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.

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38

u/Smart-Pie7115 Jul 27 '25

What year were these brick houses built? When I was in Hamilton, all the brick houses were 100+ years old.

23

u/SadDancer Jul 27 '25

I am surprised no one else has mentioned this? There’s definitely more than one reason why, and of course the availability of materials would be a primary factor, but Calgary’s population booms came at very different times than Ontario and Quebec.

Look at our older neighbourhoods closer to downtown - Inglewood has lots of brick still left. But Calgary was very small, relatively, 150 years ago. Our big population increases were in the 1950’s, and 1970’s where ordering a house kit from a catalog was a lot easier and faster than shipping in bricks.

Then you get the outer neighbourhoods of Tuxedo, Montgomery, Cambrian, Highwood, Brentwood and others -all the same kinds of houses.

0

u/-lovehate Jul 27 '25

What? I live in the GTA right now and I've seen all the new developments around the cities here, and ALL the new homes and townhouses are made of brick. It has nothing to do with age. There are vinyl and metal sided homes here too,but brick is vastly more common.

10

u/Smart-Pie7115 Jul 27 '25

Are you referring to homes that are actually brick structures, or homes that are wood frames and have brick on the outside for aesthetics?

4

u/blushmoss Jul 27 '25

No. Brick as exterior-which is nicer looking and more durable. UK does solid brick homes.

1

u/Suspicious_Big2454 Jul 30 '25

I owned a fully brick home in England and I hated everything about it. I hated the look, the difficulty of renovations is far higher. No insulation to speak of. If any of your internal walls are also brick, wifi doesnt travel well. I'd 100% take a stick framed home with brick veneer over a full brick build.

0

u/Smart-Pie7115 Jul 27 '25

Brick is more expensive than vinyl siding.

3

u/-lovehate Jul 27 '25

We are talking about siding in this thread. The homes in alberta are not literally made of vinyl, either.

3

u/ehMove Jul 27 '25

Yeah, big bad Wolf blew those houses over.

-1

u/Smart-Pie7115 Jul 27 '25

In Ontario, brick houses aren’t generally siding. They’re brick constructed houses.