“The mind that is open to new ideas, never returns to its original size”
Albert Einstein
1879-1955
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The stability & lateral strength of masonry during alterations is unpredictable and varies upon every task of which depends upon the length of the opening, the mortar mix, the quality & the age of the masonry.
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All existing propping methods rely on the unknown stability & lateral strength of the masonry to work safely which is why the Brick Brace should also be used to prevent minor & major collapse.
KEEP IT SAFE, BRICK BRACE!
The fully tested Brick Brace safety tool increases the unknown lateral strength of bonded lime & cement mortar masonry by creating a force of 40Nm which through vigorous testing is proven to be strong and stable enough to prevent collapse on site.
The Brick Brace Safety System safely supports masonry upon openings up to 3,150mm (14 Brick Lengths) without any impeding Acrow props at any height high or low, openings up to 4,500mm (20 brick lengths) when using only one Acrow prop fitted central and also enhances all the existing propping methods.
For Full Access & Safer and Superior Masonry Alterations.
RECENT BRICK BRACE FEEDBACK
Mr S. Dunaway
(Builder From Surrey)
Top quality product.
After taking the time to read and understand what the Brick Brace has to offer, I can now appreciate the impact this system can have on improving the safety of structural alterations.
After all it’s the only general construction based procedure where NO training or advice is offered to any tradesman.
For me, Brick brace is not just a product; it has provided an understanding of the task, with clear guidance on the limitations of all the equipment.
I also received very helpful advice and instructions from the guys at Brick Brace regarding my own project.
I challenge you all to find another company so invested in your own safety when it comes to structural alterations!
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The more methods known, the safer and easier the different tasks of supporting masonry become.
Temporary support equipment options in alphabetical order; Acrow props, Brick Brace, Needles, Prop-Wise and Strongboy’s?
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Using a variety of temporary masonry support equipment allows safer options, reduces repair time and supports all of the masonry in between props and also improves the unknown variable safe working load of the existing propping methods;
Brick Brace with Acrow props, Brick Brace with Needles, Brick Brace with Prop-Wise or Brick Brace with Strongboy’s and depends on the task at hand of which variety is most suitable.
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Now in our seventh year of business, with tens of thousands of Brick Brace safety tools being sold and used worldwide every year!
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APPLICATIONS
Fit a permanent support within existing masonry at any height with the correct fitting/work access. Replace lintels, fit new cavity trays & D.P.C’s with ease. Re-instate a load-point to reduce the weight of the load that requires support. An under-pinning aid. Strengthen/stabilise lime mortar masonry and aids all remedial works, brickwork renovations & repairs.
The main cause of collapse during masonry alterations is through overloading equipment due to underestimating the weight of the load and over extending Strongboy’s from the wall to either avoid internal 1st floor internal wall damage upon finished rooms or to gain more fitting work space.
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Safety tools are fitted 3 bricks apart in a cement mortar mix, a maximum of 2.5 bricks apart within a lime mortar mix and in every perpendicular joint within block work.
To fit a single safety tool you require the use of a hammer drill with a 10mm masonry drill bit to remove the mortar from the perpendicular joint and a 19mm socket spanner to expand the Brick Brace. The Brick Brace safety system requires a Hammer Drill, 8mm and 10mm masonry drill bits, 15, 19, 21mm sockets and a ratchet. The 40Nm torque required to expand the Brick Brace is similar to tightening a scaffold fitting. To remove the masonry below, use a disc cutter and a light set hammer drill with the correct chisel fittings, a masonry or traditional hand saw is sufficient for lime mortar mixes, full instructions and a correct procedure are provided and also available to read or print via our instructions/download page.
The Brick Brace safety system is used to support the masonry above any sized opening up to 3,150mm without any props within the work area and also used when propping to safely reduce the number of impeding props and to offer further fitting space. The fully tested Brick Brace safety tool pre-stresses the masonry for lateral stability and safely offers further fitting work access during masonry alterations, reducing the risk of minor and major collapse & saving time on repairs for a superior finish without compromising safety.
