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ogrose_tx

Vintage Bricks

ogrose_tx
12 years ago

My husband is fit to be tied (as usual), but I bought 300 vintage Ferris bricks, hopefully this will be enough to redo my patio. Ferris, Tx was at one time called the "brick capital" of the US, and they say the base of the Statue of Liberty was made of this brand. These have not been cemented in, so hopefully will be in good shape; if I can't use them on the patio, bet I can find some place to use them! I think they'll go well with the antique roses. They are 8" long, 4" wide, and 2-1/2" thick.

Will let you know how this turns out...

Comments (11)

  • Ginny McLean_Petite_Garden
    12 years ago

    Awesome!! Whatever way it turns out!! :)

  • schoolhouse_gw
    12 years ago

    Sounds exciting, yes report back please. Vintage brick should be beautiful esp. if it's been in the ground awhile; or maybe they were just in a pile somewhere. Mrs. Seiberling of Stan Hywet Hall in Akron purposely buried all the new brick they brought in to build the mansion, just so it would have the look of hundred year old brick when they dug it back up.

  • gottagarden
    12 years ago

    I got a bunch of vintage bricks from someone who was ripping out a 50 year old brick patio. I used them to edge all my front garden beds and they look great, nice brown aged appearance, lots of variation in color. I can put the mower wheel right on the brick so there is no edging to do. They were a find, wish I could get more!

  • trailrunner
    12 years ago

    all of my back patio and walkways are vintage brick that I purchased at a salvage yard. I bought a LOT of bricks :) Do post pics would love to see yours. c

  • Annie
    12 years ago

    I too love old vintage bricks.

    This summer, we had to tear down my parent's old house and clear the lots (city ordered it done), so I spent the summer digging out all the rocks and bricks I could haul by myself. Two weeks ago, DH helped me and we brought home two truck loads - more than 2 tons worth. There were also lots of huge rocks and quite a lot of sandstone quarry rocks that my father had used to build retaining walls.
    My father got them all from old buildings around the two-county area that were being torn down many, many years ago.
    As we were digging them out and stacking them, we discovered that some of them came from old classroom buildings at Oklahoma State University, back when it was Oklahoma A & M (Okla. Aggies) - that was long ago. The buildings were some of the original buildings.

    We got almost a ton of fire bricks, too - gray concrete bricks from an old oil refinery building torn down long ago. Interesting.

    They are piled out in our driveway for now.
    There are four or five different stamps on the clay bricks from brick companies that have been gone for decades. Some have the name of the town where my father got them. So interesting.

    The stories that surely exist behind old bricks.

    Be sure to post pictures of your brick project "ogrose".
    ~Annie

  • ogrose_tx
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Went to Canton this morning, my son and I had a fun day; my husband is very ill, it's been months since I've done anything, and was a little worried about leaving him, but it all turned out good. The lady helped us load the bricks, we only loaded about 200, was a little worried about the weight, and she offered her son's services to haul the rest! Her son's father lives in Carrollton, so on his next trip here, will deliver, how's that for Texas hospitality.

    Some of the bricks are in great shape, some good, and some not so good; that's okay I can work with that. I really admire this gal, she bought this house a few months back and boy does she have her work cut out for her, but she's busy working on it! The outside is peeling wood, looks pretty rough, but inside she has already had hardwood floors installed as well as new cupboards, and if she can hang in there it will be as cute as can be.

    Going into East Texas we saw 3 grass fires along the side of the road, stock ponds that were completely dry, and everything is just burnt to a crisp from lack of rain.

    Sorry to babble on, but I haven't been anywhere but Walmart and dr's offices for at least 3 months, lol!

    Anyway, fun day, even if I never see her son with the other 100 bricks, it was worth it!

  • Annie
    12 years ago

    I am so glad for you to have a day out.

    You just babble away all you want! I'll read it! I'm interested! :)

    That lady doesn't sound like the type that would not follow through. I bet you'll get those other bricks soon enough. I hope so anyway.

    You know, if you have any broken bricks, they are great for corners and curves. They fill in nicely and I think it looks good too.

    Keep us posted.
    And take care of yourself.

    ((Hugs))
    ~Annie

  • ianna
    12 years ago

    In Toronto, there was a building in the historic area that was being demolished to make way for a more modern building and I would hazzard a guess because the building was not fit for use anymore. Anyway, it had beautiful old bricks. These bricks were collected and later sold. They were then sliced in half and these in turn where set up to be used as inner wall 'tiles'. I don't know if you've seen modern interior design incorporating old and new. There are false brick walls in which a thin brick layer is layed upon plaster making it seem as if one had a brick wall. Very chic of course. Nowadays, people cannot afford to buy hold buildings and renovate it and so they make new buildings look like old with such products.

  • ogrose_tx
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks for the replies, y'all! Annie, I think you're right, bet I get those other 100 bricks, plus she said she had just found some more buried and would send those too.

    I can't believe what an idiot I am, could NOT figure out how many bricks it would take, came up with about 4 different answers, but finally figured this amount will cover about half the patio, so will have to mix and match. They all have the stamp "Ferris" written on them, among other names, so think this will work out to have some plain bricks the same color or something that works well with them mixed in too.

    I asked the gal why she didn't want to just replace her patio with those bricks; she wants a concrete patio. I said that's nice, I have a concrete patio, and want it in brick; interesting how we always want what we don't have...

    I promise pictures when this gets done, don't have the capability to upload/download them right now, but am fixing to get a new computer, so hopefully shortly.

  • Kelly Johns
    3 years ago

    I hope you ended up getting those bricks. I live not too far from Canton Texas and it’s like the flea market capital of Texas for sure. First Monday- check it out. But we’re closing on a house hopefully tomorrow and there is a retaining wall there and I noticed the bricks all say Ferris as well. I think I’m going to dig them up, clean them and save them for the floor of the greenhouse we’re planning on building after we remodel this house:) I’m hoping I run across some from the thermo brick plant that is like 12 miles from me but has been closed forever. Fingers crossed!! The family that owned this property has owned it for over 100 years. I love the history of this place and the beautiful established mature trees.

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