Traditional Masonry Archives

Historic Bricks, Repair or Replace

"Solid as a brick wall" is a nice metaphor, but historic buildings are often peppered with spalled, broken, or missing brick. Restoration experts must make a few important choices. Are damaged bricks repairable, or should they be replaced? Missing bricks do have to be replaced, but with what — vintage, salvaged brick or new, custom-made replicas? Not surprisingly, opinions differ on the relative merits of each option.

Found treasure
"The best situation is to find the original brick," says John Speweik, a historic masonry specialist with U.S. Heritage Group. When consulting on a restoration project, his first strategy is to look around the property for opportunities to harvest brick from the original construction. "I can compare it to skin transplants on burn victims, where they're taking skin from other parts of the same person and transplanting it into another area of the body," he explains. He might find usable brick in a less visible part of the building, such as a foundation or attic wall, or he might discover surplus brick that has been tossed aside.

In a recent instance, Speweik noticed brick walkways and a patio at a house built in 1874. On a closer look, he realized they had been added when an original outbuilding had been dismantled. He immediately told the contractor to stop driving his heavy equipment over the brick. "Let's get them up, get them aired out, clean them off," he said. "This is like a gold mine here."

If the original brick is not available, the next option is to search for similar brick that has been salvaged from demolition projects. Color, size, and texture are the important matching criteria. "Our process starts with a client e-mailing us a digital image of the brick they're trying to match, with the dimensions," says Mike Gavin, whose Iowa company, Gavin Historical Bricks, reclaims and stockpiles brick. If they find an apparent match, they send the client a sample brick to compare to the existing structure.