Why common brick is still king in modern building projects
A historic common brick is very different than a typical modern brick. Historic common bricks were solid, they had no perforation and were solid all the way through. They also had different dimensions than modern bricks.
Historic bricks were fired in kilns, similar to modern brick but at a significantly lower temperature. Modern kilns, by comparison can reach much higher temperatures with gas fuel sources. Historic kilns, by comparison used organic fuel sources such as oak wood and other types of organic combustion materials.
The picture below shows an example of a historic brick, at the side rear facade of a historic building. This brick is 8-3/8 inch wide, in the stretcher position.
Historic bricks, will often be referred to as “838 bricks”, denoting the dimension of 8-3/8″ width, by modern historic masonry specialists, not that there are many of us left.