In Soviet times, Soviet citizens were very popular wallpaper, stylized as a brick, against which flaunted a vine or other climbing plants. Today, the fashion for this kind of decor has been preserved, however, decorative bricks made of modern polymer materials have replaced paper coatings.
Some people prefer to entrust the repair of their home to professional craftsmen, but those who are limited in financial resources seek to save as much as possible. Therefore, they are wondering how to make a decorative brick wall in an apartment. This article will describe in detail the existing varieties of modern finishing materials, the main features of working with them, as well as the existing interior design options.
Varieties of materials and their features
Undoubtedly, natural types of finishes are very popular these days, but they are very rare due to the high cost. An excellent option indecor is decorative brickwork. It is practical to maintain, easy to implement, durable, and most importantly does not require large financial costs. However, when designing interior decoration, it is very important to choose suitable and high-quality materials.
Today, there are the following types of decorative tiles:
- flexible;
- gypsum;
- cement;
- clinker.
Each type has certain advantages and disadvantages that must be considered when choosing. Let's take a closer look at each of them so that you can choose the most suitable option for yourself.
Flexible
So what is she like? A decorative brick wall made of flexible tiles will be an excellent option for interior decoration. The main advantage of this material is its low weight, availability and ease of installation. For its manufacture, a special mixture is used, consisting of cement, sand, polyacrylate and dye. Many people and professional designers prefer flexible tiles because of the huge variety of colors and textures.
In addition, the main advantages include the following:
- good heat and sound insulation;
- greatly retains heat in the room;
- high strength and durability;
- bends easily and takes the desired shape;
- practicality.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the installation. For surface finishingyou will have to buy no adhesives and mixtures. The tile is simply heated with a building hair dryer to a certain temperature and fixed on the wall. In addition, such decorative masonry with your own hands will look very natural and natural, so it will be almost impossible to distinguish it from a real brick wall with the naked eye.
Gypsum
What is her speci alty? This type of finishing materials is environmentally friendly and safe for he alth, so it is also very often used in decorating rooms. As you might guess, the material is made of gypsum, and in order to make it easier to work with, plasticizers are added to it, giving it flexibility.
Among the main advantages are the following:
- light weight;
- easy installation;
- good sound insulation performance;
- affordable price;
- durability.
As for the cons, there are few of them. Most importantly, gypsum absorbs moisture well, so it cannot be used for finishing work surfaces in rooms with high air humidity, such as bathrooms and toilets. In addition, a decorative brick wall made of gypsum tiles will have a relatively low strength.
Cement
It is worth noting that today it is popular. Brick-like tiles made of this material are the best option in terms of durability andpracticality. It has excellent performance characteristics, which allows it to be used for wall decoration of absolutely any residential premises, regardless of air humidity, ambient temperature and other factors. In addition, it is relatively inexpensive and provides a wide range of colors.
For the production of tiles, mineral chips, cement of the best brands, sand, silicate binders and water are used. In the production process, modern technologies are used to produce briquettes of any size with high precision.
The main advantages of the material are:
- light weight;
- high strength;
- resistance to chemicals and fading;
- wide choice of colors and textures;
- affordable price.
This decorative brick wall will last for decades, so you won't have to regret the money spent.
Clinker
This material is the best for interior decoration, because in its composition and performance it is as close as possible to natural brick. The only difference is the technological process that is used in production. Once the tile is shaped, it is fired at a high temperature until the mixture is completely hardened.
This allows you to endow the finishing material with the following:
- high strength;
- excellent hydro andthermal insulation characteristics.
In addition, clinker tiles are able to withstand very severe frosts, which allows them to be used not only for interior decoration, but also for cladding facades of buildings.
Panels for brickwork
Today, decorative brick wall decoration made of PVC, MDF and glass fiber reinforced concrete is very popular. These materials are very easy to install, have a special coating that gives them high strength, and are also practical to clean because they do not absorb dirt.
Compared to the types of tiles discussed above, panels have the following advantages:
- long service life;
- allow you to hide electrical wires and communications without chasing the walls;
- light weight and thickness;
- easy to use;
- excellent resistance to high humidity, as well as the formation of fungi and mold;
- large selection of colors and textures;
- no need to do final coloring after installation.
As for the disadvantages of PVC and MDF panels, we can distinguish low resistance to mechanical stress. A decorative brick wall in an apartment made of these materials is very easily damaged even with not very strong blows, so you need to be extremely careful during operation.
Fiberglass is an innovative finishing material that was invented relatively recently, but in a short period of time it has managed to gain immense popularity. It is made from quartz sand ordispersed silicon rock, Portland cement and fiberglass reinforcement. Due to the unique composition and production technology, GRC is highly resistant to fire, frost resistance, sound insulation, strength and light weight.
What to look for when choosing?
Let's take a closer look at this. If you decide that the interior of your home must have a decorative brick wall, then you need to be very careful in choosing materials. In order not to be mistaken, it is recommended that you first carefully read the technical characteristics of each of them. For example, for finishing a kitchen or bathroom, you should choose a tile that tolerates high temperatures and humidity well. Not only its durability depends on this, but also the practicality of care.
If you will be doing repairs yourself without the involvement of qualified specialists, it is very important that the material is easy to work with. In this regard, it is better to consider flexible tiles or panels. They require minimal labor and time costs, and the result will be simply amazing.