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Sets Available
Trial Set £80.00
Support all of the masonry for safer and clearer access for any sized Openings up to 2,250mm within a cement mortar masonry & up to 1,800mm within a lime mortar masonry.
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Half set £150.00
Every sized Opening up to 3,150 mm (14 brick lengths) at any height, high or low, with full access to the task.
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Full Set £275.00
The Brick Brace safety system allows openings up to 4,500mm (20 brick lengths) when using only one Acrow prop fitted central and scaffold clipped to the horizontal scaffold tube.
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Use as a safety belt above openings when propping or needling to hold the brickwork in-between props and to support the masonry as one whole piece rather than individual bricks than when only propping.
Watch Our Video Presented By Skill Builder Roger Bisby!
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Book A Brick Brace Demonstration On your Own project
From only £500.00
Includes ½ day training & Brick Brace Full Set
For Bookings or Further Information
Call Anthony on; office 01895 546405
or
mobile;07545 462463
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WARNING!
A Class System Is In Place;
To please their clients, architects have the artistic freedom to design & draw any opening size they wish within existing masonry with a few lines and a rubber and with no care of how it is done in real life, a structural engineer can then endorse a product & provide a method of which does not offer the correct fitting work space without dangerously overloading itself, the contractor then purchases or hires Strongboy’s to avoid internal wall damage of which is sold by a vast majority of retailers with zero masonry alterations knowledge and supplied without written guidance to falsely ease a difficult task purely to gain more sales and when the obvious accidents of overloading continue to reoccur, only the contractor is at fault and fined or even imprisoned for corporate manslaughter when collapse causes injury or a fatality.
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Back in 2013 the H.S.E website stated that the main cause of collapse during masonry alterations was from overloading equipment due to the lack of awareness of the equipment capacity and underestimating the weight of the load.
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Through our own professional research, the causes of collapse during alterations are also due to the following;
1, The user making assumptions of correct use due to not understanding the misleading Strongboy instructions or verbally misinformed of how to use the equipment safely.
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2, Unknowingly decreasing the safe working load when removing a Strongboy away from the wall to avoid internal wall damage and/or to gain further fitting work space as no warning of this is in place.
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3, A Strongboy recommended, endorsed and permitted by structural engineers even when the device doesn’t give the correct fitting work access without dangerously overloading itself and using an assumed out of date calculation of a permanent support for temporary support when they are totally different.
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4, No written guidance for Acrow props, Strongboy’s or Genie lifts are provided by the retailers to falsely ease a dangerous task to gain more sales.
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5, The user making assumptions of correct use due to no warnings or guidance being provided at the point of sale.
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6, No correct procedures of using a Strongboy are in place for the many different tasks of supporting 4″, 9″& 13″ walls or for the different sized cavity walls and due to a severe lack of guidance from the H.S.E.
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7, Using Strongboy’s upon larger openings when the props and needles method is far safer and more suitable as they offer the correct fitting work access with fewer impeding Acrow props without dangerously overloading or without having the need to remove the opening to the full depth before a permanent support is in the final position.
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8, Compromising safety to save time and to reduce costs by using inferior S.W.L equipment and propping dangerously from only one side to avoid internal wall damage upon finished 1st floor rooms.
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9, Not knowing how to safely plan a task and then taking unnecessary risks due to not using the most suitable equipment for the task.
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10, Insufficient testing and research of the Strongboy and of similar designed products.
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11, Rushing a task through not pricing correctly.
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12, Not seeking expert temporary support advice when in doubt.
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13, Misleading instructions and no drawings of correct use are provided and no Acrow prop guidance supplied at the point of sale or hire.
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14, The H.S.E’s inability to address the issues without accepting the responsibility of the fault which they have helped to create through allowing misleading instructions for twenty five years and due to their own lack of knowledge of temporary support during masonry alterations.
