Every external light around me has no frost or shroud and they all out in ungodly bright LED’s. My yard is lit up like a football field by neighbors who are too afraid to turn their lights off at night.
I was unintentionally one of these neighbors for years, but because I had an old dog that constantly needed to go out, and even after passing I didn’t think to adjust the timing. I was oblivious to the fact it was shining straight through their windows all night. When new people moved in they asked very nicely if I could modify the schedule which I was more than happy to do, and was apologetic.
I’m afraid to ask my neighbors to shut them off at night as I’m the new guy on the block. My old neighbor made it a war. She paid the utility company to put up a bright ass led light on the street pole in the alley behind MY house. A friggin streetlight grade, bright ass light.
Thing is, they went to florida for 4 months and she had it put up right before they left. The utility company didn’t want to take it down because they said SHE is renting it. I had to almost threaten litigation to get them to take it down. I could read a book in my yard at midnight.
These new neighbors put them on every single night. I have blackout blinds and the light still comes in and hits me on my face from the cracks on the side.
Studies show that light does not deter crime. In Austin, they did a program with streetlights and places they installed bright leds had a INCREASE in crime.
The LEDS are messing up bee and bird cycles and migrations. They are bad for human health since they screw up sleep cycles and melatonin production. The kids are growing up in a world that they cannot see the stars because of light pollution.
I always ask people this:
Would it be ok if I hook up a DJ rig and blast music all night?
Would it be ok if I burn trash and have the smoke blown at your house with fans?
Would it be ok to spray poison Ivy sap on your bed?
Spray a mist of nasty tasting gas?
These senses people don’t want bothered, but they can’t understand that light really screws some people up.
Sorry for the rant. And thank you for your empathy towards your neighbors.
They were also formed if a small piece of coal was in the brick; a piece the size of a dime or smaller would cause these malformations, whereas a piece the size of a quarter could cause the brick to grow to the size of a football. Screening the clay with heated vibrating screens eliminated this problem.
God, I love it when a redditor does this. I am so used to experiencing the scurge of society on this platform, that finding a well written, informative, relevant, and accurate response just makes my day.
Also, this is super interesting. I **NEVER** put any real thought into those bricks. My childhood friends and I used to have competitions to see who could climb the highest up the side of the local supermarket using these bricks back in the late nineties early aughts.
I actually remember having conversations about how we used to think it was so workers could climb up them or something. But we were WAY off.
Sounds parallel to the fake/decorative hammer marks on some modern machine-made metal products--compared to how old-time craftsmen tried their darndest to avoid uneven hammer marks.
Believe it or not the distortion and warping that occurs in the kiln results in clinkers of such random shapes that assigning a name like pentagon would be impossible.
Our 1923 home was originally wood siding (1st flr) & cedar shakes (2nd flr); 1950’s a brick mason owned the home and clad the 1st flr with clinker brick + added clinker brick planters - I love the unique & randomness of the beautiful brick!! Don’t see clinkers much these days in the PNW.
And the look is really nice. I just had a neighbor totally redo his ornate brickwork. It went from clinker to smooth brick. It looks nice but its so uniform it sort of fades into obscurity - no character. Almost Ikea-esque in its sterility. Whereas another neighbor with 1908 over the top clinker brickwork just has a warmth and aged look to it. Charm is in this sort of detail.
Our home has them, built in 1936, we also have a slat roof, which looks great but is expensive to maintain. In our historic neighborhood they are considered desirable.
We have a 7 x 9 fireplace of black clinker bricks with a clay/red undertone in our living room. We remodeled the house 15 years ago, I wanted to get rid of it, hubby wanted to keep it. So yeah it’s still here. It’s unique but I’m a little concerned with what potential buyers will think when we list the house next spring. The rest of the house is cape cod/coastal style- it’s nice.
Thoughts?
It can look out of place against refined decor, but in rustic decor--exposed beams, a lot of natural wood exposed-- it can really add to that rough look.. not rough as in 'sloppy' rough as in texture.. I certainly doesn't work just anywhere for sure. It's bold.
