Brick Veneer Mistakes to Avoid

A brick veneer wall fails in small steps. A wrong grade goes in before anyone checks exposure. A gross area becomes an order. A drainage path closes behind the face. The selection guide owns the product choice, the measuring guide owns the area, and the ordering guide owns the buy list. This page owns the checks that catch each mistake before that step locks.

Which brick veneer mistakes cost the most?

Wrong grade, wrong mortar, gross area counts, wrong size rate, missing waste basis, mixed lots, and a blocked drainage path cost the most. Each one forces a reorder, a rebuilt section, or a wall that stays wet. The checks below name the figure or the document that controls each mistake.

Did you order the wrong brick grade or appearance type?

Use facing brick, specified under ASTM C216, for the exposed face. Building brick under ASTM C62 carries a durability grade but no appearance type, so it does not control the face. Grade answers the weather question. Type answers the look question. An order that names only a colour answers neither.

Grade SW suits brick exposed to freezing while saturated with water. Grade MW suits brick exposed to freezing but unlikely to be saturated. Facing brick has no Grade NW, so a grade labelled NW on a veneer order is a wrong specification. Type FBS covers general use. Type FBX has tighter dimensional tolerances. Type FBA allows more variation in size and texture. Thin veneer brick follows ASTM C1088 instead, with Exterior or Interior grades, and it is not laid as full brick veneer. Do not carry a full veneer grade, coverage rate, or mortar assumption to a thin veneer job. Where the exposure check is unclear, write the uncertainty on the record and confirm the grade with the project designer or the brick supplier before ordering. A grade cannot be corrected after laying.

Did you pick the strongest mortar by default?

Use the mortar type the project documents name. Where the documents are silent and the work is normal above grade veneer, the Brick Industry Association names Type N for normal use, including most veneer applications. Mortar types under ASTM C270 are strength grades, measured as minimum average 28 day compressive strength of laboratory prepared mortar. A higher number is a stiffer mortar, and stiffness is a cost when the wall needs to move a little without cracking.

Type S belongs where the design needs its strength. Type M belongs below grade and in heavy load masonry. Type O is a low strength, lime rich mortar for low stress work and for soft brick that a stronger mortar would damage. None of those calls follows from the strength number alone. Each follows from the wall duty and the project specification. Mortar must comply with ASTM C270, use sand complying with ASTM C144, and use potable water free of deleterious materials. The Association recommends only Type S hydrated lime in mortar.

Did you measure gross area instead of net area?

Count net area, never gross area. The Brick Industry Association wall area method defines net wall area as gross area less the areas of openings. The fixture wall from the measuring guide shows the size of the error. A front wall 40 ft long and 10 ft high gives 400 ft2 gross. One door 3 by 7 ft and two windows 3 by 5 ft each deduct 51 ft2, leaving 349 ft2 net. At the modular rate of 6.75 bricks per ft2, the net count is 2355.75 bricks, so 2356 bricks net. Counting the gross area gives 2700 bricks, which is 344 bricks above the net count. That surplus is not a waste allowance. It is an error that hides on the order, and it still leaves the wall short if the waste basis was never stated. Keep one line per wall and one line per opening on the ledger, so a later check can see which openings were deducted. Measure the opening that will stay free of brick, and note small vents and penetrations instead of guessing them.

Did you apply the wrong size rate or joint width?

Apply the rate for the named brick size at the named joint width. The Brick Industry Association Technical Note 10 gives 675 modular bricks per 100 ft2 at a 3/8 inch joint, which is 6.75 bricks per ft2, and 655 standard non modular bricks per 100 ft2 at the same joint, which is 6.55 bricks per ft2. The table values exclude waste and are based on running or stack bond. On the 349 ft2 fixture wall, the standard rate gives 2285.95 bricks, which is about 70 bricks below the modular count. Carrying one size rate to another size understates or overstates the order by that margin, before waste or pack rounding. Joint width changes the rate in the same way. Face module arithmetic for a specified 7-5/8 by 2-1/4 inch brick at a 1/2 inch joint gives a nominal face of 8.125 by 2.75 inch, an area of 22.34375 in2, and a rate of 6.44 bricks per ft2. At that rate the fixture wall needs 2249 bricks, so using the 3/8 inch table rate overstates the count by about 107 bricks. That wider joint rate is face module arithmetic, not a Brick Industry Association table rate. The table rates in this pack apply at a 3/8 inch joint only. Record the specified size, the joint width, and the bond basis on the order record, and use the same three figures at every later check.

