Deciding on brick bond?

[flanagaj]

We are in the process of trying to find a quality brick layer in Hampshire, but to get a quote we need to decide on what brick bond to use.  I think having simply stretcher might look a bit too much like an estate style property and wondered if anyone has some resources or how you go about deciding this.  Not sure whether this was the architects job, or whether it is something you decide after you have been granted planning.

 

[crispy_wafer]

I guess it depends on the building design, however your neck of the woods flemish bond would be the traditional go to.  Mortar colour and finish style makes a big difference too.

[ToughButterCup]

52 minutes ago, flanagaj said:

... wondered if anyone has some resources or how you go about deciding this....

 

You already have the resources needed. Your eyes.

Make the time to:   Look.    Stare.   Notice.

Take loads of photographs and submit the results to the boss. She'll tell you.

The most important thing is knowing what you do not want - and more important than that : why not.

Go through that exercise ( and it's not easy ) and the brief for your bricklayer writes itself.

[Mr Punter]

Unless this is a good reason to do otherwise, stretcher bond works well for buildability, economy, durability and structural soundness.

 

The selection of brick and mortar colour can make a huge difference.

[maxe307]

In terms of bonds then this is a good resource https://www.wienerberger.co.uk/content/dam/wienerberger/united-kingdom/marketing/documents-magazines/technical/brick-technical-guidance-sheets/UK_MKT_DOC_Brickwork Bonds and Quantities (REV2).pdf 

 

Its worth noting that anything other than stretcher bond will cost more in your bricklayers eyes. When looking at Flemish bond and others using half bats there will also be an additional cost to these as well. 

[torre]

Bonds like Flemish look beautiful and made a lot of sense when every wall was solid 9 inches a century ago as the visible headers tied through the internal and external brickwork. 

 

Today, with cavity walls the headers are purely cosmetic and add expense in two ways - 1/ there's more units for a bricklayer to pick up and lay, then 2/ every two headers are made from cutting or splitting a whole brick. 

 

So you'll likely pay around 25-33% more for the bricklaying, plus more for the cutting and splitting. Cutting is expensive, noisy, dirty even wet cutting. Splitting is slow and time consuming.

 

We've done Flemish and while beautiful (but sorry no pics) the number of three quarters and quarters we wet cut plus the number of halves we split added lots of time and cost. It's a nice idea but not the way to go if you want to build fast or cheap. 

 

If you want to stand out it's easier to do that by picking a distinctive brick and carefully selecting a mortar that compliments well. Consider an imperial brick size perhaps if you want to stand out? Laying 80-85mm can work out cheaper than metric 75 but you're likely to pay more for the bricks

[Mr Punter]

13 hours ago, torre said:

Laying 80-85mm can work out cheaper than metric 75 but you're likely to pay more for the bricks

 

Plus it messes with the blockwork coursing.

[madilyn]

On 16/06/2025 at 08:23, flanagaj said:

We are in the process of trying to find a quality brick layer in Hampshire, but to get a quote we need to decide on what brick bond to use. I think having simply stretcher might look a bit too much like an estate style property and wondered if anyone has some resources or how you go about deciding this. I was recently looking through some listings for St George Homes For Sale and noticed a variety of brick bonds used there, which got me thinking about our options. Not sure whether this was the architects job, or whether it is something you decide after you have been granted planning.
 

I’ve dealt with a similar question when I needed to choose a brick bond for a house. Usually, the architect handles this, but I discussed the details with the contractor after getting planning permission. It’s better to decide in advance what you want to see-stretcher bond is often used for standard buildings, and if you want something more interesting, you can look at options like Flemish bond or English bond. I just checked examples on brick manufacturers’ websites and showed them to the contractor to understand how it would look.

[bmj1]

We compromised: Flemish on the front and rear elevations, stretcher on the side.

 

On ours, the side elevations aren't so visible, due to close proximity to the neighbours.

 

I'm happy we did this and spent the extra