Colour of bricks / weeping salts

[garyo]

I'm looking for some imperial bricks which are deep red/orange. I only need around 300 so I'm looking for something locally that I can collect in the car over a few trips. I've seen some on eBay, the top layer of which look spot on in terms of colour, but the remainder seem to be more pink than orange.

I've spoken to the seller, who isn't sure if they're all the same batch, and isn't sure if the pink is lime render dust or not.

Assuming it's not lime dust, what are the chances that the pink surface colouration can be removed with some acid or a wire brush - or is this deep kiln colouration that's not going to go away?

The auction link is below. The third and fourth photos of the brick sat on the top of the pile on its own are exactly what I'm looking for, but the stack as a whole seems like the wrong colour!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160380187852&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:GB:1123

Cheers

Gary

 

[Chukka63]

no reclaimers yards in your area ??.have a google and go down and pick what you want.that way you're sure of what youre buying.

 

[noseall]

This information you seek may only be obtainable or verified by a site visit.

If the bricks are largely of the same batch then there is no reason why they won't end up all looking similar once thoroughly cleaned.

Buying bricks this way carries risks, hence the price. The only way to guarantee some kind of continuity is to buy from a reclamation yard.

Incidentally, he is showing the depth size of the brick to be 65mm? This indicates a metric depth and not the larger imperial size.

 

[noseall]

no reclaimers yards in your area

Great minds eh Chukka....

 

[Chukka63]

i went to a reclaimers the other week for a dozen bricks and looked through about 150 to find what i wanted

 

[garyo]

The bricks on my house that I'm trying to match are 232mm x 108mm x 65mm - I've not found a match on Google for that size, and assumed they're some form of Imperial - any idea?

Having thought about it some more, as long as the height matches then I should be okay with metric or imperial, which is handy (it's for a front porch, so I want the courses and motar lines to match)

I've arranged to visit the seller to take a closer look. If they're not suitable then I'll take a look around for a reclaimers yard.

Cheers

Gary

 

[hotrod]

65mm is your coursing height which is a metric brick (as opposed to 73/75mm for imperial) which is the most important size. That said, you can then get into the realms of handmades and then it's lucky dip - which is when a good trowel is worth his weight in gold

How about these for a match:-

 

[garyo]

They're a good match - what's the story with them?

Gary

 

[hotrod]

Hi Gary, they're Cheshire Pre-War Commons they come in 65mm and 73mm. I've used them a few times, I've actually built my own garden wall using them. The good thing about them is they are not actually reclaimed, they are new bricks - but they look authentically reclaimed (so you don't have problems sourcing / matching up with them if you are short etc). Cost about 50p each. Manufactured by Cheshire Brick & Slate, although for some reason they are listed as "Wire Cut Tumbled Brick" on the manufacturer's website rather than the "Cheshire Pre-War" that my merchant stocks them as.

See full details here. Give them a bell and see which merchants near you stock them. I'm in Lancs so can't help with a stockist near you.

hth.