What Are Bond Patterns?
Bond Patterns in Brickwork relate to the way in which bricks are laid to create a patterned effect, nowadays the most common is stretcher bond- using solely full bricks laid in an alternating pattern row by row. Using half bricks or tiles gives many more combinations.
Why is One More Popular?
The appearance of brickwork has been diminished over the years by a lack of detail and focus on cost-saving, rather than promoting the best aesthetic outcome. That is why older buildings have much more extravagant laying patterns, most buildings these days are constructed with only full bricks for efficiency.
How are Different Bond Patterns Created?
Half tiles are used to create a separation in the pattern. These aren’t just full tiles cut in half, instead, it’s cut from the end (or header) of the brick. This means that there is a natural edge on either side, rather than one natural and a clean-cut, which would look odd.
Different Traditional Patterns
Stretcher Bond
Stretcher is the most common, named after the term for the long face of a brick. It is simply full tiles in a row with the joints above the centre of the tile below. If stretcher bond is your preference, or you want your brick slips to match up with the external bond pattern in your house, that’s great - we want to show you what is possible so you know you’re making the right choice for you.
English Bond
English bond is a row (course) of full tiles, followed by a row of half tiles above it to create a contrast, this pattern then continues.
Flemish Bond
Flemish bond uses alternating full and half tiles on every row. It creates a separation in the pattern on each row but keeps a very symmetrical pattern at whatever point you look.
Flemish Cross Bond
Flemish cross bond is a more irregular pattern. Taking Flemish bond as the starting point, rather than two half tiles and a full, there are 4 consecutive half tiles at regular intervals.
Flemish Garden Bond
Flemish garden bond uses half bricks on alternate rows to mix the design and spread the joints into a ¾ length of the tile on the rows above and below.
English Garden Wall Bond
English Garden Wall Bond is simply a stretcher pattern, with a row of half tiles at the top to cap the design.
Other Options
These are the main alternative brickwork bond patterns, but these aren’t the only ways to install our brick slips, you can get as creative as you want, using the tiles vertically, or in a herringbone or basketweave pattern for example. Many of our customers simply use rows of half bricks interspersed centrally to break up a stretcher pattern.
It's important to know which one of these you prefer, so you can order the right amount of tiles for your project.
