I’ve gotten a couple of estimates recently to re-brick the house. The bricks are badly chipped and cracked and we want a different look anyway. The brick we’ve decided to use is a queen size brick, so it’s fairly slim. One of the masons who looked at the job is encouraging me to just leave the old brick in place and lay the new brick right over them. The pictures I’ve attached (familiar to many here) show vinyl on the gable ends. This mason says he would remove the vinyl and carry the brick all the way up to the eave vents. He impressed me as someone very confident and knowledgeable. However, he did caution me that it might require some additional footing and that I would have to tweak the exterior trim to accommodate the new brick. I’m replacing the doors and windows anyway, so I’m assuming that I could address the fit to the new bricks during installation. The only remaining exterior concern would be the vinyl soffit, which I could either trim to fit or remove entirely.
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Bricking over the existing brick would certainly save me the hassle of removing and hauling away the old brick and tearing out the gabled walls that are sitting on top of them. However, the other mason who quoted the job says that bricking over the existing bricks is a foolish notion that just wouldn’t work.
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I’ve pretty well made up my mind to install new bricks but I’m not sure how to proceed on this. Is it really necessary to tear down the old brick before installing new brick, or is bricking over the current brick a reasonable option?
Thanks,
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Michael
New knowledge is priceless.
Used knowledge is even more valuable.
Replies
Rookie answer ... you're going to double the load on the brick ledge and increase the load on the foundation. How will he attach the brick ties? The doors and windows will now be about 4 inches more recessed. Sounds like a bad idea.
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
i'm going with the bad idea vote. so your new windows could be set out,but then you have interior problems.seems to me you just chase one thing then another. i had a neighbor remove his brick,wasn't real hard just time consuming. if they didn't break up i think you could sell them. if not find someone laying a new gravel driveway ,they make good base. larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
You will have to redo all the soffits with a brick pocket that is ~4.5" further out, and this probably should be done before the new wythe (layer) of brick is added. And, you will have to extend out your footers ~5". They should probably be pinned to the old with steel, etc. Eddie make a good point about attaching the new brick to the old - I guess you could nail brick ties to the old brick, but normally the way multi-layer masonry is tied together is via ladder wire, which is impossible at this point. I'm going to go with the bad idea vote too.
BTW - as far as the existing brick being chipped - ins't that used brick that is supposed to look like that?
A few other thoughts: Really wild guess, it sounds like you are talking about $20k. Is this really going to raise the value of the house that much? It probably will, if the neighborhood will support it and if the final product is significantly improved. IMO, if you rebrick it (regardless of if you do the tear-off or not), the house will still looked dated, unless you make some other significant changes. To me, just changing the brick isn't going to do that much.
Like how about doing something with the roof line? Maybe a forward facing gable over the front porch, and making the porch a foot or 2 deeper? I guess you have to redo all that porch and step brick anyway? Maybe adding a bump out (cantilever) with a picture window on one side?
I bet if you started a separate thread asking for suggestions on revitalizing the exterior you would get some good suggestions, and maybe even some that were not too costly. Sometimes people here take your pic and electronically draw right over it to give a visual representation of what a change might look like. Can't hurt to solicit ideas. Obviously you will be making the budget decisions... If you do solicit ideas, you might want to state what style you would like to go for or how your tastes run: colonial, georgian, contemporary, transitional, traditional, etc, etc.
Don't you just love the way us BTers help you spend your money?
Edited 2/9/2007 6:37 am ET by Matt
What's he going to set the brick on?
I don't see this flying.
Remodeling Contractor just on the other side of the Glass City
I,m a minority here, I have worked for a fellow mason that
brick cases over existing masonry all the time- the trick is in
the preparation, we,ve never had any trouble with tieing into
existing footings or just digging new ones,all window and door
openings have the brick stripped , so new brick can be relaid
into the existing openings and to tie into the new work.We have
done this at all stages from installing bump outs and ledges
for window seats & window gardens to laying full coarse water tables
and retro fits, check with a masonry supply house for the type of
brick ties that would be best to use for this applacation, again
we just used regular brick ties attached with masonry nails or screws
to the old masonry.Something else you might want to concieder is
installing a foam board on the face of your existing brick then laying
the new masonry for extra isulation in the walls. This might be a
regional thing kind of like bricking up a house trailor, but hey ! whatever
works and satisfies you.
I really don't like the bricks, but you guys are forcing me to reconsider the idea of replacing them. The two quotes I've gotten so far have ranged from 11-13K (labor & materials). The brick that I wanted to install would definately give the house some much needed curb appeal. However, it's uncertain whether it would give it 11-13K's worth. The house is in a rural setting.
Even though I'm not planning to sell this house, your comments about ROI are worth noting. You guys have been a lot of help to me and I thank you for once again providing some valuable perspective.
MichaelNew knowledge is priceless.
Used knowledge is even more valuable.
For what's it's worth, I like the the brick - although it's a little more common in your area to have light colored or white brick, any ex-yankee looking to buy the place (I hear some relocate to your parts :) would be more than comfortable with that look.
For "curb appeal" save the money and buy some real wood shutters (dark green or black look classic against that brick) and some good dark green foundation plants (big Gardenias would be a good choice down there).
Good info.
BTW - you don't have to hit <return> at the end of each line as you type. The software automatically inserts carriage returns at the end of whatever it feels is the correct line length. It makes it easier for people read and it is less trouble for you.
thankyou, to bad this keyboard isnt a brick or a rock, I would know what to do with that.
No problem. We all have areas that we have more or less experience at. For example I have terrible spelling :-)
A few days ago I had 3 block columns that I wanted to add about 5" to the height on. They are to be covered by faux stone veneer so the appearance really didn't matter, but I needed to get something on there ASAP as the carpenters were going to install a wood column on top of them prior to the stone guys showing up. I added 2 courses of brick. You would have gotten some real amusement out of my "bricklaying" :-)
Hey...Clabboards would look awesome on that house : )
Greek poet Archilochus said: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing"! From The Hedgehog & The Fox ~~~~ An essay on Tolstoy's view of history ~~ by Isaiah Berlin
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