I am working on a large Commerical/Residential project in Plantation, FL. The Design Architect is based in Calif. and has requested we spec McNeal Brick for the faade. I’ll be honest I have never heard of this product until now. Is this brick veneer anything special or is it just a thin brick product frequently used in Calif? It is being adhered to CMU walls.
Thin brick is usually the same material as conventional clay brick, just thinner. 1/2" to 1" is the usual thickness range; McNeal’s details show 5/8".
I have spec’d thin brick over sheathing on metal-stud walls (typically cement board, to which the bricks are adhered w/ mortar, but also over other sheathing materials using various metal tray systems designed to secure & align the thin-brick units). I don’t know a reason they couldn’t be adhered directly to CMU if the wall is designed within the movement tolerances the brick facing can accommodate.
Jerome.
Please to to http://www.gobrick.com/Portals/25/docs/Technical%20Notes/TN28C.pdf for the BIA Technical Note on Thin Brick Veneer.
Thin brick has become more popular in my projects that range from the PNW to NJ and parts in between.
I specify the thin brick over a water-managed scratch coat.
I hope this gives you some guidance.
Wayne
McNear is a brick manufacturer/ supplier from Marin County (local to the San Francisco area) so their samples are relatively easy to come by in this part of the world. Doubtless other manufacturers local to you can produce reasonable alternates.
Wayne, what do you mean by a “water managed scratch coat”? I have specified Thin Brick in the past, but the drawings called for McNear, which I was unfamiliar with.
Jerome,
A water managed scratch coat uses a drainage/drying plane between the water-resistive barrier on the CMU and the metal lath.
The drainage plane is vented top and bottom.
Stucco is a reservoir cladding similar to brick and stone. It will get saturated in a rain event. When the sun beats down in the wet cladding it will cause a vapor drive toward the drainage plane.
The vented air space will promote drying air flow on the cavity side, aiding drying on two sides.
The water proof membrane will keep the CMU dry.
In the PNW where it rains frequently, water managed systems are best practice. It takes longer to dry than in the sunshine state of Florida. It may not be raining in the PNW, but the overcast clouds do not promote drying very fast.
4specs has a section for these products -
07-2800 - Rainscreen Drainage Systems