Structural and base materials · Masonry & Blocks
Reclaimed Brick (Salvaged Brick)
Focuses on the real subjects with reclaimed brick: variability between units, compatibility with the mortar and the wall they are going into, provenance of the batch, and matching existing work.
Educational reference entry. Suitability depends on the complete assembly, substrate, exposure, installation method, manufacturer documentation, local requirements and qualified professional review.
Overview
What reclaimed brick is
Reclaimed bricks are units recovered from buildings that have been taken down, cleaned of old mortar and sorted for reuse. What is being bought is not a manufactured product with a specification behind it but a batch of used units whose properties were settled by a kiln that may have stopped working generations ago.
That is why variability is the subject rather than a footnote. Older bricks were made to sizes that no longer match current production, hardness varies within a single load, and bricks that spent their life inside a building can take up water far more readily than their appearance suggests. Sorting on site is normal and wastage should be expected.
Provenance matters in two directions. Bricks that came off a wall bedded in lime mortar are usually softer than modern units and are ill-suited to a hard, cement-rich mix; and bricks carrying old gypsum plaster, soot, bitumen or salts can bring problems into the new wall. Where the aim is to match an existing elevation, sourcing from a comparable region and period does more than sorting by colour alone.
Terminology
Common names and aliases
These names describe the same thing. The library keeps one entry per material so that an acronym, a trade name or a regional spelling never becomes a second, thinner page.
- Salvaged brick
- Second-hand brick
- Reclaimed stock brick
Applications
Common applications
Where this material is typically encountered. A typical application is not a statement that it suits your project.
- Extensions and repairs to older buildings, where new brickwork has to sit beside weathered original work.
- Facing work in conservation areas and on protected buildings, where matching is part of the brief.
- Garden walls, piers and boundary walls within external works and landscape schemes.
- Internal feature walls, where the aged face of the brick is the whole point of the material.
- Making good after openings are formed, where units salvaged from the same building are available.
Consideration
Where it is commonly considered
- Where the new work must read as part of an older wall rather than as an obvious addition to it.
- Where the weathered, irregular face is wanted and a new brick cannot reproduce it convincingly.
- Where units salvaged from the same building are available for repairs to that same building.
- Where the design accepts a degree of variation from unit to unit as part of the intended character.
- Where reuse of existing material is a project aim and the supply can be verified in advance.
Professional review
Where additional professional review is especially important
These are the situations where the answer depends on the specific building, and where a qualified professional should be involved before anything is decided.
- In severe positions such as copings, retaining faces and ground-contact courses, where absorption and frost behaviour are unknown.
- Where the batch mixes internal and external bricks, since internal bricks may not survive weather exposure.
- Where a consistent, uniform elevation is wanted, which reclaimed material rarely delivers.
- Where the bricks carry contamination such as salts, soot or old plaster that has not been dealt with.
- In any position where load is carried, since the properties of used units cannot simply be assumed.
Properties
Key properties to discuss
Qualitative topics worth raising. Measured values, classes and grades come from the manufacturer's technical documentation for the specific product, not from a reference page.
- Appearance
- The value sits in the weathered face, but batches vary in colour, texture and size, so blending across the whole delivery and building a sample panel are what make a reclaimed elevation read well.
- Moisture behaviour
- Absorption is unknown until the bricks are examined, and it can differ within a single load. A unit that lived out of the weather in its first life is the one most likely to surprise on an exposed elevation.
- Weathering and exposure
- A reclaimed brick has already weathered once, and what happens next depends on where it is placed. A face that survived on a sheltered elevation may not survive on an exposed one.
- Substrate dependency
- Where reclaimed bricks are bonded into an existing wall, the condition and the mortar of that wall govern how the new work should be built and with what mix.
- Installation dependency
- Reclaimed bricks need sorting, and cleaning old mortar off them is slow, so laying rates and wastage differ from new brickwork. Size variation shows up in the joints and in the setting out.
- Repairability
- Because supply is finite, keeping a reserve from the same batch matters more than it does with a manufactured brick, since a matching replacement may simply not be obtainable later.
- Documentation
- There is no manufacturer's data sheet. What can be asked for is the origin of the batch, what was done to clean it, and whether it has been sorted or assessed in any way.
Exposure
Exposure and environmental conditions
- Which elevation will these bricks face, and how exposed is it compared with where they came from?
- Are any of the bricks going into positions that stay wet, freeze, or take splash from the ground?
- Were these bricks originally internal, and is there any way of telling from the batch as delivered?
- Is the site coastal or otherwise salt-laden, which would test an unknown brick harder?
- Is the wall freestanding, so that it is wetted and dried from both of its faces?
Assembly
Substrate and system dependencies
What this material sits on, is fixed to or depends on. This is usually where performance is won or lost.
