Cutting bricks to bullnose finish

FrankGrimes

To cut a long story short, my brick supplier has made a major mess of some special bricks I ordered and they won’t be able to get them to me for another 8 weeks.

It’s a bullnose finish I’m looking for which basically means one edge is cut into a rounded finish – they will be used as a window sill in an extension to match existing bullnose bricks in the existing front window.

I’ve tried 15 salvage yards and have found nothing similar (i.e. red rustic bullnose bricks) so need to go with new ones but I cannot afford a 12 week wait as I need to get the window in. Would it be possible to retro fit the bricks after the window has gone in?

The other option I was looking at was taking some of my normal square bricks and cutting one edge to make it the bullnose effect I’m looking for. That edge wouldn’t have the rustic wirecut affect I need but I could live with that. Are there any tools that would be suitable to this tricky cutting or would an angle grinder be my best bet (doubt it would be very successful)?

GreeBo

an angle grinder will give you a very sharp cut
would you try a bench grinder and hold the brick horizontally and rotate it against the stone?
From what I can picture you want an abrasive cut rather than a slice?

Sonnenblumen

Impossible to get a bullnose finish with a grinder, you can of course use a grinder to remove much of the surplus and hand sand the remainder.

Beware however if you remove much of the brick face you are undermining its weathering ability. In fact I would not recommend this because finish will not be consistent, the integral quality of the brick (significant increase in porosity) and consequently reduced working life. INMO i would wait but that's not what you want to hear. Sorry.

An alternative compromise would be to mix cement and pigment similar to colour finish (or as close as) and cast in situ. Before cement goes off mix in some residual brick dust to match existing brickwork. Good Luck.

S

FrankGrimes

Thanks for the replies.

I reckon I'm going to just order the bricks, fit the window, and retro fit them when they finally arrive. Seems like this is the only way to get it right, both weather-proof wise and the appearance.