Mortar colour poll

[flanagaj]

Keen to see what mortar colour people this works best with the bricks we’ve chosen.

 

i appreciate it’s subjective, but the wife and I are currently in disagreement.  
 

 

[G and J]

It is subjective but firstly is your whole frontage brick, may make a difference....

 

We only have a plinth, (9 at highest where ground slops at back of house) so we chose high contrast mortar that "matched" the cladding. If it had been the whole house, would have been too stark for us, and maybe the planners.

 

Having said all that my vote would be nit no.1 (too warm), no.3 if your looking for high contrast, no.4 if you want it to "blend"

[crispy_wafer]

Number 4 for me

[flanagaj]

41 minutes ago, G and J said:

It is subjective but firstly is your whole frontage brick, may make a difference....

 

We only have a plinth, (9 at highest where ground slops at back of house) so we chose high contrast mortar that "matched" the cladding. If it had been the whole house, would have been too stark for us, and maybe the planners.

 

Having said all that my vote would be nit no.1 (too warm), no.3 if your looking for high contrast, no.4 if you want it to "blend"

It’s brick facade for ground floor and then thermowood Ash cladding for upper floor.  I like the white as although it has high contrast, it’s the most contemporary looking.

[flanagaj]

1 minute ago, crispy_wafer said:

Number 4 for me

That is what my wife likes too.

[G and J]

1 minute ago, flanagaj said:

thermowood Ash cladding

Are you letting it go silver? Have you  viewed final "colour" with mortar as well?

 

Image of our attached just as eg. Took us a while to choose whole "package"

 

 

[FuerteStu]

Number one. 

Not just because the more grey colours seems to contrast with the block, and overpower the eyes (this will lead to your eyes looking more at the smaller surface area of the wall and be distracting, rather than the feeling the blockwork is the wall, and the mortar just s supporting role)

 

But because there are green tones in the first that will age better. Over the years this will allow nature to grown alongside it in a complimentary way. 

 

If you intend an ultra modern gravel and slab surrounding design, then fair enough, but anything growing next to the grey would seem like a weed in a lawn and out of place. 

 

(just purely my opinion and feel free to ignore) 

[BadgerBodger]

Out of curiosity are you using premixed mortar or adding a pigment. My experience of using either for coloured mortar is expect some variance in the batches/mixes. The mix on site can be worse or better than ready spread depending on the diligence of your brickie and his choice of “gauging” - for some it’s the gauging bucket, for others it’s a shovel… 

 

I’ve found it really hit and miss over the years but for my self build I went with white cement, and hydrated lime with a batch of sand that was more than I needed so I got colour continuity throughout. The sand you get from your merchant can vary - we used to get a red/orange sand but my brickies told me a good grey/brown sand to order direct from a quarry and it worked a treat. 

[G and J]

31 minutes ago, BadgerBodger said:

a batch of sand that was more than I needed so I got colour continuity throughout.

 

31 minutes ago, BadgerBodger said:

The sand you get from your merchant can vary - we used to get a red/orange

 

+1 to this

[flanagaj]

Not planning on using dyes and will order the required 10 ton of sand in one go, so as to avoid possibility of slight colour shift.  

[torre]

I'd pick your favourite couple of options and make up a larger panel in the bond you'll be laying, and your preferred pointing.

 

4 if pushed but it's super personal. The high contrast white will work best with a very regular brick and very clean/recessed pointing, otherwise I think you'll have some prominent but wavy looking lines of mortar.

 

1 hour ago, BadgerBodger said:

gauging

Definitely buckets not shovels if you want consistency

[JohnMo]

Doesn't really matter what you or anyone else likes, your wife wins - sorry it's just life, or live with the throwback for the rest of your life living there.

 

But I agree with the wife choice 

[Nickfromwales]

1 is nice at first, then I consider the amount of it and then I think it detracts, sorry, so I am a 4.

 

Lets the brick dominate, which I think it should.

[saveasteading]

4

[Bonner]

Another vote for 4 however it could look very different on a large area. I used this tool https://nsxpwebapp.nelissen.be/publicconfigurator/?l=en-gb&_gl=1*kft2zi*_gcl_au*MTk2NjIxOTc5OC4xNzg1MTM1NjUy to visualise the difference but still built a few square metre panels before deciding. Went for the natural look in the lower half of the picture to blend in with the older buildings in my location. The upper part (unplanned/feckup) shows how it different it looks with a lighter joint, same bricks, sand and white cement.

[Spinny]

Are you talking mortar or are you talking pointing. I only ask because they can be different and can be done at different times i.e. built with one mortar and pointed afterwards with your colour choice. Careful neat pointing not necessarily every brickie's forte if they normally lay concrete or thermalite blocks ?

 

Could allow you to postpone the decision until you have some cladding up and can make a decision based on a larger area/perspective.

 

I am probably over complicating and adding cost but just a random thought.

 

I would build a larger test area too.

 

PS you could even have the brickie build a separate dedicated piece of wall for testing pointing colour before using it on the actual build. SWMBO would say there I go again - trying to keep the receipt. (Still looking for the receipt I got from her dad)

 

 

Edited Monday at 07:40 by Spinny

[saveasteading]

The more you make mortar a feature, rather than functional, the better the bricklayer has to be. And the batching.

If site mixed, you need precise control of the materials and the quantities. Not flinging in half a bag of cement and x shovels of sand.

[Square Feet]

No 1. The rest look a bit 'communist bloc'