How To Build A Faux Brick Wall Bankrate Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Westend61/Getty Images May 19, 2022 AJ Dellinger is a contributing writer for Bankrate. AJ writes about auto loans and real estate. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Bankrate logo
The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our banking reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — the best banks, latest rates, different types of accounts, money-saving tips and more — so you can feel confident as you’re managing your money. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. It’s hard to deny the appeal of an exposed brick wall. It can provide a modern, industrial-chic ambiance or a warm, rustic feel or a historic-home vibe. Whatever effect you’re going for, an interior brick wall is a great accent — but it can also seem unattainable. You might love the look of brick but just can’t find a house made of that stuff. Or maybe you rent and can’t change the in your abode. Fear not, with faux brick panels you can create the look in any setting — without knocking out any walls or using any actual brick or mortar. What are faux brick panels
You can think of faux brick panels as a kind of textured wallpaper, though they’re fairly heavy duty, close to plywood in thickness and heft. Some are made of very , but most are made of engineered materials, like high-density polyurethane or MDF (medium-density fiberboard). With their rough, uneven surface, the “bricks” and “mortar” feel and look remarkably similar to the real thing. However, they are strictly a decorative accent; they do not provide any strength or structural support. Faux brick panels come in a variety of forms, sizes and colors, and most stores carry them. They typically scale easily, so you can buy multiple panels if needed to cover your wall. They usually run from $20-$40 per panel, though some elite brands can run as high as $100 per panel. The best-quality faux brick panels are engineered with finger joints that hide seams and make them easy to install with nails or screws. The panels are usually designed to work on drywall material, but you can also potentially use them on surfaces like concrete with an adhesive material; some come with peel-and-stick adhesive tape on the back. Before buying your faux brick panels, you’ll want to measure your wall, of course, to determine how much you’ll need. Plan on getting 10 percent extra’s worth of panels, to cover yourself in case of mistakes. Building the faux brick wall
Before you start
To get started on your faux brick wall, you’ll want to gather all of your gear and ready the surrounding area. Materials: Construction level Tape measure Circular saw Jigsaw Power drill and screws or nail gun Step ladder Pen/pencil (to mark cuts if any) The process
Prep the wall: Clear out the area so you can access the full wall. Unplug anything from the electrical outlets and remove outlet covers. Prep the panels: Measure your panels to determine how many of them you need and how they will fit. If necessary, cut the panels into a size that works best with your jigsaw or circular skill saw. You will also need to create holes for outlets, and allow for around windows or doorframes. Arrange the panels: Get your panels lined up with the wall (and with each other, so the adjacent panels “fit” together). Make sure everything is measured properly and the panels will fit as expected. Install the panels: Start at the center bottom of the wall, and work your way outwards and upwards. Place each panel onto the wall, one at a time. Install it by either drilling a screw or nailing a nail into each corner to hold it into place (or however many the manufacturer recommends). Repeat until the wall is complete. Finishing up: Re-install electrical outlet covers. If desired, wipe down the wall. Final word on faux brick walls
Installing a faux brick wall can be a cost-effective method of creating an exposed brick look when the real thing isn’t viable. It’s a good, simple that most people should be able to complete on their own — though it’s easiest to do with two people. Depending on how much equipment you already have and how many panels you need, the whole project should cost between $100-$200 and will likely take between two to four hours to complete, depending on how big the wall is. SHARE: AJ Dellinger is a contributing writer for Bankrate. AJ writes about auto loans and real estate. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Related Articles