# Forum Home Renovation Cladding  Thin Brick or Light Brick Cladding

## Peetz

Hya y'all...    we have bought a 1940's (??) fibro house and want to re-clad.  One solution seems to be to use "thin bricks" or "Light Brick" cladding.  These are real bricks that have been 'sliced', they are mounted onto a metal panel. The metal panel is mounted on battens fixed to the outside of the existing fibro (with one or two layers of sarking).  The bricks are mortared using a large icing bag (!!).   Apparently the thin bricks, batten airgap, plus sarking etc end up providing thermal and acoustic properties equivalent to double brick (?) 
Questions are:  does anyone have experience of this system if so what's your opinion (ie benefits/pitfalls)some websites indicates it is something within the capabilities of a reasonably experienced DIYer....any opinions??I've contacted one or two sites but haven't yet been able to get a supply-only cost estimate....any ideas?? (ie per sq mtr or avg 3 bed house)
.......and any other advice / guidance would be REALLY appreciated !!!   :2thumbsup:  
thanks folx........pete

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## SilentButDeadly

On an older timber framed house this is a really bad idea.  The frame moves continuously and the finish cracks or goes wonky. If you want to see how that looks check out a old school fake brick place. Bloody awful. I know.  Our place used to be clad in the stuff. 
The other big problem is that you are replacing a thin cladding material with something that is material plus battens....so every window & doorway architrave will have to be re trimmed.  And unless it is done properly (ie with more money) then it too looks awful. 
Personally I'd look at using one or more of the following:
cement sheet;
corrugated iron (my choice);
Shadowclad plywood or similar;
weatherboards (timber, metal, vinyl, polystyrene or similar);
or a combination of the above.

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## Bloss

I'd use paint - thin as . . .   :Smilie:   :2thumbsup:

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## mattwilliams78

I agree with SBD - won't look right 
I would look at a combination of render and FC weatherboards. We have a fibro and thats my long term plan, to replace the vinyl cladding with something more authentic - will extend at the same time and tie it all together.

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## Peetz

Thanks guys....appreciate the comments, and will keep them in mind. 
Interesting though ... t'other day I looked at an old fibro joint that was done in this stuff about 15-20 years ago and it actually looked really good...difficult to tell difference from a normal brick job (including windows/doors), and no cracking or movement that I could see. 
Ah well...time will tell.   Cement sheeting or even (shock horror) paint might be what's used!   Will update when things move forward a bit....cheers....peetz

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## Buzzman

Whatever cladding you choose, don't neglect to insulate the existing wall once the old cladding is removed, with batts and sarking or sarking board over it. 
Even if the split brick cladding gives the "same" as double brick's insulating properties, this is still only around R0.8. 
With R2.5 batts and sarking plus the new cladding you should have at least R3.0 and possibly R4.0 for the total wall. 
This will make an enormous difference to both interior comfort levels and heating/cooling costs.

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## BrickCladding

I am in the brick cladding business and would answer your question with two points. Firstly, if the frame of the house is sound, and in truth timber frames of the 1940's are likely to be more sound than timber frames of today, then brick cladding on steel rail will be sound. And secondly, depending on how you do it, the materials shouldn't cost you more than ten grand for you to install yourself. Take a look at ale.com.au.

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