Thursday, October 22, 2009 - Here Comes the Rain Again

Although the worksite has been shut down due to impending storms, we were able to select the brick to be used for the exterior of the addition. Not as easy a task as one might think. Since our house is more than 40 years old, matching new brick samples to the old ones already on the house is tough to do…go figure. Our great idea of asking our contractor to be careful when it comes time to demolish the back of our house in order to save some brick was met with little more than a blank stare. He says it would cost too much to gingerly remove the bricks, remove the mortar attached to each one, clean them, and re-use them. It was the same look he gave us when we suggested going to a construction and demolition yard to search for used bricks from houses built about the same time to find bricks that match. He feels it is easier and quicker to simply take a sledgehammer, knock out the back wall, and start fresh with new bricks, which is probably true, but remember this is a guy who likes to use a sledgehammer. The sample of brick given to us was a very close match, but we do have one type of brick color currently on the house – a sort of dark almost bluish-colored brick that is intermingled sparingly with the rest of the bricks – that is not part of the sample. We have two options to include some of this bluish brick in the mix. The first option would be to special order the brick, and of course there is a minimum amount you have to order (like a tractor-trailer load) which makes this option not real feasible. The second option is to have the demo crew pick through the rubble for the blue bricks, inspect them, knock off the mortar, etc. Again, in the eyes of our contractor, not a real option. So, I’m wrong…those really aren’t two viable options. We apparently have only one option, and that is to go with the brick sample they provided us and be happy with it. And we will be.