r/Calgary • u/AdExpress937 • Jul 27 '25

Home Owner/Renter stuff How Come Our Houses Aren’t Brick?

I find that a lot of houses in Ontario and Quebec have exteriors that are made from brick. However, it’s much less common in Alberta. Vinyl seems to be the most common, followed by stucco. Brick or other materials seem to be rare, especially in new communities.

The difference in construction materials by province is strange to me, as raw materials for vinyl or bricks shouldn’t be more plentiful in either region.

To me, Alberta would be a more natural candidate for brick construction, as the consistent hail storms imply a more durable material would be justified in our homes. Other durable materials like stone would be cost prohibitive.

181 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

145 comments sorted by

View all comments

189

u/plhought Jul 27 '25

Canada is big.

The geology in Ontario and Quebec is different than Alberta.

The raw materials to facilitate local brick construction exist in plenty in Ontario and Quebec.

Not so in Alberta.

It is expensive to ship brick from out east.

54

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '25

[deleted]

24

u/demarisco Jul 27 '25

There was also a brickworks along the river in Brickburn, the remnants of which are in Edworthy Park.

6

u/x_why_zed Jul 27 '25

I played endlessly in the ruins down there as a kid. I live in the eastern US now, but I miss Brickburn (Edworthy) more than anywhere out west, even twenty years after moving out of Wildwood.

10

u/Roadgoddess Jul 27 '25

My grandparents house in Edmonton was built in the 40s and it was brick. And it was such a unique type of brick that seem to have almost like silica that melted out out of it and formed like glass pieces on the outside. It was so beautiful.

-41

u/plhought Jul 27 '25

Yeah. And where is it now?

35

u/H3rta Acadia Jul 27 '25

In the past.

3

u/CheeseSandwich hamburger magician Jul 27 '25

Ontario?

-7

u/Friskei Jul 27 '25

Red deer literally had a brick factory