Brick colour after stripping - doesn't match other semi

[pgrowe]

Hi there,

Apologies if this is obvious or has been covered before - first time poster

Recently bought an edwardian brick built semi. It had been covered in a cement wash and white paint for, we believe, a number of decades.

The white didn't look great, especially close up... so we decided to get the house chemically stripped. We went into it thinking that the bricks could have previously, or because of the cementing, have been ruined - and we would have to re-render all over again, so it was a bit of a gamble.

The company that did it were great, very professional, and had the house stripped in a couple of days. Thankfully, the bricks appear to be sound, and it does look better than the white - but what we weren't expecting was that it was going to be a different (slightly less interesting) colour than the other half our semi. It's simply traditional red:

We wondered if our semi had actually been built from a different brick (thought very unlikely), but close up it's clear that the colour variation occurs on the same brick:

So we were wondering:
1. Is our neighbour's terrace the original colour, and either the original application of the cement wash, or removing it, has removed some sort of original coating? Perhaps put on in the kiln?
2. Was the colour achieved through a simple wash or coating applied to the brick after construction?
3. Is there any way of putting it back?

The area has quite a few houses that look like our neighbours, and we both like the style - and would prefer our two homes to match!

Much obliged!

 

[malcolm]

Does the last photo show your bricks and the neighbour's bricks? The colouring of the bricks to the left in that photo doesn't look like the yellow you would get from firing (though yellow bricks are often red underneath), more a colour wash applied later. Looks almost white in colour rather than the yellow of the neighbours house.

Could try one of the brick tinting companies (they might be better at darkening bricks) or a lime paint supplier to see if they can provide anything to tint the bricks.

 

[Penners]

Have the bricks fully dried out yet? You won't get an idea of their true colour until they have.

 

[88v8]

Welcome.

Remarkable. From the pic, it looks as if the banding of the neighbour's house is the same as your whole façade.

Is your entire house that colour? And is the neighbour's all the same colour as their front?

Ivor

 

[Moo]

My guess is that some sort of surface treatment or wash was used to create the effect, and your paint stripping removed it.

 

[billybuntus]

You could always tone it down with a tinting kit if it bothers you?

http://www.dyebrick.co.uk/

 

[pgrowe]

Thank you everyone for your replies.

Malcolm: Yes, the last picture shows ours and our neighbours' bricks. Yes, it is more white than yellow really.
Penners: They may not have dried out fully... a lot of water was sprayed during the removal process. They're such a different colour we'd be surprised (and pleased) if that was the only reason for the difference?
88v8: Yes, it is a bit strange. We have the banding too - though the contrast is much much less. The bands on ours are exactly where our neighbour's are, a much smoother red brick than the rest of the front. Both our house and our neighbours are a red brick on the side and back walls - their whiteish colour is only on the front where you can see it on the photo I posted.
Moo: Possibly - what treatment is the question, would like to replicate. I've seen our neighbours' style in a number of properties in the city - so it must have been a common practice
billybuntus: We may well do - but keen to understand what the original process was (if it was originally like our neighbours) that has resulted in the colour difference.

 

[plasticpigeon]

That's unusual. It looks like the lighter colour is a tint as others have said. Well done for going to the effort of getting the paint of, a vast improvement in my opinion.

 

[middi]

It looks as if whatever they used to remove the render/paint it was so strong that the bricks have leached into some sort of uniform colour. ( I may be wrong )
Middi

 

[CliffordPope]

It's too late now, but was there a reason for chosing a chemical method rather than sandblasting?

Not that sandblasting is much fun to live with! We had 2 days of appalling noise, and despite boarding up all the windows there were drifts of sand inside by the windows, and a thin film covered everything in the house.

 

[plasticpigeon]

Surely chemical methods are better aren't they? Doesn't sand blasting take the face off the brick?

 

[CliffordPope]

I don't know. Ours didn't seem affected, but then I think they are of a uniform colour, with no special effects on the surface.