What is Brick Tinting?

BRICK TINTING PERMANENTLY CHANGES THE COLOUR OF BRICKWORK.

​Brick Tinting is the process of changing the colour appearance of brickwork, mostly in situ once it has been built.

Brick Tinting has been used throughout the UK for more than 30yrs, the process has primarily been used to correct manufacturing or construction mistakes that only become apparent once brickwork has been erected, i.e, non standard brick batch colour variations, brick banding, etc.

Not all bricks are a single colour, many bricks are multi coloured from production, including various colour flashes and mixtures that make up the brick type.  

Brick tinting matching all these colour variations, not just single colours.  ​Brickwork weathers and ages naturally relatively quickly and brick tinting will also colour match even the most weathered brickwork.

The overall affect is that the new brickwork is indistinguishable from the original adjoining brickwork.

In addition to correcting brick manufacturer and on site construction mistakes a change in the UK Brick Industry has rapidly increased the need for Brick Tinting as a solution for matching bricks.

Over the last twenty years the UK Brick Industry has consolidated from a network of local small brickworks serving their local areas to three large brick manufacturers controlling almost 90% of the UK Brick Industry. As smaller brickworks have been taken over, many have been closed or seen their brick ranges reduced.

The 2008 financial crisis further consolidated this affect as the construction industry was hit very hard which led to many brickworks being closed or 'mothballed'.

As a result, simply many brick types that were once manufactured simply are no longer available.

This means that many bricks are matched to the 'closest' available brick match, and that is not often that close a brick match at all, leaving the extension or area of bricked in brickwork standing out blatantly from the original adjoining brickwork.

Professional Brick Tinting resolves this and provides a guaranteed perfect brick match.

Matching even the most weathered or multi coloured brick formats perfectly the process ensures that new brickwork blends seamlessly with the old.  Click on any of the images below to scroll through the gallery of some recently completed projects.

​WHAT IS A BRICK TINT SOLUTION MADE FROM?

The brick tinting solution is not a paint, it is a mixture of coloured dyes combined with an acrylic based and potassium solution.

​Each mix is different and bespoke to the brickwork being matched to and is mixed on site, a sample area being completed first in order to test and trial to get the perfect colour blend.  

​A number of different blended dye solutions can be used in combination with each other in order to match multi coloured blends.

HOW IS IT APPLIED ON SITE?

Brick Tinting is completed by trained Remedial Repair Brick Technicians who can complete up to an approximate area of 15-20sqm per day, although this does vary considerably depending upon the type of brick being tinted.

CAN ALL BRICK TYPES BE TINTED?

Pretty much all bricks can be tinted.  

​The only issues come with very hard bricks such as smooth facing bricks or engineers.  These bricks have a low absorption rate and are very dense, therefore a slightly different binding agent (acrylic based) needs to be used and in some cases these can leave a gentle shine to some facing bricks.  

​​However, this can be clearly identified before any tinting takes place and advised.  They can still be treated.

NEVER PAINT BRICKWORK, TINT IT.

No. Brick tinting dyes the actual clay (or concrete/stone) of the brick itself and travels into the brick. It is not a paint applied to the face-of the brick that adds an additional layer onto of the bricks natural face.  

This, together with the molecule set up of the Brick Tinting solution/s used ensures that the brick still behaves as it should do as the outer leaf of a property or building, i.e., it will absorb water and release/dry out just as it should do.  

​Brick tinting does not change the technical characteristics of the brick itself in anyway, the manufacturers technical data remains relevant and the brick warranty from the manufacturer is unaffected.

HOW LONG DOES IT LAST?

All Brick Tinting carried out by Matching Brickwork is fully guaranteed for the life of the brick and will weather as normal and in sync with the adjoining original brickwork. (Brickwork below DPC can be tinted but does not come with a guarantee). ​

THE PROCESS ON SITE.

The first thing carried out on site on the day of starting work on a new brick tinting project is sample area.  A small area, typically 1/2- 1 sqm in size will be tinted alongside the brickwork to match to.  

​This enables the Remedial Repair technician to develop the precise colour mixture required and refine the tints to be used and in what proportion/s.  

This sample area will be dried with a hand held blow torch to enable a finished, dried, sample to be created.  Brick tinting work is left to dry naturally over the 24hrs following work being carried out, we artificially dry the sample area so that we can match a fully dried brick tint to the original brickwork.

The sample panel can then also be approved by the customer before the technician then proceeds to colour match and tint the entire area.