We took down all the brick where the addition will go and the crew saved it. Later on, when we’re replacing windows and doors, we’ll need to remove some of the surrounding brick since the new units will be different sizes. Instead of buying fresh bricks for this, we’re going to reuse what we saved. Even though the house exterior will be painted, recycling the original bricks will look a lot better because the texture and cracking will match. If we have to buy new bricks, we’ll use them on the side of the house where any mismatch will be less visible.

But recycling brick isn’t always worth it. The work is very labor intensive—a lot of guys sitting in chairs chipping away the mortar—and we don’t generally do it unless it makes a noticeable difference aesthetically.