Reclaiming Bricks

Some of the bricks on the old extension are in quite reasonable shape so it should be possible to reclaim a good number. Demolishing the walls is not as you might imagine – two guys with sledge hammers going for it … No, on the contrary, it’s all very organised. The flank wall comes down first but, at least to start with, a course at a time.

A club hammer and bolster are used to split the mortar beds and, on the oldest part, the bricks come away quite easily. A few good blows between each brick is all that’s needed and they can be lifted out. The bricks get cleaned up as they go along and the good ones are stacked neatly to the side of the job.

Moving further along the wall, away from the house, it’s a slightly different storey. Well it can’t all be straightforward. The mortar is different. It seems the first part of the extension was actually older – maybe part of the old ‘outside facilities’, and consequently had been built way back with lime mortar. The other end though is more recent with sand and cement used for the mortar. This makes them more difficult to clean up without damaging them as the mortar is much harder and well bonded to the brick. Remember, the bricks have already been reclaimed once to build the furthest part of the extension so they have already been knocked about a bit. Couple that with the hard sand and cement mortar and there’s really not much chance of saving many at all.

As one of the team was explaining, matching existing bricks on a house can be quite tricky. So, if you can salvage a lot of what’s needed it’ll help. Even if you can get all you need, by ‘blending’ the salvaged ones with the bought in ones, you can get quite a decent match.

The side wall bounding the neighbours garden looks like it may not be that useful in terms of salvage.

The inner face is partly rendered and won’t come off cleanly even if the mortar is softer here. It turns out that the render was the least of the problems – the other side facing next doors garden has been painted white. No chance of using these ones now.

As the brickwork comes down the salvageable bricks are stacked up neatly and the rubble left over is shovelled up and used as hardcore to bring up the floor level of an old outside store.

There’ll be plenty of hardcore needed to make up the sub base of the oversite slab forming the floor of the new extension. Looking at the side wall, which is almost certainly not going to give any reclaimed bricks, its total area is not far off the area of the new slab. Most of this wall is 9” thick so it’ll give most of the hardcore needed.

Because the side wall is right next to the neighbour’s back door, it won’t be coming down just yet. The builders want to minimise any disruption for them during the job so they will get as far as they can with the remainder of the demolition before starting on this wall.

On the face of it, the side wall would appear to be what is termed a Party Wall and come under the requirements of the Party Wall etc Act. However, the Architect has reported back that it is actually not a Party Wall as it sits completely within the boundary, not astride it. As Dale from G L Smith and Sons explained, what normally happens with Party Walls is a notice of proposed works is sent out. If the neighbours agree that’s the end of the matter. Otherwise, it gets a little more complex with Surveyors being appointed and various legal agreements having to be drawn up.

The store room mentioned earlier is an integral part of the house in the corner of the back room. At the moment it’s only accessible from outside. When the jobs finished the inner walls will be taken down so it’s all part of the new room. The extension and the existing back room will form one room giving a fantastic space for the new kitchen. There’s a big trend towards large kitchens combining cooking areas, eating areas and relaxation areas.

If you live in the Hertfordshire area and are looking for a professional building contractor, you can get in touch with G L Smith and Sons via their website: http://www.glsmithandsons.co.uk/