Salvage Michigan gets our reclaimed brick material from many sources, but we especially use the Veneklasen Brickworks company. They are located in Holland, Michigan and are a small local. They expanded rapidly and in 1892 Veneklasen’s son incorporated the business as Zeeland Brick company when brick and lumber caught popularity and went up in price. The company peaked production in 1893 when Zeeland bricks were being exported even to Chicago. Soon enough, cheap rail transportation eventually led to larger companies that can produce bricks cheaply and put small businesses like these out of work by 1925. Salvage Michigan\u2019s material has a history behind its beauty and limited offerings. 
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Color Options<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Brick options come in three main colors: red, orange and white. The first and most popular color due to the traditional chimney color is red. We also hopped on the trend once the whole buildings used white bricks and incorporated a range of white bricks starting at a creamy white moving to a more ivory-like white. The final color which we abruptly added is a new dusty orange color that was popular in the 1890s with several shades that are now available for purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Recycling Process<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The most popular manufacturing method for bricks is the stiff-mud process. For this approach, we heat the clay and put it in a pug mill to mix the water at 12-15% by weight. We remove all the trapped air and move to an auger machine. The auger cuts out a rectangle-shaped column with steel wires into specific lengths. This must dry for a couple of days to fire in a kiln. The second method is the dry-process which companies use to make refractory bricks. The clay contains about 10% water by weight and goes under a mechanical press to dry then fire. The Third method is the soft-mud process for when the clay is wet. We mix the clay, extrude it and place it in lubricated molds. This takes slightly longer to dry but requires the same firing procedure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n