Brick Houses

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by cocaseco

Are all house made of brick in Toronto? I have looked through pages and pages and pages of listings and all I see are high rise building or brick homes that are in very tight quarters. Does anyone build log or primarily wood homes? What about small acreage? In most US cities for example, there are suburban areas just outside town with 1 to 5 acre plots, but I cant seem to find those either.

How close to Toronto do you need to be? if you work in Toronto's central core you wont be finding acreage and a log cabin within a reasonable commute,youd have to be looking in areas at least 60 miles outside of the city where what you seek is more probable,
Bowmanville to the east.
North of Newmarket to the north.
And at least Halton hills going west.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

People who live in brick houses should not throw glass!

[adventuregurl]

Originally Posted by cocaseco

Yeah its a Canadian thing i think, Or maybe a regional thing. I asked my wife, who is from Alberta, and she said they have the same thing there with regards to all brick houses. Again, nothing wrong with it, I was just curious, especially in light of all the forests nearby. thanks for your feedback.

It's an affordable utility thing...who wants to pay up to 50% more (depending on construction) for heating and cooling.

One in a new subdivision I was doing an open house on a blustery winter day and paieces of aluminium siding were blowing down the street - they blew right off the houses (they were bridck and siding) .

[BruSan]

Originally Posted by cocaseco

Almost forgot this...Actually on many, smaller but still large cities (Portland, Denver, Seattle, San Diego and Las vegas to name a few) You can easily find 1 to 5 acre lots in the metro area. You may want to look outside your block before making a global comparison.

You might wish to do the same as I've lived all over the planet at various times of my life and comparing apples to oranges has never been my strong suit but you carry on if you must.

You still ignored the comparison you're making with cities that in no way mimic Toronto for either size, age or climate location.

No I'm not sensitive but at least consider the question you've asked. It easily parallels suggesting that New York has acreages with frame houses available for sale within the city core and you know this is just not so OR at least won't be advertised on your typical real estate sites if they are.


I did not state that brick was cheaper NOW but PERHAPS was back in the day when frame houses were by the nature of their design colder and poorly built SO brick was the sought after superior method of building to last in those days. You must also consider that living in a frost zone with ground penetration of 4 feet or so that frame houses back then were built on grade while brick were foundation supported with footing below that frost line to prevent heaving from cracking the walls ergo; better built and longevity.

If you must build with foundations to establish frost indemnity then you would "usually" go all the way and build it to last with brick or stone fascia. Only more recently, as in last 40 years or so, have "R" factors and technology advanced to allow the sealing of frame houses along with air exchangers and newer insulation methods with 2 X 6 framing to allow for thicker windows of double or triple pane to achieve the inner warmth to make heating these types of places economical.

Those very early frame houses would have outlived their useful lifespan many decades ago and since been replaced with brick or at least brick fascia houses to fit in to the surrounding architecture.

Lot sizes are what they are as any larger lots would have been severed to provide their owners with a cash cow in the form of an addtional lot or lots to sell off so that they could afford to upscale to a better house in the suburbs with no discernable mortage remaining.

All of these things are identical to ANY American city incorporated in a similar time frame as Toronto.

Vegas; a city carved out of the desert, most, if not all, built on slab, on grade didn't even exist as a city until it incorporated the surrounding areas in 1911.

History (Official City of Las Vegas Web Site)

Seattle on the west coast where a more temperate climate exists along with a preponderance of lumber without the "cold soak" days of your typical Toronto winter? Seriously?

Surely you must see comparing thusly is the very accusation you've made of me not getting "outside of my block".

[netwit]

^^ above two post

Brusan and Adventuregurl: heating costs up to 50% more for wood construction? I don't see how that can be.

I don't think weather is a factor because in the Prairies where it is a lot colder than TO most houses are built of wood. The few houses that look built of brick likely have only a brick facade.

I did a quick Google search and discovered the question about houses being built of brick in Toronto and not on the Prairies had been asked on another board (a competing site, so I won't post the link) and suggestions ranged from bricks being much cheaper in Toronto due to all the Italian bricklayers having immigrated there, to there not being enough brick factories in the Prairies.

I think brick looks mighty fine myself but here it would be terribly expensive to build out of brick. I can't imagine that heating costs would begin to cover the cost of brick over wood. Is brick that much cheaper in Ontario?

[ChevySpoons]

Originally Posted by netwit

I think brick looks mighty fine myself but here it would be terribly expensive to build out of brick. I can't imagine that heating costs would begin to cover the cost of brick over wood. Is brick that much cheaper in Ontario?

It was certainly less expensive in Toronto, owing to the clay upon which the city sits. It made fine bricks, and the Toronto Brickworks, located in the Don Valley, operated for over a hundred years. In other words, bricks could be made and sourced locally, making them an inexpensive building material.

Another reason for brick houses involves the fact that, like Chicago, Toronto also had a great fire. Actually, it had two; in 1849 and 1904. At any rate, among the fire safety measures that were put into place after the second fire, was the need for dwellings to be made of brick instead of wood.

[zortation]

It's a regional thing. I'm from London, located dead centre in the snow belt and a lot of homes are wood siding. But the brick homes are almost always yellow brick, red and brown are 'rare....I don't know why that is.