My entire house, as well as three patios all have brick floors. The house floors all have under floor radiant heat. But, they're all the real brick and not the thin ones. It's funny, but I had to really search through tons of pics to find ones that actually show any of the brick floor. This pic below is a good one for the color we used . . . which is pretty standard color, IMO. The bricks do vary slightly in color, which is what we wanted. If you do go with a brick floor and it doesn't come sealed, use ONLY Ring Brick Floor Sealant and Ring Brick Floor Oil on it. Wash it with just water and vinegar. Last house was sealed with something else and was a HUGE PIA to keep up. We had this place built 20 years ago and have never used anything but what I recommended. Our floors are beautiful. We have Oriental rugs on them throughout the house.
This pic is in our MBR.
Lynn

I live near Dallas and REALLY wanted brick floors in my kitchen. Old Chicago Brick I saw advertised from far away was sooo expensive and everyone I talked locally talked me out of it. I did wonder how I would clean up a dropped egg. But I had seen it up in Albany NY in a hotel lobby - lots of color variation and a shiny finish on it. I just loved the colonial feel of it. I finally gave up and will probably be glad if we ever decide to sell, but I still wish I had gotten it.

Lynn, your bedroom is gorgeous!

Lynnie, love your floors! I too want variation. We have red and brown/black based brick exterior and I think I want --- and need---something lighter inside, with a LOT of variation. These floors will have very little furniture. Below are two perspectives in CAD drawings, and you can see what a sea of brick looks like...The second picture shows little hobbit doors that access an under stair storage area. The storage area will be pulled out to the point at which the ceiling starts the slope and a single regular door will replace those strange ones. The second drawing shows a perspective looking from the back room out. The left door is to a large bathroom and the far French door leads out to the covered patio. In the first photo, the stairs lead up to our living room. The wall colors are the current ones, or near enough. That will change... The iD and I have talked about colors but have to get the floor sorted before any other decisions are made.

Lynn, I really love your floors, but I'm kind of an idiot about brick floors. Are they grouted? They look like they are. Do they hurt your feet and legs to stand and walk on them? I hate my kitchen tile because of that. They are SOOOO pretty!

Do you remember a poster named FrenchKitty? Her kitchen appeared about the time I joined GW, post Katrina demolition and largely DIY rebuild. I recall her pretty brick floors. Wondering if you could read her info/contact her.

Here is a link that might be useful: Can see a tiny bit here

Thanks Lynne, for that larger picture of your floor and kitchen detective for the link to Kitty's kitchen reno pictures. Her floor is laid in a herringbone design, which I think might make me seasick in a very large area! The running bond, which is what Lynnie has, is what I want to use, except with mortar.

Funny and true: our GC called me to say he was looking online for the color brick I want and told me he found this thread on Gardenweb--- he recognized the CADs! We're still looking for the right colors, a pinkish terracotta with a lot of white and some darker red and black. A local brick company says they can cut any brick 1/2 or 5/8" thick.. we shall see.

That is funny, KSWL. We used a chicago brick for our walkways in our last house, but all i remember is that they were spendy!

I can't wait to see what you do, it sounds lovely.

I know they're expensive, and that is why I am looking for new "old" Chicago brick instead of slicing up the reclaimed ones.

Just found a site manufacturing something called Portstone pavers (concrete brick like flooring on mesh backing like mosaic tiles) that is mfg specifically for each job. Not sure if I am interested in that or not, but it appears that what I want is Old St. Louis brick instead of old Chicago. LOL, since there is not really any standard for this I may be looking for awhile.

The link below will take you to the color

Here is a link that might be useful: Second picture down, kitchen, no wood inlay

I have brick tile from Inglenook in a half bath. Even though I was not placing a large order the owner- Julie- took tons of time answering my questions and was so nice to work with. She created a small batch of tile in the specific color and variation that I was hoping for, it is sort of hard to see the variation in my crappy phone photo but irl they are so pretty.

{{!gwi}}

I sealed the bricks prior to and after install but, like Lynne said, that hasn't helped and they are difficult to clean mainly because their texture grabs and holds onto dirt and dust. I think that a brick specific finish like she mentioned would help.

A great house to look at with brick floors is Nutherokie's, I keep hoping that she/he will post back with some finished pics. I think that they used brick throughout the main level.