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15, The market monopoly of a product with a brand name that implies strength but reduces the safe working load of an Acrow prop by at least 90% without warning and is overloaded with the same amount of ease as the manufacturer’s say it is to use.
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16, A product that is designed to deceive the user and built to be misused and also increases the risk of overloading due to the long bendable tongue that exceeds the maximum 215mm eccentricity.
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17, The Strongboy manufacturer making false claims and devaluing the correct method of props and needles for over thirty years.
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18, Misleading new instructions that have increased the maximum eccentricities by over 50% without further testing, warning or explanation.
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19, The lack of awareness that every task is totally different and also not knowing a variety of temporary support equipment is required to tackle every different task safely and correctly.
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20, Not knowing that eccentrically propping is dangerous and not using the fully tested Brick Brace safety tool to maximise the unknown variable safe working load of existing propping methods to reduce the risk of collapse when propping.
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(COMMON SCENARIOS)
4” Brickwork
The Brick Brace safety system is used with nothing to obstruct the fitting of a permanent support upon openings up to 3,150mm, 14 brick lengths, supporting all 91 bricks (Stretcher bond) within the triangle of masonry above the opening.
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The Brick Brace safety system allows openings up to 4,500mm (20 brick lengths) when using only one Acrow prop fitted central and scaffold clipped to the horizontal scaffold tube.
Openings up to 5,400mm with no props within the fitting side when using an aluminium scaffold beam, please visit our instruction/download page for full guidance.
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A variety of different hammers, screwdrivers, saws and trowels are used to ease different tasks so why not use a variety of temporary support equipment most suitable for the task?
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PROP-WISE
LIMITED EDITION
Designed for the head plate of the Acrow prop to take the load and not the side of the inner tube.
Designed with a flat head to ease internal use at ceiling height and to fit neatly into a tool bag.
The safest method of propping 4″ to 6″masonry.
Using fewer Acrow props due to reduced eccentricity which also gives a superior safe working load.
Maximum safe working load 500kg, supplied with full instructions and Acrow prop guidance and is by far the safest tongued prop attachment on the market.
Prop-Wise x 4 – Click Here To View Product Only £99.00 |
The Brick Brace Safety Tool, the Prop-Wise masonry support, our guidance, weight charts and proven strategies safely ease a difficult task and address all the main causes of collapse during masonry alterations.
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Brick Brace review
By Lateral Solutions Group Ltd
(April 2016)
Having been a builder now for over 30 years, I could be justifiably accused of being stuck in my ways in certain aspects of the building trade, one of those areas are removing sections of load bearing walls and creating new window and door openings, tools required, Props, Needles & Strong boys . . . . . Not anymore!
After reading an article regarding safe working loads of when using Acrow props, in a nut shell the load calculations are as follows :-
An Acrow prop, max S.W.L is 3,400Kg
Two Acrow props & a needle method this is then reduced to max S.W.L 1,700kg
An Acrow fitted with a prop attachment ( Strongboy) this is then reduced to max S.W.L 340Kg
So with a little research on the best kept secret in the building trade . . .
Brick Brace steps into the ring!
I’ve used this product now for nearly 1 year, first of all, it’s like carrying around 12 Acrows,5 Needles & two Strongboys in a small tool box, Great start!
Secondly, does it work & How?
The answer to the first question is an easy yes it does!
The answer to the second question, without sounding like a salesman for this product is as follows:-
A single brace that fits in your hand can support an opening of up to 1575mm opening supporting the full triangle of Cement, mortar & masonry above.
With the full kit, as mentioned carried in a small toolbox capable of supporting an opening of up to 4500mm with the use of only 1 prop to the middle! No Acrow hindering access for the installation of steels, no repairing brickwork above where to needles were! Window opening above ground floor. . A breeze!
Finally in my opinion . . . IT’S A KNOCK OUT!! Brick brace wins, hands down!
I have now vowed as a builder to stop living in the dark ages and start moving forward with new equipment and new methods of construction.
KEEP IT SAFE!