Brick Veneer Versus Solid Brick Wall Cost And Performance
Brick Veneer Versus Solid Brick Wall Cost And Performance Almost every brick house built in North America since about 1970 is a brick veneer house. The bricks you see are real, full-thickness, fired-clay bricks. What is behind them is wood or steel framing, sheathing, weather-resistive barrier, and a one-inch air gap. The bricks are doing aesthetic and weather-shielding work, but they are not holding the building up. This is a very different proposition from a solid brick wall, where two or three wythes of brick are bonded together and are themselves the structural envelope. Homeowners often do not know which they have, and the distinction matters a great deal when something goes wrong. It matters even more if you are considering new construction or a major addition. The cost and performance trade-offs are not subtle, and the wrong choice for the climate or the use case can be expensive in ways that take twenty years to become obvious. How to Tell What You Have The simplest...