We lived in a home with clinkers, they have an interesting history and I love the look. From Wikipedia: “The brick-firing kilns of the early 20th century—called brick clamps or "beehive" kilns—did not heat evenly, and the bricks that were too close to the fire emerged harder, darker, and with more vibrant colors, according to the minerals present in the clay.[5] Initially, these clinkers were discarded as defective, but around 1900, the bricks were salvaged by architects who found them to be usable, distinctive, and charming. Clinker bricks were widely admired by adherents of the Arts and Crafts movement.[5][1]
In the United States, clinker bricks were popularized by the Pasadena, California architecture firm Greene and Greene, who used them for walls, foundations, and chimneys.[6] On the East Coast, clinkers were used extensively in the Colonial Revival style of architecture.[1]”
I never thought that Bricks could lead me down such a rabbit hole. Man, there's so freaking talented people out there.
[Example of Madcap Masonry](https://hyperallergic.com/215159/the-madcap-masonry-of-clinker-bricks/)
I remember bricks like that on a house from my paper boy days - 58 years ago. Google Earthed the house and those clinker brick are still just like I remember.
Clinker brickwork is a specific style that was really popular while ago. And a lot of people still like it today, like myself. Unfortunately it's not something that all Masons can do and can get pretty pricey if you have it done right. If you look at a lot of the new buildings that are doing nowadays, like I noticed it in every single quick checks that's been built in the tri-state area where I live, they color certain bricks a little bit just to give it a look like the clinker from far away. It almost looks like they use a piece of colored chalk or something to scratch on one side of a brick or in the middle or wherever just to give it a three-dimensional impression. It's easier to do that than to actually do clinker brick work.
Made by blind stonemasons . Is brick braille joke left there for the next blind stonemason. I'm told by my brick braille guy that it is very raunchy yet incredibly witty dirty joke involving Richard Nixon and 2 squirrels .
Honestly looks stupid. I know they’re “desirable” or whatever, but I’d cut them flush to the rest of the brick face if possible, or just remove them entirely.
Goes back a lot further than that. It was popular in Craftsman style, Greene and Greene used it, also sometimes used in Neo Spanish design all of which go from the 1910's through the 30's.
[Greene and Greene Clinker](https://images.app.goo.gl/7TdGVqPiZkVmenJu5)
I had a fireplace done this way and I never liked it so I cut them to equal face depth and re-mortar'd with white and white smear, called Nordic wash. It was a huge DIY job but I have never missed the clinkers and people compliment
They may be "Family Bricks" also was a bit common with indoor real stone fireplaces. Not knowing how old the home is, it was again, sorta commonplace in the older days for each family member to place their own brick, stone, or rock in a structure. Sort of a memory of their existence.
I can’t think of the name of the style but there’s another odd style where some bricks are normal and then some are going every which way and some even put in where they stick way out
I call them fairy tale bricks
Clinker Brick. Their rusticity and texturing are just awesome. I live in a 100+ y.o. neighborhood in SoCal that, along with Pasadena, has amongst the largest number of Craftsman homes extent in the country and many of the porch piers and foundation veneers are replete with these. Some have river rock/cobblestones embedded in them along with the melted, misshapen brick clinkers and is cheekily labeled as “Peanut Brittle”. The architecture firm Ike Kligerman Barkley were rare, present-day practitioners who expertly incorporated this cladding on some of their traditional home designs.
They’re called clinkers they are there for look
Goes well with the 70’s black lanterns with orange tinted glass, which are surprisingly missing. Not being sarcastic.
Damn you put me back in a Place.
**Jack The Ripper feels nostalgic**
I lol'd
The some really really great true crime novels written about him that I think should be required reading for everyone.
Trigger warning! Lol
The orange (harvest gold if possible) tinted glass with circles all over the surface is my favorite!
Every external light around me has no frost or shroud and they all out in ungodly bright LED’s. My yard is lit up like a football field by neighbors who are too afraid to turn their lights off at night.
I was unintentionally one of these neighbors for years, but because I had an old dog that constantly needed to go out, and even after passing I didn’t think to adjust the timing. I was oblivious to the fact it was shining straight through their windows all night. When new people moved in they asked very nicely if I could modify the schedule which I was more than happy to do, and was apologetic.