- Bonding new reclaimed brickwork into an existing wall depends on the condition of that wall and how it was originally built.
- The mortar has to suit the softest bricks in the batch, not the hardest, which usually means a weaker mix than modern practice.
- Where the existing wall is lime bedded, matching that behaviour is generally more important than matching strength.
- Ties, support and any structural elements around the brickwork remain the responsibility of the wall design.
- Damp-proof courses and cavity arrangements are unaffected by the choice of reclaimed units and still need designing.
Appearance
Appearance and finish considerations
- Colour, size and texture vary within a load, so sorting and blending are part of the work rather than an optional refinement.
- Mortar colour and joint profile do much of the work in making new reclaimed brickwork read as old.
- Traces of old mortar left on faces can be part of the character or can look like poor cleaning, depending on the intent.
- Cut bricks show a fresh interior that contrasts sharply with the weathered face beside it.
- A sample panel is more useful here than anywhere else, because a single brick says almost nothing about the batch.
Durability
Durability questions
Questions to raise rather than a service life to expect. No material has a universal lifespan — it depends on the assembly, the exposure and the upkeep.
- How was this batch assessed, and does anyone know whether the bricks were external or internal?
- What mortar is proposed, and is it soft enough to protect the bricks rather than the other way round?
- Are frost-vulnerable positions being built in a different, better understood unit?
- Has anything been done about salts or contamination carried in from the previous wall?
- Is there enough material to complete the work, including a reserve, from this same source?
Upkeep
Maintenance and repair considerations
- Where will spare bricks from this batch be stored, and who will know that they exist?
- How will repointing be matched, given that the mortar is doing much of the visual work?
- What cleaning is acceptable on a soft, weathered face without damaging it further?
- If a unit fails, is there a route to a matching replacement, or will a compromise be needed?
Installation
Installation dependencies
What the installation depends on — not how to do it. Method belongs to the manufacturer's instructions and the trades carrying out the work.
- Bricks arrive needing sorting, and setting aside the unusable ones is part of the programme rather than an afterthought.
- Cleaning residual mortar is slow work and affects both the time taken and the number of usable units.
- Size variation means the setting out is worked out from the actual bricks rather than from a standard dimension.
- The trade needs to be comfortable working with irregular units and with a softer mortar than they may be used to.
- Protection of new work from rain and frost matters more where the units are soft and absorbent.
Documentation
Documentation to request
Ask for these in writing, for the specific product being proposed, and keep them with the project record.
- A statement of where the batch came from, including the type of building and, if known, its region.
- A description of how the bricks were cleaned and whether they have been sorted before delivery.
- Confirmation of the quantity available and whether more can be obtained from the same source.
- Any information the supplier holds about whether the bricks were used internally or externally.
- The mortar specification proposed for the work, recorded for the benefit of future repairs.
Conversations
Questions for qualified professionals
Bring these to the relevant qualified professional, manufacturer or authority. Requirements vary by project and location.
- Where did these bricks come from, and what was the building they were taken off?
- How will the batch be sorted, and what proportion do you expect to discard?
- What mortar suits the softest bricks in this load rather than the hardest?
- Are there positions in this design where reclaimed units should not be used at all?
- How will the new work be blended so that it does not read as a patch?
- Is there enough material for the job plus a reserve for future repairs?
- Has anything been checked about salts, soot or old plaster on these bricks?
- Is any of this brickwork carrying load, and does that change the choice?
Blind spots
Commonly overlooked points
- Wastage is much higher than with new brick, and the usable count is often well below the delivered count.
- Bricks taken from internal walls look convincing in a stack and can fail quickly once they are weathered.
- Old bricks were made to different sizes, which changes the setting out and the appearance of the joints.
- The supply is finite, so running short partway through a job can be very difficult to solve.
- A hard modern mortar can destroy soft reclaimed bricks while leaving the joints themselves intact.
What this page does not do
- Reclaimed bricks have no manufacturer's data, so their frost, salt and absorption behaviour cannot be assumed from any general description.
- Any structural use of reclaimed units is a matter for a qualified professional who has inspected the material itself.
- Work to older, listed or protected buildings is subject to local requirements that must be confirmed before anything is agreed.
- Build Design Hub does not test, verify or endorse any supplier or any batch of reclaimed material.
Related entries
Related materials
Materials from the same family, an adjacent role in the assembly, or a shared application.
Inspiration
Related Ideas Library pages
Design directions where this material commonly appears.
Preparation
Related planning checklists
Owner-side preparation before the conversation where this material comes up.
Go deeper
Related Build Design Hub guides
Planning guidance and neutral comparisons behind the decisions on this page.
Masonry & Block Materials
Reference entries for unit masonry — clay and concrete bricks, blockwork, mortars, and the ties, lintels and accessories that hold masonry construction together.
Browse all masonry & blocks entries →