Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 04, 2018 12:34 pm Hi all, We are about to start building our house down in Busselton, WA. Our main feature piece in our house will be our fireplace which will be built out of recycled bricks. We have found some beautiful old bricks which came from an old convict’s cottage that was over a hundred years old! The builder I'm going through said that they can do it but my concern is that obviously these brick are pretty old and fragile plus we only have a certain amount I'm not sure if they will do a good job or not. So, my question is should I go through the builder and trust them, or should I try and get someone else who may specialize in this type of thing? If we do decide to go through someone else who could we try and find? I was thinking of maybe a stonemason. We don't mind paying a bit more for this service as it something special for us. Thanks for your help in advance. Cheers, Trent Re: Laying very old recycled bricks 2Feb 04, 2018 12:49 pm T-rent Welcome to the forum, What sort of fire place are you building? Also
Forewarned is forearmed ....Goodluck Designer,Engineer (Civil,Const & Envir),Builder,Concrete & Masonry Contract.Struct Repairs Laying very old recycled bricks 3Feb 04, 2018 2:35 pm Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Are you just using the bricks for the decorative parts, such as the mantle, header, legs and trim panels, or for the firebox and buildout too? If the latter too, then structural integrity and fire-proofness will be important. Even if you’re not, old bricks tend to release loose material from time-to-time, so you might want to think about sealing with a matt sealer. We used 100-plus-year-old handmade bricks for a feature wall in our new build, and they were laid by our brickie. He is a veteran of the trade. Not sure I would entrust this precious resource to a young apprentice. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Laying very old recycled bricks 4Feb 04, 2018 6:41 pm Both replies have been super helpful so far. The bricks we are going to use for the fireplace is pure decorative as during the planning stage I wasn't sure the type of bricks we were going to use so I didn't want to go out and buy bricks then find out that they aren't structurally sound for the job. We are going to install an inbuilt fire like in the pic below. Thank you so much for your advice. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Building Standards; Getting It Right! Hi all, My neighbour has built his 15m long garage on our boundary. It was agreed as part of the planning permit that the wall must be in exposed recycled brick. For some… 0 7209 Hi - thanks for your reply. Yes I think 'Ill go for whitish with very speckly bits rather than pure white something like this. PS was actually 2008 I built the… 2 8678 I'm about to put down some Merbau. Is it necessary to oil underneath the boards before laying? 0 760 |