FAQs about our thin brick tiles:
Q: How thin are your brick tiles?
A: All of our brick tiles are 1/2 an inch thick by default unless otherwise requested. We currently don't offer any other thickness.
Q: What is the color of your thin brick tiles?
A: By default we use a rich red clay that produces a beautiful variation of red to dark red during the firing process.
Q: How heavy are your thin brick tiles?
A: At 1/2 inch thick, they are about 7 to 12 oz each depending on the size of the brick tile. The lighest are going to be the 2-1/4" x 8" wall brick tiles at 7 oz per brick tile, and 12 oz for the 4" x 8" flooring brick tile.
Q: How much texture can I expect on the brick tile surface?
A: Depending on what style you select, surface texture varies. The rustic collection offers more texture than the elegant collection.
Q: Do you offer smooth surface thin brick tiles?
A: Yes. The Antique collection bricks offer a smooth surface. It is our most popular collection for flooring.
Q: What can I expect my brick tiles to look like?
A: You can customize the look of your brick tiles. We offer some style options, please refer to "Our Products" page. You are not limited to those options, and we'll happily consult with you online, by phone or in-person along with providing you with a free sample of the brick style you choose.
Q: Are your tiles suitable for flooring?
A: Yes, our tiles are suitable for flooring (indoors and outdoors) as we make them specifically for flooring! They can be installed in kitchens, bathrooms, hallways, sun rooms, patios, entryways, mud rooms, wine cellars, driveways and ceilings. Our tiles are also used in hotel lobbies, restaurants, Airports and lots of other business types. When using our tiles for flooring purposes, they should be sealed with a commercial grade sealant, available online or in most hardware stores.
Q: Are your tiles suitable for walls or backsplashes?
A: Yes, our tiles are suitable for walls or back splashes. For backsplashes or any wall install that may be exposed to water, we recommend sealing them.
Q: Are your tiles suitable to use in a shower flooring or wall?
A: Yes. So long as a commercial grade sealer is used, our thin brick tiles will not absorb any water. Water will slide right off the surface of the tiles like water off the back of a duck.
Q: How durable and strong are your thin brick tiles?
A: They are very strong and durable. Our Tiles are made of 100% clay, compressed into 1/2 inch thickness and are fired at temperatures of over 2200 F. This makes the tile strong and vitrified. To give you an idea of how strong they are, a semi can roll over them if they are installed on your driveway and they will be completely fine! They are also scratch resistant. So go ahead and let your cats and dogs run around all they want on our thin brick floors.
Q: Can your tiles be used for outdoor?
A: Yes. They can be installed indoors or outdoors, on walls or floors. Just remember to make sure they are sealed. Depending on how much traffic foot traffic the area gets, sealants can last up to 25 years before they need to be reapplied.
Q: Can your tiles be used for chimneys?
A: Absolutely! They can withstand heat of a chimney. they were after all fired to temperatures of over 2200 F
Q: Can your tiles be used for driveways? will it sustain cars, SUVs, or trucks driving over it?
A: Yes, our tiles can be used for driveways. We stand behind the durability and strength of our brick tiles and offer a lifetime warranty on them.
Q: What sort of flooring standards do your tiles follow?
A: Our bricks have been tested by the Tile Council of America for strength and resistance. Our tiles have a rupture strength that exceeds four times the American national standard for flooring. Real Thin Brick tiles passed a freeze-thaw test without damage.
Q: Where can I view your thin brick tiles in person ?
A: You have two options to see and touch our thin brick tiles. We can send you a free sample, just use our online store to order.realthinbrick.com to make your selection or Call us at 206-399-4087 . The other option is to stop by our showroom in Tukwila, WA in the Seattle Exchange @ Southcenter. Just Call or Text us to set up an appointment beforehand as it is by appointment only.
Q: Are your tiles sold individually or in sheets?
A: Our tiles are sold individually and by the sqft. This allows for options of installing into different bonding. Anywhere from Running Bond, Jack on Jack, Basket Weave, half basket weave, Diagonal Herringbone and Herringbone. Only corners are sold by the unit instead of by the sqft.
