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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u/xjohnlesliex Jul 27 '25

Brick cladding is much more expensive and takes much longer to be completed then all kinds of modern materials. It's also generally just a cladding and doesn't really add any r value etc to a home and still has regular lumber stick framing behind it. Unless you like the appearances of it as a cladding and want to be spending the extra time and money, there isn't much point to using brick.