# HELP! Black spots on brick



## Thorbash (Sep 25, 2015)

Hey guys,

I came across this issue when checking this house out. I have never seen bricks look like this before. These black spots cover the entire exterior of the house. There is a house next door, that looks like it was built by the same person in the 60's. They have no black spots like these. Has anyone seen this before? Is this a major problem? Do they affect the brick structurally? Is there a fix for this? I'm thinking of painting the brick because as you can see, this is not very appealing. 

For some reason I can't upload the pictures, they can be found here with this dropbox link. I will also try to comment on this thread with the pictures so that they can be seen.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v3y6tj667bjpynz/AADigvuoAAkgyFQKxzLDLYQca?dl=0

I appreciate any help!

- Mike


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

I have one word of advise for painting the brick DON'T ! Check out the web site for a company called PRO-SOCO. they make a whole host of masonry cleaners,check with their rep.he can make a suggestion. As far as your pictures,could not access them.


Read this. http://www.oldlouisville.com/circa1900/brick-structures.htm


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

http://www.builderdepot.co.uk/ibsto...ck-b113.html?gclid=CLG02fPYksgCFSYUwwodGawLYw
They look a bit like these Fred, very expensive stocks, not to be painted.


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

They are called "ironspots", and they are not detrimental, but painting brick is. Don't.


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## Kniggit (Apr 11, 2013)

I kinda like those brick


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

Kniggit said:


> I kinda like those brick


I like them myself, and have used similar ones many times. They are much harder to cut, so I usually sort out the red ones in the batch for cutting.


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## concretemasonry (Dec 1, 2006)

It could that brick were fired at a higher temperature or slightly different timing cycle, to the point where the high temperature does convert materials. As an example, the iron oxide pigments that are used in concrete such as red, yellow and made from materials that are not the same color as the raw material., but normal concrete never gets high enough at all.


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## Fundi (Jan 5, 2009)

Yep, the higher the temperature the bricks get the darker and harder they become. When they "melt" then they become black. 

Look at the clinker bricks in the old brick roads and they are black.

I find it odd that half clients prefer the soft, lighter colored bricks. So i tend to get harder "discolored black" bricks as unsaleable. Hence most of my personal building is with them. 

Here is extreme case where temperature exceeded.








We hack at them and use them somewhere. 


Like Stuart and Kniggit I have come to like them.


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## 91782 (Sep 6, 2012)

Fundi said:


> Yep, the higher the temperature the bricks get the darker and harder they become. When they "melt" then they become black.
> 
> Look at the clinker bricks in the old brick roads and they are black.
> 
> ...


beautiful:thumbsup:


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

Thorbash said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I came across this issue when checking this house out. I have never seen bricks look like this before. These black spots cover the entire exterior of the house. There is a house next door, that looks like it was built by the same person in the 60's. They have no black spots like these. Has anyone seen this before? Is this a major problem? Do they affect the brick structurally? Is there a fix for this? I'm thinking of painting the brick because as you can see, this is not very appealing.
> 
> ...


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## Kniggit (Apr 11, 2013)

I always thought they were metal deposits in the clay, hate the way a saw blade has to melt its way through them.


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## Fouthgeneration (Jan 7, 2014)

They are 55 years old and you're worried about durability????
No problem here, keep moving...

They're either overfired culls or brick from a building that suffered big and long fire....

The downside for laying overfired brick is they don't absorb much water, leading to a weaker then normal bond between the mortar and units, similar to glass block,"glassy".

These pictured have many fissures and appear to have been poorly mixed. But with large overhanging soffits to reduce the water exposure they can survive hundreds of years.


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

I can only refer to the movie "Stripes":"Chicks in New York are paying Top Dollar for this".


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

Yes an extreme form of iron spot, like a clinker ironspot. I like it but can understand why some wouldn't. Clinkers are a very durable brick even though they have surface cracking. It's a style, either you like it or you don't...one of the reasons that I dislike many forms of brick texturing, tastes change and its not economically feasible to replace brick normally. Red and buff common brick are timeless, why mess with it?


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