Coloring brick, anyone help?

[Paper Roses]

After having my very old fireplace repaired, I had my first fire today to try and color up the new mortar and even off the look. The mason went through the many old bricks I picked up for the job and used my old brick for the back of the FP as I requested but had to buy some new type of brick for the base. Maybe this is some kind of fire law or something. He told me the bricks I had remaining were not good for the base.

The fire has died down now and I will clean it out later. I did notice that the new bottom brick did not color up. they are still a very pale orangy-pinkish-red. He cut the brick to size of the old ones and did a beautiful job matching the feel of the old. The surface of these bricks is slick. The mortar colored up just fine.

Anyone with mason experience give me an idea how I might somehow color these bricks(sooty, blackish-grey) so that they will blend in with the rest of this 200 year old fireplace?

Thanks.
PR

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

1. Fast answers are what we seem to look for.

But providing fast answers to the inexperienced is not always a good thing for the experienced to do.
There is a saying in the trades once you have jumped into the frying pan you better be able to learn fast.

There is a brick dye. Sold where you buy bricks. home depot may have it or lowe's. you basicly brush the stuff on. The other way is to sand blast the bricks or find a powerfull solution to remove the built up stuff off. I am suggestion that you do a little research., make a few calls and type into the search engine coloring or recoloring brick /fire places. That is where you start. I could just tell you how to do it. But if I did all you would know about is the end result. On this one you must know more than that.Helpers that work with me take home home work assignments ,things to look up in the books if they want to stay around and learn a trade or become more skillfull in multi tasking. It does not matter to me how they have seen it done before.What does matter is what they actually know or come to know and from there how they use the newly aquired skills.It IS Always Better To Know Than It Is To Think That you Know.And when they come to work for me, they come to understand all of just what that means.fire places and chimneys,part of the mason trade where there is no room for guess work. You must know.

[Paper Roses]

2. Oh, OH, I'm in duck soup. Yup, you are right, I was looking for a

quick answer. You guys are all the experts, I'm just an old lady who is trying to
cop out on the research.

I will check on-line and see what I can find. I know about the dye for the mortar that you use as you mix the stuff. The mason used his 'whatever" mortar and that all colored up nicely in the fire.

It was the 8 replacement bricks that I want to tone down.

I'll find out how so I don't pester with "Google" it questions.

Thanks your help in the past.

[Warpy]

3. Personally, I'd invest in a good fire screen

that will minimize the color difference through mesh or screening and provide safety while you've got a fire going unattended. It also conceals the detritus after a fire while you're waiting for the ashes to cool down enough to dispose of them.

Surface treatments like paint or stain would likely burn off.

[Paper Roses]

4. Hi, the brick in question was the base, not the sides or back.

The special kind of brick he used in the base of the firebox was the problem area. Found a solution(free too).

I showed it to my daughter last night when she came to pick up her dog...my day to doggy-sit, she suggested I rub the pinkish-orangish brick with charcoal. Since I had a fire in my long unused fireplace the day before, I had chunks of charcoal in the residue. In rubbing it on the brick, the principle worked but it was streaky.

Got out the old food processor, ground a mess of that charcoal into powder, added a little water to make a thin slurry and painted it on with one of those throw-away sponge paint brushes. I then took an old chunk of soft towel and rubbed it into the brick. It colored the brick and the new mortar that was not darkened by my small fire.

I will vac off any residue tomorrow. Right now it looks great. I do have a great fire screen that I used before we stopped using the fireplace. It will be ready for next winter.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

5. Camouflaging the new bricks with ash !

And it appears to match! now thats creative thinking! Why do you think the base where there is a higher concentration of heat requires what you call special brick or heat tempered? Is that important do you think? I wounder if it would be interesting to goggle or research in to that and how the masons created that base back when the fire place was built?Would seem to be a point of interest or even create conversation. Two hundred year old structures are not uncommon back east. A friend of the family owns a farm house pre dating the revolutionary war back there. Back to the point, whats important about the bricks around the base do you think?I mean, isn't that a point of interest? fire place base setting bricks and mortar. Wonder what a search engine would come up with? By the way those old stone fire places are a site to see. The old two hundred some odd year old farm house has four of those. Indeed stone masons,the lost trade.Stone houses are cool too!