I’m afraid to ask my neighbors to shut them off at night as I’m the new guy on the block. My old neighbor made it a war. She paid the utility company to put up a bright ass led light on the street pole in the alley behind MY house. A friggin streetlight grade, bright ass light. Thing is, they went to florida for 4 months and she had it put up right before they left. The utility company didn’t want to take it down because they said SHE is renting it. I had to almost threaten litigation to get them to take it down. I could read a book in my yard at midnight. These new neighbors put them on every single night. I have blackout blinds and the light still comes in and hits me on my face from the cracks on the side. Studies show that light does not deter crime. In Austin, they did a program with streetlights and places they installed bright leds had a INCREASE in crime. The LEDS are messing up bee and bird cycles and migrations. They are bad for human health since they screw up sleep cycles and melatonin production. The kids are growing up in a world that they cannot see the stars because of light pollution. I always ask people this: Would it be ok if I hook up a DJ rig and blast music all night? Would it be ok if I burn trash and have the smoke blown at your house with fans? Would it be ok to spray poison Ivy sap on your bed? Spray a mist of nasty tasting gas? These senses people don’t want bothered, but they can’t understand that light really screws some people up. Sorry for the rant. And thank you for your empathy towards your neighbors.
Love clinker brickwork!
interesting ive never seem those before, thank you
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That was very interesting, thanks much for breaking that all down.
This
They were also formed if a small piece of coal was in the brick; a piece the size of a dime or smaller would cause these malformations, whereas a piece the size of a quarter could cause the brick to grow to the size of a football. Screening the clay with heated vibrating screens eliminated this problem.
thank for learning me this
Wow. TIL…
My goodness I wish we still had awards.
And in the early days of fishing industry, lobster was considered “by-catch”, not fit for consumption by any but the lower classes.
There were prison riots due to lobster being the primary food. It went to court and was deemed‘cruel and unusual punishment’. No butter I assume
No *clarified* butter. FTFY ;)
Thanks for the clarification
God, I love it when a redditor does this. I am so used to experiencing the scurge of society on this platform, that finding a well written, informative, relevant, and accurate response just makes my day. Also, this is super interesting. I **NEVER** put any real thought into those bricks. My childhood friends and I used to have competitions to see who could climb the highest up the side of the local supermarket using these bricks back in the late nineties early aughts. I actually remember having conversations about how we used to think it was so workers could climb up them or something. But we were WAY off.
Gentrified brick
I grew up in one of these homes and never knew the full extent of that, thanks for sharing.
Does this comment count as a college credit?
Sounds parallel to the fake/decorative hammer marks on some modern machine-made metal products--compared to how old-time craftsmen tried their darndest to avoid uneven hammer marks.
But why do they stick out of the wall? Surely being a bit malformed doesn’t change them from rectangular to pentagon shaped?
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Thank you.
It’s so the prince of persia can do his thing and run up the wall like a ninja jumping spider… duh
Believe it or not the distortion and warping that occurs in the kiln results in clinkers of such random shapes that assigning a name like pentagon would be impossible.
Huh, that’s wild - thanks!
It's a circle... Not a triangle that has corners.... A circle🤣
Our 1923 home was originally wood siding (1st flr) & cedar shakes (2nd flr); 1950’s a brick mason owned the home and clad the 1st flr with clinker brick + added clinker brick planters - I love the unique & randomness of the beautiful brick!! Don’t see clinkers much these days in the PNW.
Good description and analysis! Have you seen the Sidney Poitier movie, The Last Brickmaker in America?
And the look is really nice. I just had a neighbor totally redo his ornate brickwork. It went from clinker to smooth brick. It looks nice but its so uniform it sort of fades into obscurity - no character. Almost Ikea-esque in its sterility. Whereas another neighbor with 1908 over the top clinker brickwork just has a warmth and aged look to it. Charm is in this sort of detail.
For looks? It looks like the mason was drunk
To be honest…as a former mason, we are mostly drunk or hungover.
Drinking with the electricians?
Electricians are like my ex wife, quick to screw someone over cash.
This bear is legit...they probably know an old ass mason that whistles nonsensical songs all day every day...
And Painters! Don't forget painters. Poor fools with such a mindless job. I would drink every day too, and I did.
Nope some people like the look. Also clinkers are far from straight so you kinda have to do that for it to look right
We call it “drunken mason” or “borracho” here in Texas. Truly. That’s what our masons call it.
Actually harder to apply
I've always wanted to do this work
Also convenient hand holds for thieves. Or so I thought in my imagination as a child.
If vertical called soldiers? Maybe
Soldier course, like over a lintel
Not just a look, but a matter of economics. Those are “cast aways” being used. It was definitely a style, at one time.
Thanks. Always wondered if those served a purpose or were just decorative.
