Brick veneer offers energy savings
Material offers energy advantages, retains its good looks decade after decade
Masonry wasn’t my favourite homebuilding material when
I got involved in building and renovation back in the mid1980s. However, 30 years of dealing with reality has changed my mind. Brick veneer, in particular, offers the best combination of quality and economy of any exterior building material I know of in Canada, and there are specific points I mention to people who come to me looking for construction and renovation advice.
Brick veneer is the most common way brick is used in modern Canadian home building and it works as part of stud frame construction. A single layer of brick is installed on the outside face of exterior wall frames, with an air space between the brick and the frame. Insulation is installed within the frame, with drywall or other finished surfaces created on the interior face as usual.
The first thing about brick veneer is that it retains its good looks longer and with far less maintenance than any other exterior building material. The difference is huge.
Where it’s common to see dents, scratches, holes and mould growth on other exterior wall options over time, brick veneer just sits there and keeps on looking good, decade after decade. The only potential trouble with brick that I’ve seen is flaking caused by the freeze-thaw cycles we get here in Canada. The thing is, it’s easy to avoid this trouble. That’s why it’s rare. Choose brick that meets CSA Standard A82-06 and install brick no closer to the ground than six inches and you’ll be fine.
Not many people realize that true brick veneer also offers energy advantages for a home because it adds thermal mass to the structure. On a hot day, the transmission of excess heat to wall frames and insulation is reduced and slowed because it takes time for the brick to warm up. Conversely, it also takes longer for the low temperatures of a frosty Canadian night to penetrate the brick and draw heat out of your home. The more you can protect the insulated wall frame of your house from wide swings in temperature, the better that insulation will work. If you could magically apply brick to the outside of a non-brick home as a test, you’d immediately feel a difference inside.
Brick veneer may be one of the most environmentally friendly exterior wall options going. And while it’s hard to quantify things like this, there are facts to go by.
Brick is made from natural materials and it’s easy to recycle. Given the long life of brick, it also has what they call “low embodied energy.”
This means that the energy required to manufacture the brick is lower than other options, given how long the material is expected to last.
The National Institute for Standards and Technology gives brick a 100-year lifespan, though most brick lasts longer than this. So yes, though brick uses quite a bit of heat energy during the manufacturing process, this energy investment goes a long way because it gets spread out over a very long time — much longer than any other non-masonry exterior wall option.
So why isn’t every Canadian home covered in brick? Cost is probably the biggest reason why. Brick is more expensive than most other exterior wall treatments, and this plays into short-term thinking. Why pay for 100-plus years of durable good looks when you may only plan to be in your new or renovated home for five years?
There are two reasons I take the long view on things like this:
First, the extra money you invest to get brick comes back to you in the form of a faster resale and higher price. People love brick. But at least as important to me is the investment in the quality of our country. Don’t better buildings make Canada a better place to live?