Had a brick driveway installed, combination of new and old brick. But they didn’t have enough sense to blend the old and new. The contractor told me that the old brick had faded due to exposure. I said I didn’t believe him. he said that’s what the brick salesman said. So I picked up an old brick that had been cut to fit around the island and showed him that the inside was the saem color as the outside. no response. So before I get real nasty, do brick colors fade?
“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
Replies
Let me get this straight, this was all done at the same time? I've never seen fading that pronounced (or really noticed it at all.
Mike
I don't believe it does
yep I change my oil every 3000
miles or when I get bored...
which ever comes first
Nope, they don't. My own house is 112 years old and those red bricks are the same color back, front, inside, and outside, except for staining.
I don't think they do but, are those bricks or pavers?
Maybe cementitious pavers do...
PS
I just wanted to say "cementitious". :)
If you get the old bricks wet or apply sealer, do they get darker? That's my thought anyway. If they do, some sort of sealer may help.
Have the red rocks of Sedona paled?
Has the red clay soil of Georgia gone all white?
Is the painted desert all washed out now?
The old brick on Philadelphia's Independence Hall still looks the same as it did long, long ago.
I think your contractor's brain may have been baked too long, and his talent for delivering convincing B.S. has faded.
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
They are actually solid pavers. The faded pavers had been there for several years (15-20) and the bright pavers were new for this project. I did not look at them to see if they were cement based, but I think they are. I'll look again Monday. But like I said, the inside of a cut old one was the same color as the exposed surface, so i think he's trying to bs me."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
Man - Eddie as I have stated to you before "what kind of masons do you have down there " I do beleive it's time to ask for a tearout , then get nasty. Bricks weather and are very hard to match up new to old work, even in the clay & sand deposits which they are manufactored out of brand new, there are color dfferances thus effecting even fresh brick hues. that is why when brick are layed you pull your brick out of more than one cube of brick at a time.
The person who layed those brick of yours should have mixed ALL of them up in direct proportion to the size of the new work to old .
"what kind of masons do you have down there "
Dumb ones. Wait till I show you a picture of the exterior walls. it was supposed to have a header course every 5th row, but they forgot how to count and installed the header every 8th row. Looks ok, but it's not what we wanted, and not what's clearly on the plans. Obviously it is impractical to tear the wall down and rebuild, but I have this feeling that whatever change orders the masons try to pass through, there will magically be an exact offsetting deduction for getting the header courses wrong."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
If you order brick from a brick mfg and then again order the same brick 5 years later they will likely not be exactly the same color. Those look like 2 different colors to me though. I think the problem started with the brick salesmen.
Let me get this straight: they installed both the old and new? I guess they are set in sand? I'd tell them to tear it out.
Also - who supplied the brick? You or the brickie? What is this - a commercial project like a bank or gas station?
Regarding the header courses, are they 2 weyth (sp?) walls? In other words, 2 vertical layers of brick? Or is it brick veneer on block? If it is the last one, it may have had something to do with the way the brick coursed out with the block. Or, is each header brick actually cut in half?
Good questions. It's a bank. The brick pavers are set in sand on a sub-slab. The faded pavers were exisitn and re-used. the bright pavers were supplied by the masonry sub through the gc. Unfortunatley, this gc has really resisted providing shop drawings and samples for approvsal prior to installation, and this is one of the results.
Exterior walls are heavy gage metal stud with brick veneer. There's no mechanical reason why the header courses are wrong, they just forgot how to count."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 don't think those are the same bricks.The color match should have been the first thing the GC would be concerned about.If they didn't get approval, they can deal with the problems stemming from the stark contrast (tear out, etc.).
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Any updates?
BTW - what is your roll in this situation? I was thinking you were a super working for the GC....
Owners rep. The gc project manager met me at the site, agreed it was way wrong, and told the super to have it changed."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
Were they supposed to remove the old to blend? At any point did they discuss the color variations with you? I suppose if they could remove enough to get say a 50/50 or 60/40 blend it might have looked ok, but it looks like a poor color match and maybe they should have went one step farther to go through this with you, or stopped at some point before getting it all in because that does not looks so great. IXL and other brick suppliers sell numerous colors, historic styles, diff blends and some other options to get around this. You are not the first one to add on to a brick project, and I know an architect would not accept that. I sure wouldnt wait 15yrs for it to look ok. Interesting discussion you have on your hands.
Brad