We all have seen, in our own home or in other places, those ugly metal or wood posts used to hold a porch or the load bearing beams in a basement.
In most cases people use faux wraps to clad these posts and make them look like real brick. In some cases the size of these pre-made faux brick wraps is either too large or too small. This doesn’t mean we have to give up. With the help of faux brick panels you can make your own size wrap around any size post or column.
The beauty of these panels is that you are not limited to a specific look. You may make the column larger at the bottom and tapered toward the top.
This is accomplished by mitering and beveling the cuts on each piece installed.
To start you should deiced the overall size you want, to this dimension subtract the thickness of the brick panel and come up with the size of the frame or box to build around the existing posts.
You can also make a more narrow size column by avoiding building the frame and install the panels directly over the post.
You may build the box or frame out of plywood – for exterior use we recommend marine plywood or pressure treated wood.
At this point pick a starting point and use the left side of the first panel.
When you reach the first corner of the frame go on the back of the panel and make a pencil line right at the corner. This is where you will be miter-cutting the faux brick panels.
Using a table saw or a circular saw make the 45 degree cut with the good size of the panel facing down. You want to angle the saw so that the back of the panel will have the shorter side of the cut. You also want to take the least possible material out of the front side of the Use brick panels to wrap any material.
The left over piece is not waste, rather is the piece you will need next.
Take this piece and miter it again to match the angle of the previous pieces. This should leave you with a triangle-shaped piece of material.
At this point you may put the two mitered pieces together to check the quality of the cut. If they meet nicely you can proceed to mark the right side with a pencil, right were the second corner of the frame is.
Continue these steps until you have completely wrapped the first row of panels around the box/frame.
For every row of brick panels you should stagger the seams so that they don’t always line up in the same vertical line.
Now you should use a sanding block to smooth out and blend together the individual bricks at the very tip of each corner. Cover the sanded areas with caulking and when dry apply some paint from the Touch-up Kit available for ordering online.
You are not bound by any rule when using faux brick panels from fauxstonedepot.com because their versatility and flexibility is unmatched by any other product that looks as realistic as this.
Enjoy!