The power of

prefabricated brick panels

Their advantages over laid-in-place brick
By William D. Palmer, Jr.
ome construction methods are used only in isolated areas of the country. Not too many years
ago, the majority of tilt-up projects were in Florida, Texas and California; that changed for tilt-up.
In masonry construction, prefabricated brick panels fall into this category of isolated use. Prefabricated brick panels are conventionally-built masonry
walls or elements that are hung onto the building as
panels. These panels are prebuilt masonry, not precast panels with embedded thin brick. Why is a system
that has proven viable and profitable used so infrequently in most of the country? Conventional wisdom
says that there is a lack of knowledge and experience.
Perhaps the investment in equipment and facilities is
more than most masonry contractors want to make,
or there could be some lingering concerns over the
problems encountered by Sarabond panels.

John Tawresey

Choosing brick panels

A brick panel cures in the yard while waiting to be

shipped. Panels can be moved the day after fabrication.

In the Pacific Northwest, KPFF Consulting Engineers, Seattle; and two construction firms: Barkshire
Panels Systems, Federal Way, Wash.; and L.C. Pardue, Portland, Ore., have been using brick panels for
over 20 years. In Ohio and surrounding states, Vet-OVitz Masonry Systems, Brunswick, Ohio, has been
building with brick panels for over 30 years. I think
there is more work in this area because of the competition between us and Barkshire, says Lenny Pardue, explaining that customers feel more comfortable
when there is a choice. Barkshire is our only competition, he continues, but emphasizes that we almost
never compete for the same job. This is because
most brick panel jobs are negotiated rather than competitively bid.
Fred Galassi of Barkshire stresses that, Our competition is not conventional laid-in-place brick.
Rather, brick panels compete with other skin systems such as glass, metal or precast panels. We
usually are competitive with precast panels, but when
there are articulations on the panel then brick is
cheaper, he says. John Tawresey of KPFF agrees,
Brick panels usually are less expensive than precast
panels or conventional brick, but more than EIFS.
KPFF has designed this system for use on more than
75 buildings from Los Angeles to the Canadian border and east to Boise, Idaho.

Designing brick panels

Prefabricated brick panels are designed in the same
way as reinforced hollow clay masonry walls. Each
panel is a self-contained structural system capable of
handling the loads encountered during lifting and
transporting and after being put into service. The
biggest difference from conventional hollow clay masonry is that, since the panel is hanging from connectors at or near its top, the entire lower portion is in
tension and the panel behaves as a beam to support
its own weight.
Prefabricated brick panels are designed as reinforced masonry, which means the panel has to crack
before the reinforcement starts to contribute tensile
strength. Aesthetically, however, it is unacceptable for
the panel to crack. All tensile forces must therefore be
resisted by the masonry assembly. Designers have
been able to achieve this with standard mortar and the
special brick units used for the panels. This might
seem an ideal application for post-tensioning the reinforcing steel, which would allow it to contribute tensile strength without the panel cracking, but that has
not been the case. We have considered it, says
KPFFs Dill, but its just not been necessary.
The best resources currently available for designers
of prefabricated brick panels are Notes on the Selection, Design and Construction of Reinforced Hollow
Clay Masonry which covers general design of reinforced brick, and Design Guide for Structural Brick Veneer which covers some issues more specific to
brick panels. Both were published by Western States
Clay Products Association and written by KPFF
Consulting Engineers. These books are available from
WSCPA (213-388-0472) and from The Masonry Society
(303-939-9700).

Advantages of panels

John Tawresey

John Tawresey

When an owner and an architect decide to build,

they usually have a look in mind. If brick is part of
that look, they should consider brick panels. In this
area, it is always an option for architects who want
to put brick on a building, says Tawresey. Anything
you can do in concrete we can do in brick.
Panels have great design flexibility since each one
is custom-made; on some projects there could be
hundreds of panels with every one being different.
Panels can incorporate precast pieces (such as for
window sills) and even steel embedments for mounting windows. Complex shapes, such as sloping sills,
arches, corbelled soffits, or articulated parapets that
would be nearly impossible on the jobsite, are easily built in the factory. For example, on panels that
Pardue made for the new Seattle Mariners baseball
stadium, the walls corbel out 34 inch per course on
the top 8-foot-high panels for a total deviation of 2 feet
from plumb. This is one of the places brick panels excel, notes Pardue, since braces were constructed on
the ground that would have been cost prohibitive

Panels arrive supported by an A-frame on the truck bed

and are soon raised by crane for hanging on the building.

Tower cranes allow greater speed and flexibility in panel

setting.

50 feet up on the wall. This is also where brick panels have a big advantage over precast panels: since
every panel is custom-made, each one can be different. On a precast panel, if every form had to be different, the cost would skyrocket.