Here is a link that might be useful: Inglenook

Thanks for the endorsement of Inglenook. I emailed them describing what I am looking for and hope to hear from them very soon.

Hey KSWL,

I've been meaning to reply since you posted but have not been able to. After your description, I don't think "old Chicago" is what your looking for either. I used to say the same thing as everyone uses that particular term but as it turns out it was actually "old St. Louis" as what I had in mind as well.

I used to have brick floors in my kitchen in my former house. They were not full brick but were pavers though they did have the look of reclaimed brick (I don't think they were shaved reclaims). I loved the look and had always wanted brick flooring in my house as that is flooring staple in Louisiana. However, I don't think mine were sealed properly. They never felt clean as it always felt like the individual sands of the grout were coming out. It broke my habit of walking barefoot on the floor. But again, I think this is because mine were not sealed properly (neither was the tile countertop). I currently have brick in my den similar in looks to Lynne's. It is from the fifties and it amazingly tough. I too though like Lynn would love to find a steamer that can really handle them.

Like I said above, brick flooring is ubiquitous here. It is one of the go to flooring choices. Most use reclaimed brick which is my favorite. I am not sure what the prices are for "new" old brick now but if you look on Ebay there are usually pallets of reclaimed for sale at decent prices.

The main point of my ramble was that if you find the right type of brick and it is installed and sealed properly they should be no problem. Hayes Town, the famous Louisiana architect used them almost exclusively along with heart pine and bluestone. The floors in his homes still look amazing today. He had a special beeswax finish that he used on them and swore by it.

I don't have a good picture of my old floors but will try to get a couple my current floors and a couple of Hayes Town brick photos uploaded so you can see them.

Thanks Louisiana! Yore right about the old St. Louis look and I am looking on eBay now for reclaimed brick, but it all looks like full thickness pavers, nothing the depth were looking for (1/2 to 5/8 inch). Did you see any lots suitable for flooring?

Now, another bump in the road....the underfloor heating installation requires a dedicated circuit breaker and we simply do not have a smidge of room in either the main box or the sub panel in the basement, so we are vacating the house Monday for at least three days to upgrade the electrical service to our house. And I am wondering what would have happened if I had not realized this...

KSWL,
Is it prohibitive to buy them whole and slice them on site?

I thought of that but--- we live in a small town, very rural, and frankly I don't think we have anyone around here who is capable of doing that on site and getting it right. We could bring someone in from several hours away, and we've done that before for certain things, but usually it ends up costing much more (in one case double). We could afford to do that but at some point it just doesn't make any financial sense to spend that much on this project. In some instances it does--- I'll spend almost anything on wallpaper, for example ðÂÂÂ

But... Clearly this won't be finished by Christmas.

I thought of that but--- we live in a small town, very rural, and frankly I don't think we have anyone around here who is capable of doing that on site and getting it right. We could bring someone in from several hours away, and we've done that before for certain things, but usually it ends up costing much more (in one case double). We could afford to do that but at some point it just doesn't make any financial sense to spend that much on this project. In some instances it does--- I'll spend almost anything on wallpaper, for example ðÂÂÂ

But... Clearly this won't be finished by Christmas.

Athomeinva, I was contacted by inglenook, their customer service is very good, thank you again. I have been considering the floors In the context of the overall design and am now leaning towards Savannah Gray as a better, more neutral color for the floors. Also now considering putting another French door alongside the one that is already there to the outside patio. The remaining part of that (external) front wall we are going to clad with horizontal wood clapboard so that front room looks more like an enclosed porch. It also solves the problem of having a downstairs wall color that meets the upstairs wall color at a corner. (The stairwell is open to the upstairs and that inside descending wall is the upstairs color.) Will post pictures, I realize this is quite confusing!

But overall color scheme is set--- brown/gray/white brick floors, off white clapboard on the inside of the external wall in the front room, French doors black, walls a light khaki or latte (must see how much light there is after knocking walls down) throughout, white woodwork and built in daybeds (bases and drawers for bedding), possibly red and cream ticking mattress cover and pillows against the wall for the daybeds, in the back room, a red, khaki and cream color scheme for sofa and two chairs, which may be recliners if I can find ones that don't look like they are. Possibly mustard yellow accents like lamps if iD can find them.