Q: What are your thin brick tiles made out of?
A: our thin brick tiles are made of 100% clay. we typically use red clay that fires into a nice rich red terracotta color. We are happy to use a different clay color if you would like a darker brown color or if you'd more of an orange clay color. We accommodate all requests when it comes to the color of the clay you'd like used for your custom made thin brick tiles.
Q: What is the color of the brick tile clay you use?
A: By default we use a red terracotta clay color, click here to view images of the clay color we use. You can however still expect a variation of darker or lighter brick tiles depending on how close to the fire source each brick was loaded into the kiln as.
Q: What temperatures are your brick tiles fired to?
A: We typically fire all our brick tiles in the kilns to cone 5 which is over 2200 F.
Q: How do you make each tile surface look different and unique?
A: That is where the magic of being hand made, custom and made to order comes into play. We also use over different molds per brick tile style. In addition, we use different powders sprinkled differently on each tile to give it its uniqueness. To top it off, each brick tile will obtain its look depending on how close it is to the source of fire from the kiln, some might be darker than others. All of this makes each thin brick tile unique and gives it its own character and charm.
Q: How do you achieve the different looks on the color mixes options you offer?
A: We use different powder colors that work like glaze. We sometimes use different clay colors to achieve darker clay bricks or brighter, depending on what the customer would like.
Q: What makes your thin brick tiles different than other thin brick tiles out there on the market?
A: All of our thin brick tiles are custom made to order. Your brick tiles will always be unique to you because you chose a specific look and were custom made at the time of your order. What sets us apart as well is the fact our thin brick tiles are made at 1/2 inch thickness. Other thin brick providers usually will take a full brick and cut it to 1/2 inch. This makes the brick especially not suitable for flooring. A full brick that has been cut in thickness is very fragile and brittle, they can crack and break easily vs our custom made thin brick tiles. Our thin brick tiles clink when you hit them together. That's how you know they are strong and vitrified. When put to the test, our tiles withstand up to 900 psi (pounds per square inch) of force into a single tile, that is four times stronger than the tile requirements for flooring!
In addition, we use aged, weathered and textured molds to reproduce the look of bricks that are over 100 years old. We use hundreds of molds of bricks that are old, so you can rest assured you will get that beautiful perfect imperfection on your thin brick tiles.
Q: Why are our brick tile products s at a higher price point that the other options out there, and how does it differ from other products out there?
A: Our brick tiles are made specifically for flooring. They are fired at 1/2 inch vs other brick tile veneer options out there that slice their brick in half, and are not suitable for flooring and this makes their brick brick options weak and brittle and more prone to cracks and breakage. Our brick tiles are 4x stronger that standard recomended strenght for flooring tiles, have higher durability and strength.
Our bric tiles can be installed outdoor, indoor, driveways, patios.
Most contractors and tile installers refuse to install those other sliced brick tile venner on flooring as they are not certified for flooring.
Full sized bricks aren't practical for many applications, but brick tiles can be used over just about any surface, even on walls that aren't strong enough to support heavy brick!
Everything is customized to your liking so every tile will be unique to the specific look your looking to achieve, and you can choose from 8 colors we have available.
Q: How do you recommend installation on top of concrete that has cracks or may crack in the future?
A: We recomend using an uncoupling membrane. Schluter Ditra Membrane or Ditra Membrane is used on top of concrete floors that might get cracks or have cracks, this is installed between the tiles and the floor. (thin set is installed on top of the ditra and below it) Ditra is able to absorb the cracks and people use it for waterproof purposes as well. As well as preventing the tiles from cracking if the concrete has cracks.
Q: What grout joint size do you recommend?
A: The most popular grout joint size is 3/8"(three eights of an inch). The minimum we recommend is 1/4". For an extra wide grout joint you can do 1/2". We caluclate our sqft coverage based of 1/4".
Q: How often should sealer be applied?
A: Depending how busy the area is, we recommend reapplying it every 3-5 years. For a busy area every 2-3 years, for a super busy area, once a year. According to the sealer manufacturer, it is good for 20 years.