Cost is one factor to consider, and where brick

panels prove especially economical is on tight sites
with tight schedules. Since prefabricated-brick-panel
construction requires so little onsite masonry work,
it consumes a lot less space than conventional brick

Drainage and insulation

Although brick panels are intended to act as rain barriers, drainage systems are always provided for water that
manages to infiltrate the wall. Wind-driven rain can penetrate minor wall defects and water can travel by capillary
action through hairline cracks at the unit-mortar interface. Various configurations are used to drain water
down the back of a wall and past floor levels, which often are at intermediate points behind the panels. Barkshire uses different systems to get water out of a wall,
depending on where the connectors are, whether or not
insulation is installed behind the panels and what kind
of fire sealant is required behind the panel to provide
fire separation between floors. Water is routed past floor
levels and fire sealant and into window heads for
drainage from the wall. Flashing sometimes is used as a
fire sealant if drainage is at floor level. Completed walls
are tested with a water spray to assure the drainage system is working as planned.
Most brick panel walls are not insulated, depending instead on insulation in the metal-stud interior wall. Because of all the connections that must go between the
panel and the building frame, rigid insulation and vapor
barriers can be difficult to install. Barkshire, however, is
currently installing insulated panels on the King Street
Station in Seattle using their full back-up system (see
below). Vet-O-Vitz promotes their Air Barrier System,
which is a panel that comes with foil-faced insulation and
a vapor seal.

Microsoft-Augusta
Interlocking by-pass
flashing system

Dead-load
connection
Column
embed
Lateral
connection*
Interlocking
by-pass
flashing

Window
head
*Intermediate lateral connections are attached
to tube steel located behind brick column panels.

Dead-load
connection

Precast sill

1 14 inch rigid
insulation foil
faced, two sides
By-pass metal
floor flashing

4 inch air space

Dead-load
connection

Precast head
Lateral
connection
Metal head
flashing

Lateral
connection

King Street Station

Full back-up system

Head flashing

Barkshire Panels Systems

Redmond Town Center

By-pass flashing system

Concrete
column

scaffolding virtually is eliminated since

the panels are set by crane. Scaffolding
can be a major expense on a tall building.
In the western United States, prefabricated brick panels have two additional
advantages over laid-in-place brick due to
the regions emphasis on seismic performance. First, since brick panels are reinforced, they perform as a structural element, unlike typical brick veneers.
Second, they have an outstanding ability
to be isolated from the building frame.
Brick panels are the best option when
you need to guarantee to the owner that
no brick will be on the ground after an
earthquake, says Steve Dill of KPFF.

John Tawresey

On the road
Panels are moved by truck from the
plant to the building site. A heavy Aframe is attached to the truck bed to support the panels during transport. Shipping dictates the maximum panel height,
since panels must be able to clear a highway overpass. Great care must be used
during shipping to avoid overturning the
Returns were designed on this building between column covers and
truck or shifting (and cracking) of panels
spandrel sections, allowing joints between panels to integrate into
that can weigh as much as 20,000 pounds.
the building faade.
Panels are delivered onsite in sequence
and installed almost immediately. Ideally,
all panels should be constructed before the
construction and the onsite congestion is greatly refirst
panel
is
shipped. That is the goal, although someduced. And since the panels are made indoors, contimes
a
few
remain
to be completed, says Galassi.
struction can proceed 24 hours a day if necessary and
in any kind of weather. The panels can then be erectConnection to the building
ed in nearly any weather conditions which allows the
Panels come in two basic configurations: spandrels
building to be closed up much more quickly than
and column covers. In a typical building, spandrel
with site-laid brick. Another big advantage is that

Indoor work
Prefabricated brick panels are built from hollow clay
brick units that allow reinforcement to be installed in
both directions. All reinforcement on Barkshire and Pardues panels is internal. The Vet-O-Vitz system is slightly
different in that, especially on panels with returns or
sloping sections, an external structural steel frame is anchored to the panels back.
Panels vary in size according to the job and application, with a typical panel being 7 feet high and 30 feet
long. Such a panel would be reinforced horizontally with
two #3 reinforcing bars in each bond beam and vertically
with #4 bars at 4 feet on center. Bond beams would be located at the top and bottom of the panel, above and below the level of the dead-load connectors and at the level
of the lateral connectors.
All panels are fully grouted using high-lift grouting techniques. A very fluid grout containing grout aid is used.
The grout aid improves flow through the wall (a plasticizer) and helps fill the voids left by the absorption of water
(an expansion agent).
The panels are built indoors. Pardue and Vet-O-Vitz
build theirs in a large warehouse and move them to the

side the next day to await delivery to the jobsite. Barkshire has a unique system that uses a movable metal enclosure mounted on railroad tracks. Within this enclosure, five or six panels are constructed using
conventional hollow clay masonry construction methods. The enclosure is then moved forward, leaving the
completed panels outside and providing a controlled environment for the construction of additional panels. The
completed panels are then washed and dampproofed
with a clear water-repellent coating. They are then allowed to cure for at least seven days to gain enough
strength to be moved to storage and to await transport to
the building site.
In addition to the standard panels, which act as spandrel
beams, column covers are also manufactured. These can be
flat or can have two or three sides to box around a column.
Before construction begins, all required materials are
prepared, including reinforcing steel and any embedments. When the masons begin to work, all materials and
any special architectural features are ready. Barkshire
uses teams of two masons and one hod carrier to produce one panel per team each day.

