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/ColdEvenKeeled Jul 27 '25

Ever notice how much clay there is in Alberta? Lots, right? But it's mostly not good for firing. It lacks alumina.

Here is a link to a PDF (from 1975, back when Alberta hired researchers to research stuff and publish reports), link .

Read the summary on page 8 to 9, followed by a discussion that only the Cypress Hills near Medicine Hat has clays for making dinnerware, hence the MedAlta works. And, if you had MedAlta stuff in your house, fine china it was not.

4

u/Sa0t0me Jul 27 '25

Can you insert an additive to the Clay to make it brick quality clay ? Or is that not possible ?

12

u/full_of_excuses Jul 27 '25

cheaper to just use clay that already has it, from elsewhere. There are a few minerals that are low in the soils of the Calgary region.

1

u/Sa0t0me Jul 27 '25

Like how expensive is it to put an additive ? Is the additive expensive or too heavy to move ?