Brick and stone veneer
Face brick, thin brick, natural and cast stone, architectural precast and pavers, for general contractors across the Gulf South.
Veneer is the part of the building everyone sees and the part that most often ends up on the closeout punch list. Whether it goes well has less to do with the laying than with what happens in the months before the first unit is set: the submittal, the sample approval, the lead time on a specialty unit, the mock up panel the architect signs.
What we install
Face brick, modular through utility sizes
Adhered thin brick over concrete, CMU and framed backup
Natural stone, cut and rubble
Cast stone and architectural precast
Ground face, split face and glazed decorative CMU
Glazed structural brick and breeze block
Clay and concrete pavers
Flashing, weeps and cavity drainage behind the veneer
Air and water resistive barrier at the backup wall
Masonry anchors, ties and reinforcement
Long lead brick gets submitted early
A specialty unit can carry a lead time measured in months, and on a tight job that lead time is your schedule. We identify the long lead items when we price the work, not when the submittal comes back approved. If the architect’s basis of design is going to miss your dry in date, you hear it while there is still room to substitute.
The cavity is the part that fails
Veneer is a drainage wall, not a barrier. Water gets behind brick, always, and what decides whether that matters is the flashing, the weeps and whether the cavity is clear of mortar droppings. Blocked weeps and a bridged cavity are the most common cause of a wall that stains, effloresces or leaks two years after handover, and they are invisible once the wall is up. We keep the cavity clean as we go and we set flashing so it drains to the outside rather than dying in the wall.
Mock ups and sample panels
Most veneer specifications call for a sample panel showing color range, bond, joint tooling and cleaning. We build it when the schedule calls for it, get it approved, and leave it standing as the reference the work is measured against. That is what keeps a disagreement about color range from turning into a closeout dispute.
Common questions
Anchored or adhered veneer?
Anchored veneer is a drainage wall: brick or stone tied back to the structure with an air space behind it. Adhered veneer, including thin brick, is bonded directly to the substrate with no cavity. They are different assemblies with different details and different failure modes, and the drawings should be clear about which one you have. If they are not, that is worth resolving before bid.
Who owns the air and water barrier behind the veneer?
On our jobs, we do, when the barrier is in our scope. It is the layer most often split between trades and it is the layer that decides whether the wall leaks. If it is being let separately, the transition detail between their work and ours needs to be somebody’s before the wall closes.
Can you match brick on an addition?
Usually, and how well depends on the original. We take samples, work the supplier for the closest current unit, and where the match will not be perfect we say so early and talk about where the transition should fall. Mortar color matters as much as the brick, sometimes more.
Who is responsible for efflorescence?
It has more causes than workmanship, including water in the wall from another source. The controllable parts are keeping the units dry before laying, keeping the cavity clear and getting the flashing right. We do those, and if efflorescence turns up anyway we help find where the water is coming from rather than argue about it.
Do you handle cleaning?
Yes, and the cleaning method is part of the mock up approval rather than an afterthought. The wrong cleaner on the wrong unit is how a good wall gets ruined at the very end.
When do you need the brick selection?
As early as you can get it. That is the single item most likely to sit on the critical path.