# Unusual choice of brick bond for exterior house wall



## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

A friend of mine has e-mailed me a picture of the brickwork on a house for sale he has just seen. He likes the location but said that he thinks the brickies didn't know what they were doing as the bricks are laid on their edges. This is actually a recognised brick bond which we call rat trap bond, but is usually seen on garden walls. There are not many houses around here built with it. IIRC it was invented by an Indian and is designed for hot places as the air voids help insulate against the heat.
It looks to me like a possible problem bond for damp as we live in the wettest part of the country. I have heard of it being used on the top half of a house where the bottom was 9 inch Flemish and the top rat trap but tile hung, the nails going straight into the joints as the 4.5 gauge is right for the tiles. 
Has anyone seen or used this bond in their area, and if so were there any problems with damp penetration? The inside is plaster onto the brickwork.


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## 4th generation (Mar 28, 2008)

It looks like a modified flemmish to me , I can see the advantages though for solid masonry construction as opposed to a veneer wall with a built in air space. If the wall was vented at the top and bottom on the exterior wythe that should help reduce the incidence of dampness by increasing the air flow. With a 4.5 gauge you are going to have less mortar exposed to the elements which may also help, however if the bricks have a high absorption rate it will could make things worse by laying them on edge...


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

It looks to me like someone got a good deal on splits.


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## jomama (Oct 25, 2008)

Tscarborough said:


> It looks to me like someone got a good deal on splits.


Splits? They look to me like 4x8x2 1/4" pavers laid bed side out?


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## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

jomama said:


> Splits? They look to me like 4x8x2 1/4" pavers laid bed side out?


Yeah i see that now....thats exactly what they look like to me as well. Didn't notice it at first. Probably a bear to lay to grade! How the heck did they get the polymeric in there?


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

I think you are right. A couple of years ago, I was down in Reynosa at a Mexican brick plant and the owner was trying to get us to buy a couple of kilns of 6x2-1/4x12 wood molds. I told him that no one in the U.S. designed walls with a 6 inch veneer, and he had to drive me downtown to show me how they were used: On edge, as 2-1/4 veneer brick, like the above examples. They looked pretty nice, actually, and we bought them, but all I have ever been able to sell them as is pavers.


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## jomama (Oct 25, 2008)

I'm not sure why, but "bedface out" has become somewhat popular around here in the lst few years. The brick saleman seem to think it has to do with the extra square footage gained for the material cost, i think it may be the "blockier/chunky" look that it offers. To me, it looks somewhat awkward with the short return on the corner & the less than "acustomed to" projection from the wall. To each ther eown, though.

I've laid a few pavers this way before (not in Stuarts crazy pattern :laughing, & can't imagine laying a whole house this way! Pavers on edge "swim" like crazy IMO.


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

Here is a pic of them. Like Jomama, I do not like the return. Also, they picked the "worked" face to show instead of the molded face. In Mexico it is not a problem, in Austin, not a BIG problem, but in Dallas those brick would not last for more than a couple of ice-storms.


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

This is probably the construction on this house. My friends, not the last ones that is.


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## 4th generation (Mar 28, 2008)

Ok who's the rat?


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