Thin Brick Specification for Tilt-Up ...

Log Out | Topics | Search Moderators | Register | Edit Profile

Author Message Brian Payne, AIA Senior Member Username: brian_payne Post Number: 15 Registered: 01-2014 Posted on Friday, February 14, 2014 - 01:20 pm:    Does anyone have a specification for using thin brick in tilt-up? Would it be an accessory to the tilt-up panel spec or a stand alone section? The product has already been chosen, but my deadline is fast approaching. Liz O'Sullivan Senior Member Username: liz_osullivan Post Number: 127 Registered: 10-2011 Posted on Friday, February 14, 2014 - 01:36 pm:    It should go in the tilt-up panel spec section. MasterSpec's full length/premium section for precast architectural concrete includes thin brick. You should be able to take some of that language and put it in the tilt-up section. ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 710 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Friday, February 14, 2014 - 01:45 pm:    See if you can touch base with a tilt-up fabricator in the project area. Some of them get the deer-in-the-headlights look when you ask them to cast thin brick into the forms. It shouldn't be a big deal, but it's amazing how much push-back you can get in some areas of the country. Have you checked http://www.tilt-up.org/resources/? I've had to stencil brick using acrylic coating systems like Miracote because we couldn't find a fabricator that was comfortable with thin brick. It worked amazingly well when viewed from a distance of 10+ feet. Obviously not your first choice. Richard Gonser AIA CSI CCCA SCIP Senior Member Username: rich_gonser Post Number: 56 Registered: 11-2008 Posted on Friday, February 14, 2014 - 01:51 pm:    Fitzgerald among some others have forms that set the brick into the panel. (finish side down) That makes it easy to include a normal brick veneer spec with a formliner included in the tilt-up section. Brian Payne, AIA Senior Member Username: brian_payne Post Number: 16 Registered: 01-2014 Posted on Friday, February 14, 2014 - 01:52 pm:    Liz - Thanks for the tip. I'll do that. Ken - The brick was actually suggested by the tilt-up fabricator, they just are not handling the specification in this case. Scott McIntosh-Mize Senior Member Username: scott_mize_ccs_csi Post Number: 93 Registered: 02-2009 Posted on Friday, February 14, 2014 - 04:07 pm:    I wrote specifications for several hundred tilt-up warehouses, distribution centers, and big-box stores. Our firm was always looking for an inexpensive, low-effort way to relieve those vast expanses of blank concrete. We tried various veneers, stencils, formliners, and thin-brick systems. Cast-in thin brick was one option that gave consistent good results. To answer your original question about 'where to specify?', I always specified the thin brick and associated items as accessories in the tilt-up section. The additional products and installation language for a thin-brick project amounted about a dozen (or fewer) paragraphs added to our office master for tilt-up. I had very good experience with Scott System's "Brick Snaps". Each thin brick is delivered already in an individual plastic frame. The frames interlock, and make it very hard to mess up the spacing or coursing. (The manufacturer used to advertise that "semi-skilled" labor could be used.) After the panel is up, the plastic frames are easily stripped off the panel. Good luck! ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 711 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Friday, February 14, 2014 - 06:24 pm:    Scott, sounds like a great product. I think we got push-back because we were specifying forms used for reverse-pours at precasters and they probably weren't as user friendly. Robin E. Snyder Senior Member Username: robin Post Number: 504 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Saturday, February 15, 2014 - 08:40 pm:    Ken - I have a nice piece of literature from precast concrete institute if you want me to send it to you - let me know your email address. I used it to spec tile (not brick), and the Masterspec section as a basis. Brian E. Trimble, CDT Senior Member Username: brian_e_trimble_cdt Post Number: 70 Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Tuesday, February 18, 2014 - 09:54 pm:    All, Thin brick systems now come in many forms. You can have the brick-faced precast panels that started this conversation, but you can also get thin brick systems and just plain thin brick from brick manufacturers. The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute has a spec as a part of their book "Architectural Precast Concrete". It is Chapter 6. You can buy (sorry) the book here: https://www.pci.org/bookstore/storefront.aspx. I should be able to send you one of our Technical Notes dealing with this, but it is being rewritten as we speak. Probably won't be published for a few months. One thing to look our for is PCI's additional requirements on thin brick over and above ASTM C1088. They only allow Type TBX to be used in precast systems; they have a requirement for freeze/thaw testing according to ASTM C666 (a concrete F/T test) that brick manufacturers don't typically use; and they have some other oddball requirements. But, they are entitled to their own opinion. Anyhow, if you are using a different kind of thin brick system, many are proprietary systems and the brick manufacturer has their own spec. If you are going with just using thin brick from the manufacturer and having the thin brick applied in the field, then I would just use TCNA specs since thin brick is so much like ceramic tile, especially as it is installed in the field. And as others have said, MasterSpec has a section on brick-faced precast panels, so there is always that option. Look for Technical Note 28C on thin brick systems to be on our website by summer - www.gobrick.com.