that if they are reluctant to fix things. Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover Re: Advice on brick colour variations 10Sep 21, 2010 11:15 am Thanks for the advice khpatoary, Any word from your builder btherl? Apparently the Building Manager and Boral were out on site this morning and agree it is unacceptable, at least they got out there quickly. They have suggested some sort of dye that is injected into each brick to blend them better. Has any one ever heard of this practice and if it is successful? No mention of the mortar issues yet though, there are holes everywhere. I also found a number of chipped bricks this morning, will add photos once the battery of the camera is charged! Does anyone know what they do with mortar and chipping problems? Re: Advice on brick colour variations 11Sep 21, 2010 11:58 am Btherl and Fallen_Apple I feel for you both!! How disappointing. Stick to your guns and do not accept anything you are not happy with. If you get no satisfaction from the builder, perhaps an independent building inspection wouldn't go astray. Best of luck. Re: Advice on brick colour variations 12Sep 21, 2010 12:05 pm Fallen_Apple Thanks for the advice khpatoary, Any word from your builder btherl? Apparently the Building Manager and Boral were out on site this morning and agree it is unacceptable, at least they got out there quickly. They have suggested some sort of dye that is injected into each brick to blend them better. Has any one ever heard of this practice and if it is successful? No mention of the mortar issues yet though, there are holes everywhere. I also found a number of chipped bricks this morning, will add photos once the battery of the camera is charged! Does anyone know what they do with mortar and chipping problems? I agree they don't look good. Hope they can fix them for you. Can you tell me what bricks they are? They look awfully like the ones we are going to use. Boral La Mesa. A balanced diet is chocolate in both hands. Melbourne West Our build viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34169 Landscaping viewtopic.php?f=19&t=51147 Re: Advice on brick colour variations 13Sep 21, 2010 12:15 pm I think the dye method is Nawkaw. I read about it on Paul's blog. I'm going to suggest it to my builder as a possibility. I have no idea how much it costs. Thanks for the encouragement! Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover Re: Advice on brick colour variations 14Sep 21, 2010 2:30 pm Thanks Home Sweet Home, that may be a good idea. Kaytee the brick is Boral "Pearl Grey Velour" the sample at boral and the houses we viewed look nothing like the mess we have on our block. Worse still it was a Cat 3 upgrade we paid over $2000 for. btherl I think we should see some finished examples of the dye method before accepting it. I wonder how successful it would be with more than half a house to do. Website says a 25 year guarantee, what happens after that though, do they fade and it looks crappy again? Would there be ongoing maintenance? So many questions!! I think I'd be happier with a re-bricking or full render, it seems like a more permanent solution and I plan to stay in this house for a LONG time. I just got an email from the CSC about the mortar holes and the reply was that some mortar can come loose during cleaning, has this happened to anyone else? On the plus side they said it would be fixed, has any one else had mortar fixed when every wall is full of mortar holes of varying sizes? What is the procedure? Will add pics later, one wall looks like a lunar landscape. Oh and just for a little more brick work fun, some of mine are turning green! Can it get any worse!! Thanks all, sorry just needed to get it out. Re: Advice on brick colour variations 15Sep 21, 2010 2:57 pm None of our mortar came loose after cleaning. The mortar is actually pretty faultless for us. The alignment of the bricks is also very good. It's just the unfortunate choice of which bricks they put where that lets everything else down I think that if mortar came loose during cleaning then the mortar wasn't done right in the first place. The only places we haven't got mortar are the weepholes. Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover Re: Advice on brick colour variations 16Sep 23, 2010 12:18 pm On the plus side Porter Davis seem to be taking my complaints seriously. There are an awful lot of people, including the original bricklayer standing around our house scratching their heads and climbing up ladders. That's a good start! Re: Advice on brick colour variations 17Sep 23, 2010 1:29 pm Definitely a good start! I've been told a representative of the brick manufacturer will be out to my house to take a look at things. Still just waiting at this point.. at least progress is continuing on the inside of the house, so there's not going to be any real delay. Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover Re: Advice on brick colour variations 18Sep 23, 2010 2:01 pm That's good news for both of you. I hope they can rectify to your satisfaction. A balanced diet is chocolate in both hands. Melbourne West Our build viewtopic.php?f=31&t=34169 Landscaping viewtopic.php?f=19&t=51147 Re: Advice on brick colour variations 19Oct 23, 2010 7:48 pm Hi Brthel, how are you going with your brick situation? Porter Davis has agreed to render our whole house which is good, not exactly what we wanted but better than a multicoloured house! I hope your builder have been nice too. Re: Advice on brick colour variations 20Oct 28, 2010 11:49 am Hi Fallen Apple, Still waiting.. apparently the job is with the construction manager, and even my site supervisor doesn't know what's going on. So just waiting.. Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover It seems very clear to me that your contract states that a security account does NOT need to be established so the answer to the builder is NO. If in doubt find a contract… 1 6355 The fastest thing a builder will do is bank your cheque, those systems work perfectly with lightning speed, everything else is slow burn. Just the way it is. 1 5613 Can someone please offer some advice? Im DESPERATE. Because I'm completely and utterly exhausted. How long are variations taking with other companies at the moment? We… 0 11935 |