Brick Tinting

As my house is currently being bricked, you've got me really worried.

We have had the second batch of bricks delivered, only a few days apart, so I don't expect problems there, but the second storey is about a week away, so hopefully no issues, but will certainly keep an eye on it now that you've mentioned it.

What bricks are you using from Austral range btw?

I'm no brick expert but I think I remember reading on one of the manufacturer sites about mixing the pallets so that any shade differences were evened out and spread. Being a replacement, I suppose that's not really practical (unless you want to start from scratch ) but you'd think that the ones laying bricks now (Vlad's double story) would have to mix up the bricks?

Ray

I heard nawkaw is a really good product.

Once they tint the brick it will look really good. But i've never seen a finish product before, but my builder recommended it.

The process is entirely manual, where a person tints every brick individually.

Good luck with your bricks

Grime,

Mate that is f**kin disgusting....

Why didn't the brickies just stop. A bit of due care and attention would have avoided that happening altogether...

I doubt that is the same brick. They never vary that much in colour....

In regards to the tinting, I would be sceptical about that. How long will it last? What will it look like in 10 years when you are selling the house etc.

Grime,

Another point what is going on under the window sill in the 1st and 2nd pics?

The third pics shows the sill how it is supposed to be and the others are a little ?????

It looks like they forgot to rake the brick away from the sill...

Maybe its a new fashion? Anyone else seen this before?

Well I'm afraid I am unable to provide much of an update at this time.
Our supervisor left the company just after our job was signed off on,so now all the issues are being managed by a more senior person.
He thought the quote was too expensive and has asked for lesser one.
Meanwhile the neighbours and tradies have been lining up to give their opinions on the bricks and the company that supplied the bricks.
There must be somebody out there who has an encouraging thing to say about them

Hey Graeme - have you moved in? Nothing on your blog since July. Just wondering how things are going (apart from the bricks).

We all are!

Well, seems bricks are a huge problem all round....

Long story ahead.

We selected our bricks from Boral, not Austral who our builder uses.
Boral said they didn't exist (even though they are on their website, then eventually figured out, oh yes they do, no problems, they would send them over (bricks made in WA, building in SA). They arrived a couple of days later and the brickies started. I noticed that not all the bricks had arrived. Boral told the builders that the rest would be there the next day. Builder found out however they had sent over all they had and we would have to wait 8 weeks for the rest! So basically we had enough to do the front and that was it, so we could pick new bricks altogether (not happening, we had our heart set on those bricks) wait 8 weeks and set the whole house back (they couldn't even put the roof on to protect the framework because we don't really have eaves) or pick new bricks just for the sides and back, and keep the ones we picked on the front. We didn't really want to be set back 8 weeks, so we decided we would go with the ones we had for the front as we had our heart totally set on them, and try to pick a brick close enough for the rest. We have rendered qoins so figured they wouldn't be bricked next to each other completley, so the difference might not be as noticeable. So we picked a new brick, which we were ok with, wasn't perfect, but better than 8 weeks watching the framework sit out in the wether. The next day we found out they had been discontinued. Our builder rang everywhere in the state looking for any type of cream brick, and was given the same story everywhere, no stock, making some at the moment but orders to fill before we know if there are any left, blah blah blah. NO CREAM BRICKS IN SA!!! So our options were a bit more limited from then. Get the front done in the original bricks (which they had already started anyway), and we would have to wait 8 weeks for the original bricks to come in for the rest of it. I was kind of happy at the idea of having our ogirinal bricks, but not the delay. Turned out Austral ended up having some in their yard that were a year old, no-one had bought, and were a similar colour and texture, and from WA aswell. They sent them up for us to look at. They ended up matching better than the ones that we had originally picked as replacements, so it worked out better. Not as well as having the original bricks the whole way round though!!! Brickies have just finished today, done a great job, and if I didn't tell anyone, they wouldn't even know from looking at a distance that the side bricks aren't the same as the front. Ofcourse I still know everytime I look at it, but I'm over it, it was better than waiting 8 weeks (even though I would have loved to have had the right bricks the whole way round.).

Moral of the story, render, or don't use cream bricks. Apparently Australs are discontinuing a lot of their cream ones and bricking in chocolate and coffee colour bricks as they are in fashion interstate.

Hi Spot
I know you have finished now and probably don't want to hear it but we went through Salisbury Bricks in S.A. and they had a few different cream bricks to choose from when we were there. really helpful owners.
Helen