Plenty of Manhattan brick is not ordinary brick. Glazed brick, with its hard, glassy face, turns up on many pre-war buildings and some mid-century fronts, and it wears out in its own way. Treating it like common brick is how good glazed walls get ruined.
Glazed brick has a finish fired onto its face in the kiln, hard and glassy and easy to wash. That same finish lets almost no moisture out through the face of the brick. Whatever water finds its way into a glazed wall has one route out, through the mortar joints between the units.
As brickwork contractors in Manhattan we identify glazed brick on every elevation before scoping any work, because it changes what the right repair is. The joints matter more, the units are harder to replace, and several methods that suit ordinary brick will destroy the glaze permanently.
Three things go wrong with glazed brick, and each points to different work.
Moisture held behind the glassy face freezes and pushes it off in flakes or whole sheets. Once the glaze has gone the unit cannot be restored, and on a Manhattan wall it has to come out through brick replacement.
Joints that were sealed, coated over or filled with the wrong material close the only exit a glazed wall has. The fix on a Manhattan wall is brick pointing, renewing the joints so moisture can leave again.
Glaze that has dulled under years of dirt usually needs gentle cleaning, not replacement. Abrasive methods scratch it for good, so on a Manhattan building brick pressure washing has to be done gently.
Once the brick and its problem are identified, the work falls into one of these.
Street fronts, rear walls and interior elevations, checked one by one. Glazed and unglazed brick often sit on the same Manhattan building, and a scope that treats them alike gets one of them wrong.
Whether they are open and doing their job, or sealed, coated or filled so that moisture has nowhere to go. That tells us whether the glaze failures are finished or still spreading across the Manhattan wall.
Glazed brick varies by maker and era, and suitable replacements can take real effort to find. We confirm what is obtainable before any Manhattan unit comes out, so no opening is left waiting for brick that does not exist.
What an owner can expect from a brick contractor in Manhattan who knows glazed brick.
Glazed brick rarely fails because of the brick. It fails because water got in behind the glaze and had no way out, usually through joints that were closed up at some earlier repair. Replacing the damaged units without opening those joints again means the next ones go the same way, and each replacement is harder to source than the last. On a Manhattan wall with glazed brick, the priorities run in a clear order. Let the joints do their job, clean the face gently, and take out only the units that have truly failed.
Glazed and unglazed brick run from the Financial District through Midtown and the Upper East and West Sides to Harlem and Washington Heights, and the same identification comes first on every job.
See masonry contractor Manhattan for every exterior service we offer on the island, or brickwork contractor NYC for how we tell which part of a brick wall has failed.
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Brick with a hard, glassy finish fired onto its face in the kiln. It resists dirt and washes easily, which is why it lines many pre-war Manhattan courts and covers some mid-century fronts. The same finish lets almost no moisture out through the face, so the joints matter more.
Usually because water got into the wall and could not get out. Moisture held behind the glassy face freezes and pushes the glaze away in flakes or sheets. On Manhattan buildings the cause is often joints that were sealed or coated over during an earlier repair.
Rarely, once the glaze has gone. The finish cannot be fired back on in place, and coatings applied over it neither last nor look right. Damaged units on a Manhattan wall are usually replaced, while sound ones are left alone and the joints around them are opened up again.
Gently. Glazed faces clean far more easily than ordinary brick, so low pressure and mild methods are usually enough. Abrasive blasting or harsh treatments scratch or dull the glaze permanently, and on a Manhattan facade that damage cannot be undone short of replacing the units.
Often, though finding the right ones takes effort. Glazed bricks vary in color, size and finish by maker and era, so a close replacement for an older Manhattan wall may need to be sourced specially. That is why confirming availability comes before any unit is removed.
