Mike: Whether you’re building a new home or remodeling, one of the choices you have to make is what kind of veneer you want on the exterior walls, stucco, wood, vinyl, or brick. Today we’re going to show you a brick veneer product that will give you the look and quality of real brick. But it installs more than twice as fast as real brick and at a lower cost. The product is called Novabrik and it actually comes in a variety of different colors. It’s very easy to install because there’s no mortar. You actually interlock the pieces and screw them in place right onto the wall. And you can actually do it yourself and save more money.
Novabrik has several advantages over traditional bricks and mortar. This product detaches to the walls of the structure so there’s no need for a brick ledge. 4-inch strips are attached to the studs on the exterior wall. Then a vinyl tray attaches to a starter board at the base of the wall. The first course of bricks is laid into this channel. At the end of the row, the brick is measured and marked the cut. The bricks are cut using a chop saw with a diamond tip blade. Once the base row is installed, four courses of bricks are stacked at a time. The bricks are predrilled and then attached to the 4-inch strips to hold the wall in place. Without having to wait for mortar, the installation goes quickly. Larry Cumpton is with Novabrik. Larry, it looks like easy to install when you go four at a time like that.
Larry: Absolutely, it installs about 1/3 at a time as a conventional masonry product would.
Mike: Yeah, you got it like that and then you attach it to these 4-inch strips that you put on the exterior of the wall?
Larry: That’s right. The 4-inch strips have been mounted to the studs in the building itself and then we’ll attach the Novabriks to the 4-inch strips and that provides a nice airflow so we won’t have to worry about moisture build up behind the brick itself.
Mike: Okay you got a wrap on it so all the water should go to the bottom and go right out.
Larry: That’s right it will drain right out of the system.
Mike: And I guess since we don’t have mortar, it couldn’t drain out anywhere actually, could it?
Larry: That’s right. Because the unique thing about the Novabrik is since we can shift let it drip put it in a half bond system anymore should it trust to penetrate here will just go at the back of full brick and come right back out of the house.
Mike: Good, I like that a lot and since it’s half bond or as you say it’s overlapping we’re gonna have a really strong wall.
Larry: Very much.
Mike: And here the soil moves a lot so we’re gonna have a little bit of movement in the foundation, I guess that’s not a problem since there’s no mortar.
Larry: That’s right. That’s not a problem cause at first we had a brick ledge so it will be tied to the building itself and not be worried about resting on that bricks. I guess there’s a lot of flexibility in the system.
Mike: I like that a lot and you said you just screw it in every 4th row up.
Larry: That’s right. We have Novabrik screws that we designed specifically for that. It will take five times the weight of the brick that it has to support.
Mike: So we’re only putting 20% of what it can really hold.
Larry: That’s exactly right. Here’s one, would you like to try it out?
Mike: Yeah, yeah, sure will. Larry, tell me about how your system works around the windows and doors?
Larry: Well Mike, we’ve made this vinyl window trim it comes in flat and paintable. But we’ve installed around a white one around the windows and then the brick will just slide right into that. So we can have up to ¾ inches fit.
Mike: Okay, so all of our cuts are behind the slip here so we’re never going to see it.
Larry: That’s right.
Mike: Okay and about your window sill here. How does that come together?
Larry: Well Mike, our window sill and the pieces actually come in so that when we get to the bottom of the window, we can take a piece like this, cut it to fit.
Mike: Okay so you just took a normal piece and cut it?
Larry: Normal piece, we cut the top off, we got the face left. That would be inserted here. We’ll take some adhesive.
Mike: And we just happened to have some.
Larry: Put it right there run it along the top of it.
Mike: And this will hold it in place. We’re not gonna have a problem.
Larry: That’s right. It will firmly hold it into place. And then it will seal itself, we just set it right in, just like that and when we’re finished we’re gonna come back with beaded cork to go all around the window.
Mike: Great, I like it. It looks very nice. Well Larry, since we don’t have brick interlocking at our corners here like we normally would with mortar. How do you make this transition where the two walls come together?
Larry: Actually, we’ve made this corner unit. This is the Novabrik corner. We install individually, we’ve predrilled a hole and screw will go in here. We use a 4 ½ inch screw to make this attachment. What this corner does is it keeps all the walls independent of each other. So as time as the house shifts or settles we can shift and settle with the house not affecting the walls.
Mike: Okay so no big cracks.
Larry: No big cracks that’s right.
Mike: I like that and this one is a different color but it’s a different product. Explain how this one works.
Larry: This is a new cornering system that we’ve just developed. We will add this to our existing system, it’s called a fast track corner we will actually mount the track on the building like this.
Mike: And then slide it over?
Larry: That’s right slide it right down in place. And we’ll screw those on. It lets us put up to four foot at a time, makes it very quick and easy to install.
Mike: This mortarless brick veneer system also gives you design and flexibility by adding soldier bricks. In this application, the homeowner chose to accent the doors and windows with a slate colored brick to create the look they wanted. So whether you’re building a new home or remodeling, or you wanna replace your home siding with a beautiful strong brick veneer, Novabrik might be the right choice for you. If you like more information on the Novabrik line and mortarless brick product, visit their website at novabrik.com.
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