Saw a crew in Denver doing brick veneer over foam backing board. Not a single tie anchor in sight.

I was walking a job site last week over on Colfax and noticed a crew slapping thin brick onto this foam stuff. They were just buttering and sticking it on, no metal ties or anything. My old timer mentor would lose his mind seeing that, but I guess the manufacturer says it's fine. Is this stuff actually going to hold up through a Colorado winter or are we going to be ripping it all off in 5 years?

2 comments

2 Comments

janaf911mo ago

Wait they didn't even hit it with a single metal tie? @coleman.christopher you're dead on, I watched a crew do that same foam-and-stick method on a townhouse near City Park and it looked like they were gluing cereal boxes to the wall. The freeze-thaw cycle here is no joke, I've seen proper brick facades start to fail after a bad winter, let alone thin brick held on with nothing but some adhesive and hope. Your buddy losing half of it by spring sounds about right, I'm betting those homeowners are going to have a real fun time picking up pieces off the sidewalk come March.

coleman.christopher1mo ago

Watched a crew do the exact same thing on a house by my work and it looked about as solid as my attempts at a DIY countertop. I get that the foam board is supposed to keep the house from sweating like a beer can in summer, but I'm not convinced that thin brick is gonna hold up when the freeze-thaw cycle hits. Had a buddy try that system two winters ago and half of it was peeling off by spring, like a bad sunburn. Just hope those Denver homeowners aren't planning on hanging any heavy flower baskets off that wall.