There is a yard off the Quinnipiac where I have bought brick three times, and the second purchase was a mistake I paid for twice. The brick looked perfect on the pallet. It was interior common brick from a demolished mill, soft as a biscuit, and half of what I laid in an exposed garden wall had spalled within four winters.
What salvaged brick is actually good for
Salvage earns its price in exactly one situation: matching an existing wall where new brick cannot match. Size, texture and the character of a hand-made face are things modern production cannot replicate convincingly, and on a visible elevation of an old house that is worth real money.
Outside that case, the economics get thin. Salvaged brick runs $0.80 to $2.50 per unit around here against $0.45 to $0.90 for new common brick, and laying it costs more because units vary in size and many have to be cleaned or rejected on site. Expect to buy 20 to 30 percent more than the raw count.
The question that decides everything: where was it in the original wall
Nineteenth-century walls were built with graded brick. The hardest, best-fired units went on the exterior face. Softer, underfired brick went in the interior wythes where it would never see weather. A demolition yard mixes all of it together.
Exterior face brick from a demolished building is excellent material. Interior backing brick in an exterior application is a guaranteed failure, and it looks identical on a pallet to someone who does not know what to check.
How to tell:
- Weight and ring. Tap two together. Well-fired brick rings; underfired brick thuds.
- Scratch it. If a key furrows the face easily, it was never meant to be outside.
- Look at the color depth. Underfired brick is often paler, more orange, and uneven in section when broken.
- Check for a weathered face. Exterior brick usually carries a patina, sometimes paint or soot, on one face only.
- Water test. Set a few in an inch of water for a minute and watch how fast it wicks up. Very rapid absorption means high porosity and poor frost resistance.
Mortar residue, the hidden labor
Brick reclaimed from a lime-mortared wall cleans easily — the mortar taps off with a hammer, and this is why nineteenth-century buildings are worth salvaging in the first place. Brick from a cement-mortared wall usually does not clean without breaking, which is why post-1930 demolition produces so little usable salvage.
Ask the yard which it is. If they are selling cement-mortared salvage, either the price should reflect the cleaning labor or you should expect a high reject rate.
Environmental and practical notes
Reuse genuinely avoids the embodied energy of firing new units, and construction and demolition material makes up a large share of the waste stream — the figures published by the EPA put it well above municipal solid waste by weight. That is a real benefit, and it is not a reason to put soft interior brick on a north-facing wall.
One more practical point: buy all of it at once. Coming back for a second pallet from the same yard six months later almost never produces the same brick, and a repair that is half one batch and half another is more visible than either would have been alone. The matching principles are the same ones in matching brick and mortar on a repair.
Frequently asked questions
Is salvaged brick structurally acceptable? For non-structural veneer, garden walls and repairs, yes, with the caveat about firing quality. For new structural masonry, most codes require units meeting current standards, which salvage cannot demonstrate without testing. Check locally before designing around it.
How much extra should I buy? Twenty to thirty percent over the calculated count. Salvage has breakage, size variation and rejects, and running short mid-job means a second batch that will not match.
Can I clean salvaged brick with acid? Muriatic acid at high dilution removes lime mortar residue, but it also etches the face and leaves salts that will bloom later. Mechanical cleaning with a brick hammer and a wire brush is slower and better. If you do use acid, pre-wet, dilute heavily, and rinse thoroughly.