On Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:32:21 -0800 (PST), "hr(bob) "
wrote:

On Dec 26, 8:13Â*pm, "
wrote:
aemeijers wrote:
On Dec 26, 6:19 pm, dalemstevens wrote:
My dad has a 25 year old home for which he has saved some 250 brick
from the original construction. Â*He wants to get rid of them after all
this time to make room for whatever. Â*I think it is a shame to haul
them off to the landfill when as soon as he does so something for some
reason or another will come up where they are needed (I know it is a
stretch, but for example a couple of years ago a car ran off the road
and into a home...you guessed it, the new bricks used to fix the hole
did not match too well). Â*If he could figure out where to store them
without them being in the way too much they would stay. Â*What could be
done with them?

Oh, definitely hold on to them. You are quite right, as soon as they
are gone you will need them. Say, water gets behind a wall, freezes,
and cracks a few. Or ivy peels the face off a couple dozen. Or he or
the next owner wants to change a window, or redo a failed chimney
stack. Â*Basement or crawlspace available? One annoying day getting
them down there, and then forget about them till needed. Probably no
more time than hauling them to the landfill, unless he has a truck.
Stacked flat 7 or 8 high along one wall, like in the furnace room,
they will not take up much usable footprint. If he has storage shelves

They make lovely shelves....make two or three short stacks, lay a board
across, repeat. Â*I used some landscape pavers and rather inexpensive
prefinished shelves from HD to make shelves for guestroom...can change
layout or add to it if needed.



in basement, they can go behind and under the bottom shelf. If he has
the space, dry-stack them carefully interlaced into a couple
pedestals, throw a solid door over the top, and use as a workbench.
Always a good idea to keep some spares on hand for stuff like that.
(oddball trim, wierd electrical plates, ceramic tile, kitchen drawer
pulls, etc.)

If his heart is set on getting rid of them, at least donate them to
Habitat ReStore or something.

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aem sends....- Hide quoted text -

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250 bricks will make a lot of bookshelves. But I can't believe only
the "face" is waterproof. Every house I have seen that is brick has
not only the face exposed, but also 3/8" of the top, sides and
bottom. I would go for a false wall along side an existing basement
wall. Find some place to store them, or offer 200 of them for sale on
a local bulletin board. Definitely keep at least 50 of them for some
unforeseen circumstance.
It IS true that some bricks are not waterproof on the top and bottom
faces, but more serious is water freezing in the "cores" of the brick
expanding and splitting the brick. This is a very real possibility
when stored outside at or near ground level.

The OP does not specify if they are concrete or clay bricks - and if
concrete what type. An autoclaved concrete (man-made stone) brick is a
totally different animal than a normal portland cement brick - and
even then the aggregate used makes a big difference in how well they
stand wet freeze-thaw cycles.