Did you count a corner twice?

Use one corner rule for the whole job and write it on the ledger. Run the first wall to the outside corner, and run the adjoining wall only to the inside face of the first wall's veneer. That counts the corner column once. Measuring both walls to the outside corner counts the same column twice on every corner, and the error grows with the number of corners. This rule is measuring practice, not a Brick Industry Association requirement. The Association wall area method defines the net area, and the corner rule is how the measurer keeps that net area honest. At a gable end, split the face into a rectangle and a triangle. Measure the rectangle to the eave, then measure the triangle as one half times the base times the triangle height from the eave to the peak. Measuring the triangle height from the ground counts the rectangle height twice.

Did you order with no waste basis or pack check?

State the waste basis before ordering, and check pack rounding at delivery. The Brick Industry Association Technical Note 10 gives a general rule of at least 5 percent added to net brick quantities for breakage and waste, and a general rule of 15 to 25 percent added to net mortar quantities. Those figures are general rules, not order quantities, and the mortar figure is a range, not a single number. On the fixture wall, 2355.75 net bricks at 5 percent gives 2473.54 bricks, so 2474 bricks. An order with no waste basis leaves cuts and breakage with no cover, and partial bricks at corners with no cover either. A waste percentage with no stated basis cannot be audited later, because no one can tell whether it was meant to cover cuts, breakage, or both. Keep flats and corners on separate lines. Keep packs separate as well. Corners for thin brick veneer are ordered in linear feet, not square feet, and a combined total hides which part ran short. Round up to whole bricks, then round up to whole packs, and check the delivery against the same record: product, size, joint, bond, net area, corner length, waste basis, pack count, and lot.

Did you mix lots or judge colour wet?

Order one lot where the supplier can supply it, and judge colour on a sample panel. Colour and size vary between products and lots, so a second lot can shift colour visibly across one wall. Mortar colour comes from the cement, the sand, and any pigment, not from the type letter. Two Type N mortars can look different because their sands differ. Judge the colour on a sample panel built with the actual brick and the actual mortar, viewed in daylight, not on a single brick and not on wet mortar, which darkens as it dries. Use as little pigment as possible. The Association limits metallic oxide pigments to 10 percent of cement content by weight and carbon black to 2 percent, halved when the cement is masonry cement or mortar cement. Avoid pigments containing Prussian blue, cadmium lithopone, and zinc and lead chromates. Do not retemper coloured mortar. A colour decision made after laying cannot be undone without rebuilding the joint.

Did you close the drainage path?

Brick veneer is a drainage wall system, not a waterproof face. Brick is porous, and water can enter at bond breaks, hairline cracks between brick and mortar, unfilled joints, and movement cracks. That water needs a clean path down the back face of the brick, onto through wall flashing, and out through weepholes.

The Journal of Light Construction summary of Brick Industry Association and code positions states the checks below, and the project documents govern any wall that names different detailing. Keep a minimum 1 inch air space between the brick veneer and the backup wall system, with 2 inch used more often because a larger space clogs less readily and lets masons clear mortar from the back face. Keep mortar droppings to a minimum, because dropped mortar can block weepholes and bridge the air space so water travels to the backup wall. Lap housewrap or felt at least 8 inch over through wall flashing.

Extend flashing at least to the front face of the brick, with the Association recommending 1/4 inch beyond the face and turned down to form a drip. Fit end dams at least 2 inch high where flashing is not continuous, such as above a window or wherever stepped flashing is needed. Use flashing material at least 30 mils thick for nonmetal flashing. Housewrap and #15 felt are not flashing materials. Place open head joint weepholes every 24 inch above flashing, or cotton rope wicks every 16 inch on centre, at least 10 inch long. Use cotton rope. Nylon does not wick. Polypropylene and polyester do not wick either. Keep base flashing and weepholes 4 to 6 inch above grade, and fill the air space below base flashing solid. Flashing belongs at the base of a wall, above window and door lintels, and under window sills, with a weep above every flashing run.

Tie and support design follow the project documents. Movement detailing does too. A tie or a movement joint cannot be checked from the face after the wall closes, so the check happens before that section is laid.

Safety and professional scope

Checking a veneer job for mistakes plans materials and quantities only. It does not design the veneer system, select ties, flashing, drainage, or support, and it does not approve a wall for construction. Those decisions rest with the project team named in Technical Note 10, with the project documents, applicable law, site conditions, and responsible qualified people. Quantity planning does not replace structural design, specifications, permits, or codes.