How to Repair Brick Steps Reuse Old Brick

Quick Column Summary:

• Brick steps falling apart
• Can bricks be reused
• Why all brick are not the same
• Reuse the brick with special mortar

Raimond Cheung was working on his brick steps at his house in Rego Park, NY and got stumped. Here's his question:

"My old brick step is falling apart.  I took a few bricks out and found they have no holes.

Can I re-use those old bricks?  I know new bricks have holes and good for mortar binding.  Should I buy new bricks?"

Here's my answer:

Raimond, you didn't say if the brick was crumbling or if it was the mortar between the brick that was causing the failure of the step.

I'm going to assume the brick is fine as why else would you use a crumbling brick?

The answer is yes, you can use the brick over if it's in good shape. You should probably read my past column about why all brick are NOT THE SAME. Brick come in different levels of hardness.

If you don't want the new steps to fail, you better read this second column about the SPECIAL MORTAR you need to use.