What are Reclaimed Bricks?
As the building trade moves towards a more sustainable global model, reclaimed bricks are soaring in popularity. This article explores exactly what companies mean when they use reclaimed bricks.
Reclaimed bricks are all the rage. The UK used to house thousands upon thousands of brick works. During the industrial revolution, the whole country saw massive reliance on brick production to keep up with the huge demand to build mills and factories. Three hundred years later and modern science has revealed that brick building isn’t an environmentally sustainable practice. Mining and quarrying take an irreversible toll on our planet. Sustainability is key in modern business practices, and part of that sustainability is the reclaimed brick.
What is a Reclaimed Brick, Exactly?
A reclaimed brick is a brick that has been reclaimed from a building site, demolition, or former property. When the buildings are knocked down, we can still reuse parts of them. We can recycle aggregates by crushing those materials down into concrete powder, small stones, or crushed sands. Alternatively, we can go through the demolished buildings and reclaim the materials for use in other projects. Those reclaimed materials include bricks, glass, steel beams, wooden railway sleepers, and anything else that is still useful.
A reclaimed brick has come from such a project and is reused in another. Here at London Reclaimed Brick Merchants, we are specialists in doing exactly that.
How do You reclaim A Brick?
As an industry leading brick supplier in London, we know what it takes to reclaim bricks. We do so by the ton. There is a stringent process which we work through to ensure our clients buy high quality reclaimed bricks from us. We operate using multiple quality control points which monitor the safety, longevity, and durability, of the bricks we supply. Let’s discuss the process of reclaiming bricks from London building sites in greater detail to put your mind at ease.
The process for reclaiming bricks is as follows.
Stage 1 – Assisted Demolition
Our top technicians arrive on site at demolition projects to assist. We remove the materials that are still useful, saving clients the costs associated with landfill taxes.
Step 2 – Picking and Cleaning
Next, we bring all the materials back to our processing centre, where we hand-pick and clean any mortar or sediment attached to the brick.
Step 3 – Sorting the Reclaimed Bricks
The third stage is to sort through those reclaimed bricks to ensure the correct size and colour of brick match. We sort the bricks onto pallets and then we distribute them to our clients. Before they leave though our top quality reclaimed bricks near London go through another quality check to make sure they are perfect.
Are Reclaimed Bricks as Strong as Standard Bricks?
The only thing that is different about a reclaimed brick is the price. Usually, it works out cheaper to buy reclaimed building materials than new bricks. However, there is a large trade in certain types of brick. Materials manufactured in certain parts of the country are worth more than other bricks. Since these bricks are out of production, they make good collector’s items. Therefore, some types of brick are worth more than others. Contact us today to discuss your needs or browse our site for more.