Bricks and Mortar
Before we really started building the house we attended auctions looking for deals on materials to include in the home we were going to build. I was finishing up a barn that I’d built, largely with timbers and siding that had come from autions, so it was a natural thing to do. We had good luck doing this and we had come to enjoy the drama of a good auction and addicted to the rush of scoring a good deal.
For some reason a brick yard went out of business in a town about 80 miles east of here. We thought it would be an interesting auction and put the trailer on the pickup in anticipation of getting a deal on something. We hadn’t really settled on a house design at this point, but we knew we liked the idea of a sturdy outer surface for a house.
The road to the town was pretty flat with the exception of a couple small valleys. We made it in good time and of course the bricks were the last things to be auctioned. So we waited several hours before we bid on anything. Being moderately experienced at auction going, we had priced brick and didn’t want to pay more than half price. It was an auction after all and the myth is that you get to purchase stuff at lower prices. As the bidding on the many piles of like colored brick progressed, it became clear that two guys were working together and had planned to buy every brick in the place. They out bid us on our preferred color, although there wasn’t very much of it. Then another color we liked came and went with the same two guys outbidding everyone. Finally we got to our last choice. There were 9 bundles of brick (500 bricks per bundle, each bundle about 1500 lbs) of a mixed color with an odd rounded and spalded kind of finish. My assumption is that it was intended to look old even when newly laid. On this batch the partners got their signals crossed. Each of them thought the other had the high bid when in reality we had it. All of us were shocked when we finally got the winning bid. Now we had to get 13,500 lbs of bricks home with just a pickup and utility trailer.
We knew we’d have to take several trips, and the the loader they were using broke down. We decided we had to take a run and broke down a couple bundles and loaded them on the truck by hand. This seemed to take forever, but by the time we had filled the pickup with 3000 lbs of brick the loader had been fixed. We were able to get two more bundles loaded on the trailer and headed home with 6000 lbs of brick. The only places we had any issues were the previously mentioned valleys. The truck roared like a bull and slowed to a crawl going up each of them as we watched the coolent temperature rise to near the red line each time. Luckily the hills were short and the truck cooled off quickly after reaching flatter ground.
Once we got home we had to get the bricks off the truck and trailer so we could make the next run for the other 5 bundles. The loose brick we had to unload by hand and laid them out in a wall several bricks thick about 10 feet long. To unload the bundles we had to rig something up that would let us lift a 1500 lb bundle off the trailer and move it somewhere else. Necessity is the mother of invention and we had a big necesessity staring us in the face. We decided to attach our engine hoist to the back of our old 1949 Studebaker 1 ½ ton truck and use this contraption to lift and move the bundles.. This can be seen in the photo below, taken that day. You can see a corner of the wall of brick in the foreground and myself removing the strapping we used to lift the bundles. We did have two by fours in the bundle holes between the strapping and the bricks which may not have kept the bundles from breaking, but made us feel better. By the time we were ready for the next trip it was around 5:00pm and the shadows were getting long. We hopped into the now empty truck and headed back to the brick yard.
Luckily for us the aforementioned builders were back for yet another load of brick and the loader was still available. We were able to quickly get two bundles in the bed of the pickup and the remaining three on the trailer. The trip back was much the same as the first trip with us praying hard at the hills as we had an additional 1500 lbs on this trip. The coolant registered in the red this time but we were able to limp to the top of the hill without boiling over. It took longer to cool off than before, but eventually cooled to a normal level. It was nearly dark when we got back and we went to bed exhausted leaving the brick to be unloaded later.
We had bought 9 bundles at the auction for $100 per bundle. Several years later when the bricks actually went up, it turned out we needed another ½ bundle. Not being able to buy ½ bundle, we purchased a full bundle at the local brick yard for $250. For a day of hard work we’d saved $1350.
Three and a half years later the house was sitting there awaiting its brick facing. I was exhausted from the building i’d been doing and knew for a fact it would take me forever to lay the brick and that it would look horrible if I attempted it. I was also staring at needing an inspection every six months to keep my permit in order. I needed to hire a mason. I called several I found in the phone book and took bids. Several came out to the house and prepared bids for me. I soon discovered that a small custom job like this, came with a price. A pretty high price if you believed some of the bids. What I needed was someone who really wanted a challenge. I found that person in Dean Guy. When he saw the house he knew he wanted to conquer the round wall challenge. His enthusiasm was evident. I picked him more for his attitude than anything.
One thing I discussed with each mason was the option of wrapping the PerformWall in some kind of plastic sheeting before putting the brick up. I had seen what wind driven rain could do to the raw forms and water did leak through somewhat. On the other hand, the brick was not going to be laid directly against the forms and weep holes were to be installed. This part of the country gets 12 inches of moisture a year or less, about half of it in snow or hail. My concern became more that moisture be able to leave the house than get in, so I opted to not seal under the brick. So far I have not regretted that decision
Dean was able to work us in within a month of bidding the job. He wasn’t able to use some of his heavy equipment on the job, which was unfortunate for him but he stuck to his end of the bargain and within a few weeks erected a beautiful outer wall. I show the photos below in sequence and without comment. Thanks Dean !
