Material guide
Gluing Brick
Brickwork, both indoor feature walls and exposed outdoor masonry.
Also called brickwork, masonry.
How Brick behaves when you bond it
Highly absorbent with a good mechanical key, but frost and salt movement make outdoor brick surfaces unreliable over time. Anything bonded to a weathered face is bonded to whatever is loosest on it.
Brick is a rigid porous ceramic masonry unit whose face may be fired smooth, weathered, painted or contaminated with salts. Adhesion is often limited by dust, efflorescence, frost-damaged material or a weak outer skin rather than by adhesive wetting.
Material properties
- Surface energy
- High, which helps adhesion
- Porosity
- Porous
- Rigidity
- Rigid
- Maximum service temperature
- 200C
- Normally needs abrading
- No
- Normally needs a primer
- No
Surface preparation
Brush and vacuum to sound masonry; remove efflorescence, loose paint, biological growth and friable material. Sika requires surfaces for its grab system to be clean and free from dust, grease and contaminants. Follow the selected product on allowable dampness and prime only when its data sheet requires it.
Which adhesives work on Brick
Excellent
Grab adhesive, no-nails
Grab adhesive, no-nails is rated excellent for this material as an application-level assessment, not as a blanket manufacturer claim. Suitability still depends on the other substrate, joint design and service environment.
Good
MS polymer
MS polymer is rated good for this material as an application-level assessment, not as a blanket manufacturer claim. Suitability still depends on the other substrate, joint design and service environment.
Good
Polyurethane adhesive
Polyurethane adhesive is rated good for this material as an application-level assessment, not as a blanket manufacturer claim. Suitability still depends on the other substrate, joint design and service environment.
Bonding Brick to something else
Last reviewed 8 October 2026.