Brick/cladding ?

First, I'll start by saying I'm not a fan of brick.

It does have its advantages, mainly that it's virtually maintenance free. As long as you're happy with the look of bricks, & don't want to render or paint it.

But brick has a major weakness, it's high thermal mass. That is its ability to store large amounts of heat, releasing it slowly, at a later time.

Don't get me wrong, thermal mass can be brilliant, if used correctly. It will stabilise the temperature, reducing the daytime highs, increasing the nighttime lows - knocking off the peaks & troughs.

Thermal mass is appropriate in many climates - but not the tropical far north, where thermal mass is a very bad idea. But the thermal mass must be used correctly. It should be inside the building envelope, protected from the weather. It's especially important that it's protected from the summer sun.

For climates where a decent amount of thermal mass is appropriate, I'd go for an exposed concrete floor in northern living areas. This floor will receive winter sunshine in the day, soaking up the heat of the sun throughout the day. Radiating that heat back into the home in the evenings, as the house starts to cool, keeping it warmer at night. In summer the concrete floor will be protected from the sun. At night, as the temperature cools outside, the home can be opened up, cooling the floor greatly. The following day this cool floor will speak up a lot of heat, keeping the home cool throughout the day.

For some climates - particularly inland, where daytime highs & nighttime lows differ greatly - even more thermal mass is appropriate. Possibly an additional masonry feature wall in the living area. Or in climates where high thermal mass is appropriate, a different construction technique, reverse brick veneer (RBV). This is a building technique using an insulated lightweight cladding is, & an interior brick wall is used instead of plasterboard.

But for many climates, from a thermal perspective, it's a bad idea to clad a home in brick, exposed to the elements. This is particularly true for hot, sunny Australia.

Brick is a poor insulator. It won't resist the flow of heat, other than by storing that heat. On summer days a brick wall will soak up a tonne of heat from the sun. In the evenings, as the sun goes down, this heat will be radiated out of the brick. Much of it radiated towards the interior of the home. Making the insulation work harder. Brick doesn't stop the flow of heat, it's a poor insulator, it only delays that flow, by storing the heat, re-radiating it at a later time.

This is even more of a problem on the top storey. Hot air rises, as a home warms throughout the day, that heat travels upstairs. Add additional heat up there, radiated from hot bricks, & upstairs bedrooms can be stifling hot on summer evenings. Much better to use a lightweight cladding. As soon as the ambient temperature cools outside in the evening, open the house up, purging the heat, cooling the home. You don't want brick to slow this process.

Thanks for the detailed responses guys . Much appreciated . So basically brick on the first floor would be thermally inefficient . I was told the opposite by the sales rep !! Our lot is south west facing so basically we’ll have our rumpus and kitchen at the back where the most day sun will be received And the top floor Above will have the kids bedrooms . I flipped the original plan so I could have the garage and the laundry on the side that receive little to no sun . All of our living areas will have plenty of natural light but will also get very hot in summers .
So judging by the responses , brick seems like a definite no no for the top floor . What would be the best kids of material then ?
The frame of the house is timber and insulation is Bat 4.0 for the walls and 2.0 for ceiling.

And I suppose I should get a credit for deleting bricks and opting for cladding or hebel ?

Thanks , I’ll check it out and get the builder to Provide a quote for It. Does it need to be renders though? I was under the impression that it could be bagged . Maybe I’m wrong ...

Hello All

I was hoping to get some advise around Timber Composite Cladding, our builder has advised that they prefer to use Selekta timber composite cladding for the elevation. Any expert here who can weigh in on the pros and cons of this product?

https://www.bluechipgroup.net.au/timber-cladding-perth/timber-composite-cladding-perth.html

Background - we were promised grooves in the elevation which they've now come back saying that it is impossible to achieve with the render. Hence the cladding option is being offered. Initially during design stage, we opted out of cladding as it was proving to be expensive. (we are talking about the area around/over the window in light brown with vertical grooves).

 Like  ⋅  Add a comment  ⋅  Pin to Ideaboard  ⋅  Share



Thank you very much in advance.

Looks great MBX3. Love the exposed timber post. I'm struggling to find some solutions to make our brick feature in the elevation look good. At the moment, it doesn't look great with the vanadium stains. Can you offer any suggestions on this thread? https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=99835