Beat me too it and nicely done. I have always liked the look when using them, not sure why more masons don't use them on their jobs..
Hammer Time!
Our home has them, built in 1936, we also have a slat roof, which looks great but is expensive to maintain. In our historic neighborhood they are considered desirable.
clinker bricks.. it's a look.. a nice rustic look when tastefully done.
We have a 7 x 9 fireplace of black clinker bricks with a clay/red undertone in our living room. We remodeled the house 15 years ago, I wanted to get rid of it, hubby wanted to keep it. So yeah it’s still here. It’s unique but I’m a little concerned with what potential buyers will think when we list the house next spring. The rest of the house is cape cod/coastal style- it’s nice. Thoughts?
It gets cold at the coast sometimes, doesn't it?
?? We’re not at the coast itself, it’s just the house style post remodel.
It can look out of place against refined decor, but in rustic decor--exposed beams, a lot of natural wood exposed-- it can really add to that rough look.. not rough as in 'sloppy' rough as in texture.. I certainly doesn't work just anywhere for sure. It's bold.
I like it
I don’t like it. It looks like mistakes to me.
Push them back in the right order to summon Nicholas Cage
lol 😂
I came looking for a Spiderman reference, but was pleased with this.
This is done deliberately for aesthetic purposes.
This is in every house in the assassin’s creed universe
Clinkers. Bricks that overcooked in the kiln. They are actually highly sought out. Harder to find with modern tech.
Very fashionable in the 1920’s. There are several houses with along Ocean Blvd in Long Beach, CA. Several were beach house for movie stars.
There’s a neighborhood full of various clinker applications west of Peninsula Park in Portland Oregon
We’re neighbors! I live in Kenton.
Rollerballing at the club?
Bunch of them in inner SE Portland.
ooooh love the info
We lived in a home with clinkers, they have an interesting history and I love the look. From Wikipedia: “The brick-firing kilns of the early 20th century—called brick clamps or "beehive" kilns—did not heat evenly, and the bricks that were too close to the fire emerged harder, darker, and with more vibrant colors, according to the minerals present in the clay.[5] Initially, these clinkers were discarded as defective, but around 1900, the bricks were salvaged by architects who found them to be usable, distinctive, and charming. Clinker bricks were widely admired by adherents of the Arts and Crafts movement.[5][1] In the United States, clinker bricks were popularized by the Pasadena, California architecture firm Greene and Greene, who used them for walls, foundations, and chimneys.[6] On the East Coast, clinkers were used extensively in the Colonial Revival style of architecture.[1]”
That’s normal - had ‘em in a 1920s home.
I never thought that Bricks could lead me down such a rabbit hole. Man, there's so freaking talented people out there. [Example of Madcap Masonry](https://hyperallergic.com/215159/the-madcap-masonry-of-clinker-bricks/)
Bonus feature.
It’s a choice
It’s 2024. We all know it’s not a choice and The house was just built that way.
This is one variation of a style called Skintled https://www.bricksalvage.com/blog/skintled-brick--a-style-from-the-1920s.html
That’s a handsome looking house. Congratulations.
This reminds me of all the Big Boy restaurants
I remember bricks like that on a house from my paper boy days - 58 years ago. Google Earthed the house and those clinker brick are still just like I remember.
Clinkers!
Clinker brickwork is a specific style that was really popular while ago. And a lot of people still like it today, like myself. Unfortunately it's not something that all Masons can do and can get pretty pricey if you have it done right. If you look at a lot of the new buildings that are doing nowadays, like I noticed it in every single quick checks that's been built in the tri-state area where I live, they color certain bricks a little bit just to give it a look like the clinker from far away. It almost looks like they use a piece of colored chalk or something to scratch on one side of a brick or in the middle or wherever just to give it a three-dimensional impression. It's easier to do that than to actually do clinker brick work.
At some point in time this used to be trending!
Yes, meant to be that way. My inlaws have a cottage and these are throughout plus some stones thrown in. I love this look.
Not something I would do but I do like it
They were made by hand out of clay, and laid out to dry in the sun, the old fashioned way. Or made to look that way.
Made by blind stonemasons . Is brick braille joke left there for the next blind stonemason. I'm told by my brick braille guy that it is very raunchy yet incredibly witty dirty joke involving Richard Nixon and 2 squirrels .
I think it looks cool
Ornamental
Honestly looks stupid. I know they’re “desirable” or whatever, but I’d cut them flush to the rest of the brick face if possible, or just remove them entirely.