Here's A Rule of Thumb: if it becomes easier for the brick tiles to stain or it seems harder to clean the spills, then its time to reapply. it won't happen overnight where the brick tiles will just start to stain. You will notice it takes more effor or more scrubs to remove stains. That usually means it might be time to reaply the sealer.
Q: How to install a mix of brick colors in a random pattern? What's the best way to make sure certain colors aren't clustered together?
A: We send out the boxes marked and separated by color. We recommend the installer to organize the colors accordingly in each area, and pick out from different boxes as they are installed to ensure variation and random colors. For example, they would organize 6 box piles per area according to the percentages. They would also have to have a formula to know for example, for every one A-102 brick tile color they would install two A-103 and four or five pieces of the A-104 for example. They can also premix boxes ahead of time with percentages accordingly before they install them, that way whoever is installing it doesn't need to worry about any mixing during the installation.
Q: How to completely get rid of the haze and have no white wash after the grout or mortar floating.
A: Any haze remover and a heavy duty scrub will work. Muriatic acid can also be used if the haze remover doesn't work.
Q: Ho do you recomend Whitewashing or floating or german shmearing my brick tiles after I install them?
We recommend floating\smearing of an off-white or bright white sanded grout, which would then be cleaned up with water and a sponge accordingly to achieve this look\finish.
The installer will want to do small sections at a time, and make sure to share a picture of the desired install with them so they would use it as a guide for how much grout to leave behind, and how much of it to clean up.
Make sure the sealer is not applied until grouting is completed, a day ot two afterwards to allow for full curing\drying. Once dry, you can use a penetrating oil based matte finish sealer. Something like Miracle 511 Porous Plus Sealer does a great job.
Q: Do you sell the tiles sealed or finished?
A: We sell our brick tiles unsealed. We leave it up to our customer to use the type of sealant desired. The type of sealant used can make a big difference on the final look, it is therefore best this is an option selected by the customer once they install the brick tiles on their flooring or walls
Q: What kind of rating are your brick tiles?
A: Wear Rating 5:Walls + Residential / Commercial Floor Applications Tiles with a wear rating of 5 are suitable for walls + all residential and commercial floor applications. Wear rating 5 tiles are intended for heavy traffic and constant use areas, such as shopping malls, schools, hospitals, and other spaces that need a durable, easy to maintain floor tile.
Q: Do you sell sealers?
A: We don't. We are happy to provide you with the available options and recomendations. You can also check our brick tiles Installation Guide page for a comprehensive list of sealers to use depending on the finished look desired.
Q: Are your brick tiles outdoor rated and non-slippery in the rain? are they waterproof or semi-absorbent?
A:They are semi-absorbent and will need to be sealed to make them 100% water proof. We recommend using 511 Miracle Porous Plus. This is an oil based penetrating sealer with a matte finish. This will make them waterproof and protect them against stains.
Q: What is the difference between using the different sizes and collections.
A: Aside from being different sizes, they would have the same texture and colors if the are from the same collection. For Example, A-301 and A-101 are from the Antique collection, they would have the same exact color and texture, they would just have different brick tile dimensions.
Q: What are the dimensions of the corner end pieces?
A: For the 4" x 8" brick tiles (A-30X), the short end will be 4" x 2-1/4". For the 2-1/4" x 8" brick tiles(A-10X), the short end will be 2-1/4" x 4".
Q: Can your brick tiles be laid with no mortar or grout between the bricks in the grout joint?
A: You can use fine sand with minimum grout joint lines of 1/16. We typically recommend a 1/4" inch grout line and using mortar or sanded grout for an authentic look. But we had some customers that butt them next to each other with no space in-between and just used fine sand, then sealed them with a water based polyurethane sealer to waterproof them and make them easy to clean.
Q: Are your brick tiles sealed?
A: Our brick tiles are not sealed. We recomend sealing them for flooring instalations. Wall installs are optional, depending on if water or oil splashes exposure. For flooring, we recomend using 511 Miracle Porous Plus. It does a fantastic job sealing our brick tiles. This particular sealer is oil based sealer that has a matte finish.