maxe307

10mm is the standard in the UK, in Denmark they go up to 16mm and use sharp sand in the mortar. Just remember the bigger the mortar joint the more impact it has on the overall visual appearance of the wall.

The pushback from the bricklayer is because lime mortar takes longer to set so building a wall takes more time but you are the client so if thats what you want then its more than possible. Its also great because should your project get knocked down in the future they can scrape the lime mortar off the bricks and reuse them. There are plenty of HLM projects throughout the UK.

Yes you can get them in 228 x 68mm size from Ibstock TIS-A3a-BRICKWORK-DIMENSIONS-TABLES-228x68.pdf

I am using a small amount of linear bricks on my project, the prices I am being quoted are between £180 to £220 per m2, I have spoken to Wienerberger, Joseph Brick, York Handmade and UK brick (Randers). I am going for a buff toned linear brick.

The brick development association has a number of useful resources available: https://www.brick.org.uk/uploads/downloads/04.-Designing-to-brickwork-dimensions-Techical-Guide-2023.f1678701338.pdf Its only useful if you are using 215 x 65mm sized bricks however.

There are 2 types of brick slips available one is purpose made slips and the other is cut down from a full brick. I purchased some purpose made brick slips for my kitchen 5 years ago and paid £0.18 per slip, I got them from a company in Germany. If you have brick slips cut down from normal bricks you are looking at a more expensive process.

They stay on indefinitely so basically until there is an order against the site or they know that the project has been built using another product. The whole purpose of the discount system is to encourage the factors and merchants into promoting there bricks, it gets abused by a few people but overall the system works. Its meant to reward the people who put in the work with the architect/ builder/ client and actually generate business for the manufactures. Its very hard to trick the system as they are all run alongside a planning service like Barbour ABI which provides updates on the planning and project on a regular basis. If the site is not in for planning then it gets flagged very quickly.

They are importers with relationships from factories in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Holland and India, the actually have deals with Wienerberger on certain products that they make abroad for distribution in the UK. Most of these will be exclusive arrangements with the factories so if you are speaking to them directly they will be giving you there list price for the market most likely.

I spent 25 years in sector ending my career as sales director of the largest manufacturer in the UK so I can probably answer this quite well. 99% of the production in the UK comes from 4 manufacturers Forterra, MBH, Ibstock and Wienerberger they sell direct to the major house builders and the rest is sold via factors and merchants. The pricing is done on a site address hence why they want a site address as if they register the project they get a higher discount. With factories in Europe they all have distributors in the UK who they sell exclusively to, be it some of there range or all of it. These importers will also sell to factors and merchants. Therefore the majority of bricks you get shown from merchants and factors will come from the same few suppliers. If you contact factories in Europe directly they will often just forward this on to their agents in the UK but at least you will speak to the importer directly. Depending on who they are they may sell direct or sell via a local merchant who they have a rebate agreement with. When it comes to discount unless you are ordering 30000 bricks plus it’s unlikely to get a discount from the major factories as simply they don’t need too for smaller orders so any discount offered will be based on the merchant and factors rebate scheme with the manufacturer. Merchants will discount anything that they have on stock to simply shift it out the yard, especially in the current market however very few, if any, merchants will stock linear bricks

Hi all We are undertaking a barn conversion in Buckinghamshire. The barn is in terrible condition that we are going to remove 95% of the timber cladding and roof and rebuild it using clay hanging tiles. We are trying to make it as sustainable as possible and solar panels, heat pumps and also we plan on collecting the water from the gutters to use for flushing the toilets. Having worked in the construction industry for 25 years I am looking forward to getting on site and doing some actual construction work myself