Klinker consoles vs. facing bricks

Hello dear forum,

we are currently planning our new build (timber frame construction, mineral wool insulation) and are about to pour the floor slab. So far, we have planned with ETICS plus facing bricks. Unfortunately, the facing bricks that I like best (retro design, hand-made facing) usually have too high water absorption, so they cannot be used for the ETICS. We had already discussed with our architect at the very beginning why we don’t simply use clinker bricks, but had to decide against it for cost reasons. Since I am now quite frustrated with the facing bricks (because I cannot find any nice ones that absorb a maximum of 3 percent water), my architect has now proposed that we use clinker consoles, which are placed next to the floor slab and on which the clinker bricks are then placed. Now I am wondering about the following:

[*]Why don’t we simply pour the floor slab 10 cm wider all around so that the clinker bricks can also fit on it? How much would the price difference probably be? (Our architect is very reluctant to do this because of the building permit, structural engineering, and possibly costs)
[*]What effects does the solid clinker brick generally have on the statics of a timber frame construction? Does this then have to be completely recalculated?
[*]Is clinker really so much more expensive than facing bricks?
[*]What can be the disadvantage of clinker consoles?

Thank you for your answers and best regards from the cold North.
Schlckr7

I’m not really familiar with this. But I would say that the additional costs for the larger base plate are probably not that significant. As for the price difference between [Klinker] and [Riemchen], you should ask the supplier about that.