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sarany

Is it possible to match old brick?

sarany
14 years ago

This forum has been really helpful so far. I hope someone out there can get us out of our latest problem. Renovating my 96 year old colonial is taking a lot longer than I thought, but I really want to do it the right way--which brings me to my problem:

We put an addition all along one side of our home. The contractor is telling us there is no way to find even a close match to the brick for the addition. He brought us sample bricks which are not even close. Any ideas? We live in the NY area, so if anyone knows a mason who specializes in this in my area I would really appreciate it.

Here is a link that might be useful: House pic

Comments (31)

  • suero
    14 years ago

    Our contractor brought a bunch of brick samples; one set was sort of ok, but on the whole was too light. He then picked through the bricks one by one to select the darker colors. He also removed a few of the existing bricks and mixed them in with the new bricks. If you stand in a certain location and squint your eyes, you can see a difference between the old and new bricks, but otherwise it's a pretty good match.

    Alternatively, celebrate the difference between old and new, and put clapboard siding on the addition. See the June 2009 Architectural Digest cover for an example.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Architectural Digest June 2009 cover

  • worthy
    14 years ago

    There are 83 brick manufacturers in the US. There's a chance you will come close with modern "antiques." As well, there are companies that recycle old bricks. Check with local suppliers for leads. Members of the Brick Industry Association might be a good start.

    Unless you can find a home with the same bricks as yours being demolished, it will be extremely unlikely to find an exact match.

    I've built homes in the past few years with bricks that were discontinued a couple years later. Actually, I'm stuck with some cracked bricks needing replacement on my own home finished in '06. Similar problem. I always keep any extras, but this time we used every one, literally scrounging through debris to find the last whole brick the mason needed for a fireplace.

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    14 years ago

    In my area, Cushwa brick co will match any odd size that's needed. But it costs more, because they will be hand made custom brick.
    In your case, you'd want to get the same clay composition, or the color would be off, which is why you'd need to find them locally. Same clay= best chance of color match.
    Casey

  • autumngal
    14 years ago

    Sara, I think you are from around Albany? Have you tried calling Historic Albany? You might be able to get salvaged brick- I know that there are some houses coming down, or they might have some ideas. I know Mark isn't there anymore, and don't know the knowledge of the new warehouse manager- but they are a big advocate for historic preservation and could be very helpful. Good luck!

  • sarany
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thank you very much for all of your responses. I am actually no where near albany, though. I live in Southern NY state, so I am still looking for a mason or someone who knows what to do in this situation.

  • bulldinkie
    14 years ago

    we did,the restoration company found a 1 room school house with the same brick.We bought a load,the school burned.

  • kterlep
    14 years ago

    I built a brick path using bricks that were left over when we had a failing (and plugged) chimney removed from our 120 year old house. I didn't have enough bricks, so I asked around, and the owner of the hardware store had just torn down a brick house with the same bricks (even marked AF).

    They had dumped the bricks in a country lot he owns, he gave us free access to take them away (everyone was doing everyone else a favor). All we had to do was move them and chip off the mortar.

  • glennsfc
    14 years ago

    Yep! You just have to do the necessary footwork to find brick that will be a close match or will work with what you have.

    Or, find an old-school mason who will give you the wall you want.

  • worthy
    14 years ago

    hand made custom brick.

    Neat! I wonder how many buyers go for that.

    How many buyers (or builders) know that quarries, too, will custom cut stone for your building.

  • sarany
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Our contractor has finally found some bricks that are a close match. We also found a company that can put a stain on the brick to make it match. Has anyone heard of this?

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    14 years ago

    This is a UK site for brick staining. Over there they need to get new work to match soot stained old masonry.
    Casey

    Here is a link that might be useful: Brick staining

  • Mags438
    9 years ago

    Strzinek, I'm not the OP but that's so nice of you. I'll have to save your post. I have a similar problem living in an older home. I've also been told that we wouldn't be able to find the same bricks today. Whenever I had work done that involved removing a couple bricks, I had to hoard every single brick. :-). It drives the DH crazy!

  • d garcia
    8 years ago

    Strinek, I read your post and could really use some help matching brick from 1983 on my home in Houston. Would you be interested in giving me some advice?

  • romsheka
    7 years ago

    Strzinek - Would you be able to help me? My home was built in 1928 and we are trying to match brick that includes 4 different colors. We found a pretty good match for 3 of the 4 bricks, but we are missing one brick color. Please let me know if you are willing to help. I could send photos.

  • Strzinek
    7 years ago

    How many Brick do you need? Where do you live city and state?

    5 brick per square foot for king size brick, average length 9 3/4"

    7 brick per square foot for modular size Brick, average length 7 3/4"

    Also you can send me a picture at pstrzinek@brickdr.com

    *One from the street and one from 10 feet away will work.

    * A side view picture of a single


    ck and a top view picture would be wonderful with a measurement

    FYI: we only service the Dallas-Fort Worth area

    Though I am willing to advise if it helps you get a beautiful job done. :-)

    Sample pictures of El Toro's from good old Mexico back in 1970

    9 inches long considered king-size when coming from Mexico.

  • maura young
    4 years ago

    Strzinek, I live in Plano and need your help matching existing brick on a remodel. Can you please contact me?

