Real brick houses ?

[fromcenFL]

It does not matter whether a house is brick veneer, or truly full brick which means it has a double wythe (which I havent really seen here)- it will still have a 2x4 framed wall on the interior. How many homes can you walk into and see the brick from the inside? Very rare. The stud-framed wall gives a cavity to insulate as well as the means to attach the drywall, or in older homes the lath boards to which plaster was appilied to.

A perfect example of a common brick home is my own, built in 1971. It has a 2x4 wood framed wall to allow for fiberglass batts of insulation, black board sheathing on the outside (with diagonal braces in the corners for rigidity), and then a single layer of red brick. I see a lot of the brick homes in different stages of construction going up around me, and the process I see is relatively the same except OSB is used as sheathing which eliminates the need for diagonal bracing on corners. Either way I love brick, it can be 100 years old and look great. A lot of clapboard-sided homes from the same era don't look as proud 100 years later as their bricked siblings. And its a shame to just throw vinyl siding up on a classic house to cover up the old.

[southernlady5464]

After seen so much data on the forum on vinyl,wood planks,aluminum and hardy planks,

No one has mentioned the Hardi-plank, so I thought I would. If you can't do brick, go with Hardi-plank as your second choice. It is so superior a product when compared to vinyl siding that I am surprised vinyl is still allowed, James Hardie: Siding Comparison Guide

I've stood and WATCHED vinyl melt off our house in MI when it was exposed to the heat from the house fire across the street (the house across the street exploded). To see what I mean, take a look at these photos: Fire Damage (broken link)

And it's the same kind of vinyl that is on the house we just bought here in NC. Too bad we couldn't find one with Hardi-plank. Liz

[sstarrx3]

Originally Posted by southernlady5464

No one has mentioned the Hardi-plank, so I thought I would. If you can't do brick, go with Hardi-plank as your second choice. It is so superior a product when compared to vinyl siding that I am surprised vinyl is still allowed, James Hardie: Siding Comparison Guide

I've stood and WATCHED vinyl melt off our house in MI when it was exposed to the heat from the house fire across the street (the house across the street exploded). To see what I mean, take a look at these photos: Fire Damage (broken link)

And it's the same kind of vinyl that is on the house we just bought here in NC. Too bad we couldn't find one with Hardi-plank. Liz

I prefer Hardi Plank as well. It was the standard in Oregon where we moved from. The only draw back is you have to paint it in 5-7 years, more if you use really high end paint. The house we are building here is vinyl with a brick front, which we will learn to live with. I tell you what bugs me more than no Hardi Plank is the fact that most builders use three tab shingles instead of arcitectual shingles, which make the house look so much better. The cost really is not that much more, like 4 dollars more per bundle. You do end up using more bundles with architectual though. It is worth the cost I think.