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Drove past that old brickyard in St. Louis last weekend and it got me thinking
I was heading back from a job near the river and took a detour past the Union Avenue brickyard. Place has been sitting empty for probably 15 years now, but you can still see those old kilns and stacks of red clay bricks scattered around. Got me wondering how many of those buildings they supplied are still standing and how their material holds up compared to the stuff we get from modern yards today. Any of you guys worked with reclaimed brick from a place like that before?
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mary_foster9218d ago
Tbh those old Union Avenue kilns were fired with a specific local clay that had higher iron content. Makes the brick way harder than most modern stuff where they blend clays from different regions to cut costs. I salvaged a pallet from a demo near Cherokee Street, that brick didn't even chip when I cut it on the saw. Modern bricks from big box yards crumble if you look at them wrong sometimes.
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charles44218d ago
Yeah, have you ever had a buddy who got bit by the "vintage brick" bug? My friend Mike scored a whole truckload of old brick from a torn down factory in Granite City a few years back. He decided to build a fire pit with it in his backyard, and man, that thing is a beast. We've had bonfires roaring in there for hours, and not a single crack or chip after like five winters now. Meanwhile, his neighbor bought a matching fire pit kit from Lowe's and the bricks started flaking apart after one season. It's kind of wild how they just don't make stuff the same way anymore lol.
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