What is a Half Brick Slip?
A half brick slip, or half tile, is the cut from the end of the brick, known in the brick industry as the header. In most bricks these days it's 65mm high, and 102.5mm wide.
What is a Half Brick Slip Used for?
As with traditional bricklaying, the half tile is used for creating a different bond pattern. The size means that with a traditional 10mm mortar joint in between, two half tiles are the same length as one full tile.
Mostly people opt for the flemish bond pattern, of alternating full and half tiles, but another classic option is english bond, a row of halves followed by a row of full tiles.
In using brick slips though, people also want to finish half way across a wall occasionally. The most common reason for this is to create a false pillar effect beneath a beam in a fireplace. The half tiles give the proper brick edge there, as opposed to a clean cut edge, and will tie in perfectly with the short end of a corner brick slip (which is the same as a half tile).
Do You Use Half Tiles at the Ends of the Wall?
For a flat wall in stretcher bond, which is the most common application, you won't need half tiles. The pattern is unlikely to end on a perfect half tile, you'll have a rough brick edge against a flat wall (as opposed to a flat cut brick slip), but also half tiles are more expensive as they're cut manually and have a greater wastage!
Always cut the full tiles down for internal corners to get the best result.
Are Half Tiles In Stock?
We keep a stock of half tiles for our reclaimed and traditional range, but because they need to be manually cut, we keep lower stock levels on these than the full tiles or corners. If you're looking for 50 or under the likelihood is they will be in stock, but for a larger order, please contact us to check.