  • Strzinek
    4 years ago

    Please call Brick Doctor 972-234-0900 for an assessment of your brick and you can call Acme to see if it’s their Brick at 817-685-9641 and also you can send me a couple of pics with measurements and I will give you a lead on what kind of Brick it Is and what it’s blend name is if I can. :-)

  • maura young
    4 years ago

    Hi Strzinek,

    Thank you so much for the quick reply. I really appreciate your help. We are adding on a new 3 car garage and matching the existing brick. I think they said we would need about 3 thousand bricks to complete the job. House was built 24 years ago in Plano. I called Brick Doctor today and emailed them the info as you suggested. A friend drove a sample to Acme recently but they said it wasn't theirs and didn't know where else to refer us. I'm not really sure how to put a pic on Houzz. Will ask a friend to help. Not tech savvy and I can barely send an email! LOL

  • Strzinek
    4 years ago

    info@brickdr.com and send picture attachment with email with dimensions and I will try to help :-)

  • Strzinek
    4 years ago

    Just read rest of email and will chk, sry

  • maura young
    4 years ago

    Brick Dr. just sent me an email saying that my brick was discontinued so I'm not a candidate for the matching service. They said the 2 best options they recommend are still a poor match. I'm super bummed. Thank you very much for all your help though. I really appreciate it.


  • cindy walton
    4 years ago

    Strzinek, if I email you some pictures and information on brick size we are trying to find, can you help? We are doing a remodel and changing window locations and door locations and need to brick where windows and doors were. Can I email you at info@brickdr.com? My husband found some that he thinks closely match but they are a different size and this bothers me.....alot.

  • HU-116247287
    4 years ago

    You can send me some pics with measurements and I will try to help

  • Craig Strong
    3 years ago



    Not really... we had some water damage that destroyed the brick on the back of our house, the red was pretty close but brick manufacturers don't do the combination of different colors like they used to and we had some brown mixed in. We were repairing brick that was going to be under a deck on a raised ranch so it didn't matter anyway but the red was a bit darker. The brick layer was able to blend it in nicely but if it was on the front of our house it would have been a lot more noticeable.

  • Daniel Christiansen
    3 years ago

    If anyone is interested or looking to simulate the color and texture of the existing historic brick, LimeWorks.us has a custom simulation service. They sell a product produced by Saint-Astier called Lithomex that can be used for full unit replacement and surface repair. I'd recommend giving them a call 215-536-6706.

  • lgperaino
    3 years ago

    Strzinek, I was so happy to see your comments, and I am hoping that you can help me. I am buying a house in Ardmore, Oklahoma, that needs brick replacement. I am told that it’s going to be very difficult to match the brick. There are at least two different sizes. Can you help me?

  • HU-116247287
    3 years ago

    Sir, I would suggest contacting Acme brick in Oklahoma to get a salesman to help you on that match, they are usually pretty good on knowing all types of brick. Send me high quality pictures and exact measurements And I can give you suggestions. Blessings

  • HU-118732097
    2 years ago

    I am a Insurance appraiser and im trying to help a homeowner find some brick for his house that was damaged buy a hail storm any advise on how to find out if the brick is still maid.

  • maura young
    2 years ago

    We are a cistom home builder and high end remodeled. We have come across this issue multiple t8mes. Do you have a sample of the brick? You can take it to an Acme brick l9cation and they can most likely identify it. Depending on the age of the house, sometimes, actually oftentimes the brick has been discontinued. The last time we had this problem, we purchased additional brick that unfortunately didnt match but was the same size with the same texture and then painted the entire exterior. You couldn't tell at all and looked great. Good

  • Bradly Fackrell
    11 months ago

    I'm a second generation mason taught by my 86 year old father who has (and still does) devoted his entire life to masonry. Matching is probably the one thing that he has spent most of his time trying to master.


    My two cents (and what I typically tell my customers) is that matching brick and mortar is impossible. Then I explain that there are companies that will make bricks to match but the cost is typically not practical on the small jobs that I do. I also explain to them that even that "match" may not be perfect after they pay a lot of money to get a match.


    As far as mortar color goes, there are so many factors involved that getting a "match" is impossible. A mason can look at the mortar and see what color was used but he can't determine things like sand, cement and the ratios. Not to mention other factors that affect color such as weathering, curing time i.e. outside temp, direct sunlight etc. If you walk around a building you'll see slight color variations even now that we use pretty exact ratios. So, the best that a mason can do is toss in a bit of the color that he see's and hope for the best!


    I always conclude by saying that the level of match all depends on how much you are willing to spend. But, if we're talking about a 5-10K job, you probably don't want to add another 30-40% to pay me to jump through all of the hoops to find that match. If you have a 100K job, it might be worth the effort because the cost to find a match is basically fixed. Same cost for a 5K job as it is for a 100K job. But, you will never have an exact match.


    The reason I explain all of this, and put it in writing in my contracts, is because a "match" is very relative. What I think is a match may not look like a match to you and we won't know this until a lot of time and money has already been spent. This makes it difficult for a mason to even estimate these jobs. My first thought is: after I jump through all of the extra hoops to find this match, will I even get the job? In my experience, the typical home owner is not willing to pay for this. Unfortunately, they often go with the low bidder thinking that they will get something other than what they actually end up with. We (masons) are just like everyone else. We want/need to be paid for our time. If a guy claims that he can do something for much less then there is a real good chance that he is leaving something out.


    As far as brick matching goes, it never hurts to ask every mason that you can find. Most masons have a stock pile of old bricks and they just might have yours!

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