4 ms·

You're likely right, it's probably not very economical nowadays. Especially given the wider range of materials than be used to build a wall or fence.

KSteffensen 7y ago
Aestethics still apply though and it looks nice. Pet peeve: Why isn't anyone building brick houses anymore?
- jimnotgym 7y ago
  They are in the UK. It is very common to have a decorative weatherproof facade of brick, with a cavity (often filled with insulation) between the bricks and an inside skin of insulating block, or more often now, a prefab timber frame.
- superhuzza 7y ago
  I actually know the answer to this, as I used to live with an architect. This information may apply more specifically to Canada than other places. 1. It's not very good at insulating relative to other materials. 2. It's more labor intensive than other materials.
  - rhacker 7y ago
    I have always suspect brick is superior for sound insulation, perhaps not weather though?
    - thedaemon 7y ago
      Wood is better for weather as it is flexible to allow expanding and shrinking. When you have such a hard material, such as brick, in a climate that changes from extreme hot & cold the bricks will crack and break due to stress from expanding and shrinking.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- spydum 7y ago
  I suspect because cinder block or ICF is just so much more economical and you can make it look like anything you want (brick will always be brick). Plenty of wood framed but that’s purely cost.
- pmjordan 7y ago
  In Central Europe, houses are still commonly built from brick at a structural level. (This includes multi-storey apartment blocks, commonly with some sections implemented as cantilevered reinforced concrete - the block I live in is such an example.) It's rare to encounter a building here where bricks also form the facade however. Which aspect does your question relate to? The rest of your post is about aesthetics, so if a brick facade is what you're after, they are still very common in the UK, although much of that is old housing stock. My parents built their house with a brick facade in the 1980s with then-state-of-the-art insulation. (in Central Europe) There is a layer of (large) structural bricks (similar to [1]), followed by various elements of insulation, followed by smaller face bricks to form the visible exterior. (something like [2]) I suspect this was and is somewhat more expensive than simply plastering over the outermost insulation layer. The double shell makes re-insulating with more modern materials prohibitively impractical. (Although the thermal properties of the house in question have held up pretty well.) On old houses, any visible bricks would have been structural, with effectively no insulation. So I'd imagine that's why it's no longer common. [1] https://www.wienerberger.at/bauen-mit-ziegeln/wandloesungen/aussenwandziegel-/jcr%3Acontent/root/hero/second-image/image.imgTransformer/hero-33x50/xl/1570542667662/pt_profi_mortar_5.jpg https://www.wienerberger.at/bauen-mit-ziegeln/wandloesungen/... [2] https://www.corobrik.co.za/assets/products/facebrick/58/1600/58.jpg https://www.corobrik.co.za/assets/products/facebrick/58/1600...
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  They are. In my area of southern Ontario, I estimate that >80% of houses have a brick facade. Note that nearly all houses here are stick-framed. It's very common for visitors to comment on this, because it seems very specific to this part of the country. I don't know of any structural brick houses here though. Brick facades cost more up front, but they require zero maintenance and are very durable.

KSteffensen 7y ago

Aestethics still apply though and it looks nice. Pet peeve: Why isn't anyone building brick houses anymore?

jimnotgym 7y ago
They are in the UK. It is very common to have a decorative weatherproof facade of brick, with a cavity (often filled with insulation) between the bricks and an inside skin of insulating block, or more often now, a prefab timber frame.
superhuzza 7y ago
I actually know the answer to this, as I used to live with an architect. This information may apply more specifically to Canada than other places. 1. It's not very good at insulating relative to other materials. 2. It's more labor intensive than other materials.
- rhacker 7y ago
  I have always suspect brick is superior for sound insulation, perhaps not weather though?
  - thedaemon 7y ago
    Wood is better for weather as it is flexible to allow expanding and shrinking. When you have such a hard material, such as brick, in a climate that changes from extreme hot & cold the bricks will crack and break due to stress from expanding and shrinking.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
spydum 7y ago
I suspect because cinder block or ICF is just so much more economical and you can make it look like anything you want (brick will always be brick). Plenty of wood framed but that’s purely cost.
pmjordan 7y ago
In Central Europe, houses are still commonly built from brick at a structural level. (This includes multi-storey apartment blocks, commonly with some sections implemented as cantilevered reinforced concrete - the block I live in is such an example.) It's rare to encounter a building here where bricks also form the facade however. Which aspect does your question relate to? The rest of your post is about aesthetics, so if a brick facade is what you're after, they are still very common in the UK, although much of that is old housing stock. My parents built their house with a brick facade in the 1980s with then-state-of-the-art insulation. (in Central Europe) There is a layer of (large) structural bricks (similar to [1]), followed by various elements of insulation, followed by smaller face bricks to form the visible exterior. (something like [2]) I suspect this was and is somewhat more expensive than simply plastering over the outermost insulation layer. The double shell makes re-insulating with more modern materials prohibitively impractical. (Although the thermal properties of the house in question have held up pretty well.) On old houses, any visible bricks would have been structural, with effectively no insulation. So I'd imagine that's why it's no longer common. [1] https://www.wienerberger.at/bauen-mit-ziegeln/wandloesungen/aussenwandziegel-/jcr%3Acontent/root/hero/second-image/image.imgTransformer/hero-33x50/xl/1570542667662/pt_profi_mortar_5.jpg https://www.wienerberger.at/bauen-mit-ziegeln/wandloesungen/... [2] https://www.corobrik.co.za/assets/products/facebrick/58/1600/58.jpg https://www.corobrik.co.za/assets/products/facebrick/58/1600...
frosted-flakes 7y ago
They are. In my area of southern Ontario, I estimate that >80% of houses have a brick facade. Note that nearly all houses here are stick-framed. It's very common for visitors to comment on this, because it seems very specific to this part of the country. I don't know of any structural brick houses here though. Brick facades cost more up front, but they require zero maintenance and are very durable.