Recreating Antique Brick on a Tight Deadline
During a renovation, a section of antique brick was damaged beyond use. The bricks were original to the house and are no longer manufactured, so finding replacements that actually matched wasn’t really an option.
There was also a tight timeline. The house had a firm handover date, which left me with less than 3 weeks to figure out a solution, make the bricks, and have them ready for the contractor.
I started by selecting intact original bricks from the house and using them to create silicone molds. This allowed me to reproduce the original texture, edges, and imperfections rather than trying to find a modern brick that was simply “close enough.”
From there, I cast the new bricks using pigmented cement. Getting the color right took some testing and adjustment. I made small batches and changed the pigment ratios until the new bricks looked natural next to the aged originals.
One of the biggest challenges was time. Cement needs time to set and cure, and there wasn’t much room in the schedule. I had to stagger the pours and work in batches so that pieces were constantly moving through the process while giving them as much time as possible before installation.
Once they were ready, I handed the finished bricks over to the contractor to reinstall in the house.
The goal was simple: when everything was back in place, the new bricks shouldn’t look like replacements. They needed to blend into the existing brickwork and feel like they had always been part of the house.
In the end, we were able to recreate something that could no longer be bought, keep the original character of the brickwork, and do it without holding up the rest of the renovation.
