Exterior Brick Siding

Brick Siding for Your Home

Wonderful long lasting material but it comes with a price.

Brick siding is prized for many reasons including it’s durability, low maintenance requirements and it’s pleasing appearance. Made of fired clay brick is available in a number of different sizes, textures and even color combinations.

Brick siding is most commonly just that, siding, and not a structural part of the house. Brick is placed on the outside of a typical wood frame as a veneer. It is held together with mortar a mixture of cement or lime, sand and water that hardens in place. Under normal conditions brick siding will last the life of the building with nothing more than than the occasional hose cleaning necessary.

Since both the appearance and longevity of brick siding depends so much on the quality of the installation this type of siding requires a professional to do the job. Also, while it might appear that brick is a watertight exterior it is not. Water can and will penetrate past the brick veneer making it very important that a water membrane is properly installed to protect the inside of your home. Due to the increased cost of installation and the cost of materials brick siding is on the higher end of the siding costs scale which is one of it’s few downsides.

While brick siding does cost more to install it is estimated that it will increase the value of your home by as much as 6%.

Brick Siding:

Longevity: Life of the building

Maintenance: Hose washing for first 25 years, repairing loose joints after that.

Cost: Higher than average

If you’re looking for more low maintenance siding options consider looking at fiber-cement , vinyl , stucco or seamless steel .

The Brick Industry offers a great deal of information on using brick in residential and commercial projects including a guide to brick shapes.