Barkshire Panels Systems

panels run in strips around the building

and, when the design calls for a punched
window, column covers provide the vertical elements between windows and at
the buildings corners.
Panels are fastened to the building in
various ways, all based on the same general theme. For each panel, there are two
dead-load bearing points. Ideally these
are in the panels upper half in pockets
that put the bearing point near the panels lateral center of gravity so that, when
first mounted, the panel hangs in its finished position on the building. Lateral
connectors that provide resistance to
wind and seismic loads and that stabilize
the panels are located in various spots
below the dead-load connections. On a
typical 30-foot-long panel there might be
three lateral load connectors along the
floor line and five more across the bottom of the panel.
Column covers (in punched window
buildings) typically bear on the spandrel
panel below and are shear-connected to
the panel above. Lateral support is provided by connections to the building column behind the cover.
Mutual Materials produced special 45-degree knife-edge bricks which
Before installing the panels, welders
matched the incorporated precast elements on this Microsoft building.
go around the building and weld 4-x9inch steel bars onto the building frame at
are several inches of adjustment possible on the panor near the supporting building columns. These
els, both horizontally and vertically. Once the panels
bars, two for each panel, serve as the dead-load suphave been inched into precise positions, the entire
port brackets. Typically, welders will attach these
connection is welded together to solidly link the panbrackets to steel angles that are embedded into the
els and the building frame. Lateral-load connectors
floor slabs, although in some cases the brackets are
also are adjusted and welded. Crew members caulk
welded to steel or concrete columns. These heavy
the joints between the panels with a
steel brackets protrude from the
color that matches the mortar. They
building frame and have a vertical
then sand the caulk to give it the
threaded adjustment pin, which will
same appearance as the mortar.
support the dead load of the panel.
Most panel projects include some
When there is a tower crane availlaid-in-place brick. Often these are
able, panels go up much more
laid near ground level, where the
quicklyGalassi estimates that a
joints between panels would be
crew can complete 12 to 18 panels
more noticeable.
per day with a tower crane versus
eight to 10 per day with a mobile
Drawbacks
crane. The crews at this stage are
Prefabricated brick panels are not
composite crews of welders and
right for every job. Some architecmasons. The masons set the panels
tural designs simply dont lend
and handle any brick that needs to be
themselves to panelization. And on
placed onsite.
buildings with straight flat walls,
There are pockets built into the
wood frames or fewer than three
back of each panel for the dead-load
stories, field-laid brick usually are
connection. The steel bearing plate
the most economical alternative.
for the dead-load connection is inteHistorically, very few problems
grated into the reinforcing steel sysarise
during construction or aftertem vertically and horizontally. Pan- The Redmond, Wash. Town Center
complex used brick panels made up wards with prefabricated brick panels are set onto the dead-load pins
els. Occasionally there may be a
of a blend of three colors of brick.
and workers on the building interior The color blend ratio varies from
problem with inadequate stiffness in
precisely adjust the position. There building to building.

one of the supports, so that it fails when the panels

dead load is applied. There have been a couple of
cases of rust after several years that caused brick to
spall but these were due to a poorly constructed connector pocket that allowed water to pool on the connector. To guard against this, many connectors now
are made from galvanized or stainless steel.

Negotiating for quality

A successful brick-panel project requires the contractor to be involved from the very start. When I
first meet with the owner and architect, I give them a
price based on producing and placing panels with no
water drainage system or insulation, says Galassi.
Then he works with them to develop a system that
provides the look the architect wants and meets
the structures needs in the most economical way.
This includes a drainage system, insulation, vapor
barriers and fire sealant.
Sample panels usually are constructed in the projects early stages so that the architect knows how
the building panels will look. Often several different
panels will be made with different ratios of brick col-

ors until everyone is satisfied with the results. Galassi stresses that organization, communication and cooperation are critical. Because the panels are built
offsite, miscommunication can result in serious problems at delivery.
Prefabricated brick panels offer many advantages
for certain types of buildings. Currently the only companies in the United States that produce brick panels
on a regular basis are Barkshire, Pardue and Vet-OVitz. Although there are other contractors who have
used this construction system, and others who are
interested, they hesitate from a lack of knowledge
and confidence. And, as with any new method, there
is resistance from owners and building departments.
Despite the difficulties, the masonry industry would
benefit from expanding the use of this system. Jeff
Leonard, Leonard Masonry Inc., St. Louis, currently
is trying to get into the panel business. He feels panels will be competitive with precast concrete, which
he has seen take a large share of the jobs that once
would have been masonry. Masonry contractors
arent needed on every job, like plumbers and electricians, he says, so we better start looking at new
ways to do things.

Publication #M99C022
Copyright 1999, The Aberdeen Group,
a division of Hanley-Wood, Inc.
All rights reserved