Also realistically evaluate your financial capabilities. Some modern finishing materials have simply space value, so not everyone can afford it. In the absence of a large amount of money, it is best to consider gypsum or concrete tiles. With its help, you can decorate the interior in a modern or classic style in an original way with minimalfinancial costs.
Style decisions
Today there are a wide variety of types of decorative masonry, so you can bring to life any design ideas for interior design of residential premises. At the same time, siding will not only not create a large load on the walls, but will also allow you to transform the room beyond recognition. We will not consider all styles, but will focus on the most common.
Loft
What is its highlight? This is one of the modern decor design options, which is characterized by brutality and at the same time sophistication. A loft-style decorative brick wall will be a great decoration for an office, living room, dining area or bedroom. The key feature is that one of the walls should contrast against the rest. As for the choice of colors for tiles, it all depends on the individual preferences of each person. Most often they stop at a light range, which contributes to a visual increase in the size of the room. Rich colors like brown, black and brick will also look great.
As for furniture, modern interior items made of metal, wood and glass in bright colors will be the best choice for a loft. To give the design more uniqueness will allow a wall of bricks in two colors. In addition, one of them can be performed in one color, and the rest in another. At the same time, it is very important not to overdo it with furniture, since excessive clutter in the room is not typical for modern styles that are based on minimalism. It is better to curtain windows not with traditional curtains, but with vertical or horizontal blinds. It is better to use natural wood, such as laminate, as flooring, as this will add a little coziness to the room.
Country
This style would look best with a decorative brick wall in the kitchen. Most often, brick inserts are created in the cooking or eating area, which fit especially well near arches and doorways. A distinctive feature of country music is lightness, freedom and ease. Therefore, when decorating surfaces with brick-styled tiles, it is very important not to overdo it so as not to disturb the overall harmony.
If your home has an artificial or real fireplace, then a brick wall will add some zest to the interior. It would be appropriate to paste over the remaining surfaces with wallpaper with an unobtrusive print or textiles. The floors must be wooden, and the furniture slightly rough and massive.
Gothic
Earlier, this style was very common in interior design, but it is very difficult to meet it in modern apartments and houses. Most people are not comfortable with the gloomy tones inherent in everything gothic. Brick-like tiles will complement black and any dark shades well. If you can competently combine everything, then your apartment will shine with elegance, romanticism and a little severity. A large chandelier, preferably crystal, must necessarily act as a lighting device. If you are making outbedroom in the Gothic style, then an integral part of the interior is a massive wooden bed with a canopy and snow-white linens. Decorate the room only with picturesque paintings or forged decorative elements.
Minimalism
This decor option is perhaps one of the most common these days. This is due to the fact that the life of a modern person is simply full of various electronic gadgets, accessories and other items, so everything in the house should be as simple and practical as possible. However, this does not mean that minimalism is boring. A decorative brick wall will make the room more interesting, charismatic and restrained.
If the main color is white, then it can be slightly diluted with unobtrusive colors, but as for wall decoration, it is preferable to do it in light colors. It will contrast well with the wooden floor and black furniture. If you decide to use textiles to decorate the room, then it should be rough. As in the case of the loft style, with minimalism, you need to completely abandon fabric curtains in favor of blinds.
A few words about masonry
What do you need to know about this? Decorative brick walls are given with the help of masonry, which can be different. This applies not only to layouts and dressings, but also to colors, shapes and other things. One of the simplest is direct decorative brickwork.
It can be of the following types:
- single-row;
- multi-row;
- Scottish hedge;
- English bandage;
- Old Russian;
- six-row;
- diagonal;
- Bavarian;
- herringbone;
- braid.
Also, every year, openwork brickwork is gaining more and more popularity. It not only has a unique appearance and gives the interior a special flavor, but also allows you to create small niches that can be used as a kind of shelves. For example, they can display family photos, souvenirs or sports awards.
Features of wall decoration with decorative bricks
Let's take a closer look at this. If you decide to significantly rework the interior of your home, then artistic brickwork will be an excellent option to give the room sophistication. If you settled on materials that do not require special construction skills for installation, you can handle everything yourself without the involvement of skilled workers.
First of all, you need to prepare your work surface. To do this, remove old finishing materials from the walls and level them. Next, the marking of the vertical structure is performed, after which it will be possible to proceed with gluing. If you are working with flexible tiles, then you will not need any adhesive mixtures. It simply heats up to 50 degrees with a building hair dryer and presses against the wall as tightly as possible. For gypsum and cement tiles, you will need a special adhesive, the amount of which is calculatedaccording to the area of the room.
Laying the first row of bricks is carried out on a horizontal support beam, which is a wooden beam. A uniform layer of gypsum putty about one centimeter thick is applied to the back of the tile. Then it is pressed against the surface and left in this position until it dries completely. Excess mixture is carefully removed with a spatula. To make the masonry strong, a little free space is left between the bricks, which is filled with putty. After the first row is completed, you can start laying out the next ones with a shift of the bricks by half the width of the previous ones. To make the masonry perfectly even, it is recommended to use clamps.
When the decorative wall is completed, it is left for 24 hours for the adhesive mixture to dry completely, after which the joints are filled with gypsum putty. To do this, it is better to use a narrow construction tool so as not to stain the tiles. At the final stage of the work, the final refinement is carried out, which involves the processing of the finishing material with sandpaper and allows you to eliminate any visual defects. In addition, the tile will acquire a characteristic shine, which will be impossible to look away from.
