Bricks not matching samples?

[PeterW]

22 minutes ago, Dan1983 said:

but if i don’t like the bricks I will have to halt proceedings

Ok slightly confused now as you’re saying you don’t like them. Sadly, not a reason to return them and as everyone says, they will weather very quickly. 

[Dan1983]

I don’t like them as they do not resemble the samples that led me to purchase them.

If they were representative I would like them.

[Dan1983]

Hopefully all sorted.

Been to Elliot’s where all of our remaining packs of bricks are currently stored.

They have gone through a few packs and mocked a wall up and they look much better.

Still not the same shades as expected but we both agreed we liked them.

Builder going to mock a wall up with muck just to make sure.

Deffo going to need to be mixing 3/4 packs at a time with these bricks 

[Mr Punter]

1 hour ago, Dan1983 said:

Deffo going to need to be mixing 3/4 packs at a time with these bricks

 

I think this will be by you or at extra cost.  The bricklayer will only want to touch them once.

[Dan1983]

That’s fine, rather spend more and get the finish I want 

[Faz]

Glad you are sorted mate - they may well weather in to what you were expecting in the first place anyway.?

[Dan1983]

Cheers guys for all the pointers!

 

Up to DPC now and they are looking good.

Mortar still wet in the pictures.

Past DPC we are going to use a light grey mortar with V or raked out joint to show off the rough edges of the brick.

 

 

[luappy13]

I know this is an old topic / post but thought that (as a brick maker) I would post what is good practise and often gets missed by DIYers and professional builders alike:

Portable sample boards ARE NOT to be relied upon as being truly representative of the product that may be delivered.

You should:

 

Request a sample from the manufacturer of enough product to build a site panel 1M2 to be used as a reference panel. This should be built on site on a level, weather protected area and used to build subsequent sample panels from each delivery to make sure they are a reasonable match to the reference panel.

 

The product supplied by the manufacturer should NOT be filtered (with the exception of broken pieces) and laid as received. If critical you should also request the manufacturer approve that what has been built is acceptable to them as to what will be received in the main deliveries.

 

This is as per PAS (Publicly Acessible Standard) 70:2003 for good site practise.

 

So the question usually is why do you have to do this - surely "They should all match the sample board"...

 

Clays, sands, kilns, thermocouples, valves, fans, motors, sprayers, people and the wind direction changes. I kid you not - these are factors that can affect the appearance of the finished product and I have probably missed a few factors.

 

So imagine you order a sample board (which are usually 3 courses of1 and a half bricks - so 4.5 bricks) 18 months before you build and rely upon that as your reference. 

 

1) 4.5 bricks is not usually representative of a complex blend due to the size of the sample

2) The stock pile the brick works might change from when the sample was made and current production runs - clay stock piles can subtly differ in their chemical composition due to the nature of how clay deposits are laid down.

3) The works may have upgraded/changed its kilns from i.e. a Hoffman to a tunnel kiln

4) The sand stains originally used may have run out and a similar (but not quite the same) product has been sourced

5) If the works is a clamp works (that being where the bricks are piled in a huge mound with coal between each layer and fired in the open air) for example the wind might have been stronger this batch than the one you sampled from meaning they fired faster and hotter - which changes the firing curve affecting the product achieved.

6) The temperature measuring devices (thermocouples) can drift. This is usually compensated by yearly calibration BUT they do drift and a noticeable colour difference can occur with a firing temperature difference of 5 degrees C in 1100 i.e. a 0.45% change...

7) Coal addition is usually done by inline belt weighers - these can also be affected by mis calibration / poor maintenance affecting the weighed amount added.

8 ) The product may be in high demand so it may be that the management want a higher throughput to meet demand. This means that the works manager might increase the speed of the firing (usually by either increasing the ramp speed of trimming the top soak). This modification can affect the colour and appearance.

 

I could go on but these are some of the factors that can affect why one batch may differ from the other.

In short - the only true way to garauntee the product you show planners (for example) is a perfect match to what you end up building with is to go to the manufacturer, inspect the yard stock, get it ring-fenced and randomly sample from that exact batch.

 

Clearly for small builders this is not really practical. This is what the big house builders used to do i.e. they would call Redland and say we are looking at buying 400k Dorking Multi / w/e. Redland would then make 400k bricks and invite the buyer to come over, sample for his reference panel and ring fence it if he was happy.

 

HTH for those who are confused why sometimes bricks do not match the sample / image.

 

 

[jack]

2 hours ago, luappy13 said:

HTH for those who are confused why sometimes bricks do not match the sample / image.

Wow, strong first post!