Buying second hand bricks in Melbourne
Recycled, reclaimed or second hand: what to look for, how many to order and how to match an old house.
Melbourne was built in brick. Most of it can be built again.
When an old house, factory or garden wall comes down, its bricks are usually worth far more than the rubble they are mixed with. Cleaned and sorted, they go straight back into new walls, paths and extensions.
Recycled bricks have already been fired and have already been weathered, which is why they look settled from day one. They are often harder than new bricks, they suit period homes, and every one reused keeps around 0.5 to 1.5 kg of CO₂ out of the air compared with making a new one.
Ali Recycled Bricks, Williamstown North.
Hand-cleaned reds, creams, clinkers and pavers, kept job by job so each pallet matches itself. Formerly Paddy Bricks, with more than 50 years in Melbourne bricks.
Six things to check.
Look at the faces, not the pallet
Most walls only show one face of each brick. A good second hand brick has one clean, sound face and square edges. Chips on the back or ends do not matter once it is laid.
Check the mortar is really gone
Old lime mortar cleans off easily; cement mortar does not. Hand-cleaned bricks should be free of lumps that stop them sitting flat in a new bed of mortar.
Tap for soundness
A sound brick rings when two are knocked together; a soft or cracked one sounds dull. We sort those out while cleaning, but it is worth knowing the test.
Buy the whole job at once
Old bricks vary from one demolition to the next. Order everything you need, plus around 10 per cent for cuts and breakages, so the whole wall comes from the same batch.
Match by daylight
Bring a brick from your house, or a photo taken outside in daylight. Indoor light and phone screens shift colour, and colour is what makes a match.
Count about 50 per square metre
A single-skin wall uses about 50 standard bricks per square metre. Pavers vary with size and pattern, so give us the area and we will work it out.
Tell us what you are building.
Send a photo of your existing bricks or your plans. We will find the right match and work out how many you need.