ᐅ Painting historic large-format bricks in a wine cellar

MartinL schrieb:
The basement was newly built in 2002. The bricks are already somewhat older – unfortunately, I don’t know exactly how old.

Quite old. When referring to Reichsformat bricks, it means they likely came from demolished houses – I hardly think anyone produces them new anymore. From photos, you would only be able to tell that they are solid bricks, but the slight size difference compared to today's "standard format" (the Reichsformat was 1 centimeter longer, 0.5 centimeters wider, and 6 millimeters (0.24 inches) flatter) is not visible there. However, this difference is enough to make them structurally incompatible with current buildings. Therefore, they are either used purely decoratively or for very small projects, such as building a barbecue or wine racks.

Immediately after the fall of the Reich / end of World War II, the young Federal Republic had more important things to consider than changing brick dimensions. I can’t say for sure whether the new format was introduced in 1952 or 1957. The Reichsformat created a grid of 13 centimeters (5 inches), a multiple of one meter and four. With the change in format, the measurements “repeat” in clean one-meter intervals, which is easier to remember.

The larger a wall surface, the more noticeable this small deviation becomes. Therefore, there is no reason to produce the old format new today (for decorative use, the supply of demolition material is sufficient for the market). Reichsformat bricks are therefore at least 60 years old, having been introduced in 1872.

Apart from the slightly different size, they are standard solid bricks. Since they are always "old," they look less “cloned” than new bricks, even though they were also industrial products. Solid bricks were common back then – today, bricks are more often perforated. With solid bricks, you can be more flexible and sometimes lay them on their side.

For painting – which I consider unnecessary – the suitable colors would be exactly the same as for modern bricks.

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Uh, sorry... he looks like a Dutch person, so he doesn’t necessarily have to be old!

Best regards in brief

First of all, thanks for the answers and especially for the historical background!!

So, I asked again. Suddenly, there was talk of some kind of clear varnish to make it shine nicely. Personally, I’m not really in favor of that myself. But the basement doesn’t belong to me, the basement. What kind of clear varnish could that be?

Thanks!
Martin