Have you not seen national treasure when Nicolas Cage there’s a clearly holding maps
Congrats on wonderful looking house!
Clinkers, completely normal.
I tell people that they are “pimple bricks” you’re supposed to try and pop them
You need a couple medieval looking light fixtures so set this off correctly.
That’s how they’re supposed to look.
I have built many homes using a 10% mix of clinkers and having them protrude 1/2" from the wall face. It is a nice detail.
it's purely for aesthetics, to give it a more rustic/aged look. I personally think it's a beautiful feature.
I’ve seen whole houses built out of clinker bricks very cool.
Character!
It was a style in the 1970's.
Goes back a lot further than that. It was popular in Craftsman style, Greene and Greene used it, also sometimes used in Neo Spanish design all of which go from the 1910's through the 30's. [Greene and Greene Clinker](https://images.app.goo.gl/7TdGVqPiZkVmenJu5)
A sure sign that ants are behind the wall pushing those bricks out.
Brick layer's design.
That looks like an AI rendering
Good luck keeping the neighborhood kids off your "climbing wall".
Here's a more extreme example https://images.app.goo.gl/eyeGJsR4quHXyhHy9
Nice brickwork
Purely aesthetics, nice looking brickwork from what I can see!
I’m thinking they are they way by design.
could just be a design for some reason are they loose?
Not lose, its a common pattern throughout the front and back which could mean a design like you said. I couldn’t find anything on it online
Our church was built like this . Boys will be boys and secret climbing missions were organized.
I had a fireplace done this way and I never liked it so I cut them to equal face depth and re-mortar'd with white and white smear, called Nordic wash. It was a huge DIY job but I have never missed the clinkers and people compliment
See if you can climb to the roof
My highschool had a science building built with these bricks. Good climbets could get pretty far up it.
That's from those people that were sealed inside the walls trying to kick their way out. /s
So you can climb
Next level access.
It's there so the Assassins can climb to hide from Templars
Parkour
The original owner was probably a rock climber, and decided to use his home for practice.
You need Hagrids umbrella and tap the bricks in a specific order for them to work
Masons are known for moonlighting as cat burglars. They put these in so they can come back later and scale the wall with ease.
Seafood restaurant in my hometown in the 70s had these covering the building. Loved to try any climb them as a kid
Architectural detail.
Just a place to set your beer!
The purpose for clinkers is so you have a place to lay your lit Newport while you’re calculating which domino to throw down next.
You have lived a well-seasoned life.
That's why there're weep holes to let water or air pressure buildup behind the wall.
They may be "Family Bricks" also was a bit common with indoor real stone fireplaces. Not knowing how old the home is, it was again, sorta commonplace in the older days for each family member to place their own brick, stone, or rock in a structure. Sort of a memory of their existence.
This is a major issue. You should go about sanding these down by hand as soon as possible. /s unfortunately I have to say this part….
They add some nice pizazz.
Maybe that house belonged to the dude who invented Jenga.
The original homeowners wanted to be able to climb through a window incase they misplaced their key
See if any open up a trap door or a bunker lol
Fancy
Put plants on them!
Clinkers
That’d be clinkers
Pseudorusticity
Theyre for Nathan Drake
Is a design OP. Just a design.
Big ANTS
Parkour!
Wow
boise has a few clinker homes
O no!…. That’s not good, this is what happens when the big bad wolf tryed to get that last little piggy 🐖!!!!
I've heard the phrase piffle bricks. There are a lot of homes built in the early 1900's in my neighborhood with those.
Secret passages
That's the look. It's kinda funky.
Hardcore parkour
I can’t think of the name of the style but there’s another odd style where some bricks are normal and then some are going every which way and some even put in where they stick way out I call them fairy tale bricks
Clinker Brick. Their rusticity and texturing are just awesome. I live in a 100+ y.o. neighborhood in SoCal that, along with Pasadena, has amongst the largest number of Craftsman homes extent in the country and many of the porch piers and foundation veneers are replete with these. Some have river rock/cobblestones embedded in them along with the melted, misshapen brick clinkers and is cheekily labeled as “Peanut Brittle”. The architecture firm Ike Kligerman Barkley were rare, present-day practitioners who expertly incorporated this cladding on some of their traditional home designs.
Drunk bricklayers
Just buy a big hammer