# Is brick housing common in the USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046 "2004-10-19T15:51:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Graycat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Graycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Graycat)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/41 "2004-10-20T18:23:09Z")
When I lived in upstate New York, the houses were a mixture; some brick, more wood or stone. I own a house in Tennessee, built in the early '80’s; wood frame with brick facade. (One full course of brick, but no wider.) My current house is in Virginia, built in the early 60’s is also wood frame with brick facade on the ground floor; the second floor has siding over the brick. (No, I have no idea why whoever did that thought it was a good idea.) I may be using the term brick facade incorrectly, but it seems to me that the wood frame is what is holding up the house, and the brick is keeping the elements off of the wood frame. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/42 "2004-10-20T18:27:46Z")
I think that the official name for this brick façade is a\* curtain wall\* this means that the bricks have no structural role. Only that is there there to protect the wood and look pretty. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/43 "2004-10-20T18:29:56Z")
For that last sentence please read \* Only that it is there …\* ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/44 "2004-10-20T18:33:03Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > On the other hand, in Florida where my parents live there’s practically no brick - all ugly pink stucco. With shells in. You got that right. A lot of the local planning and building effort in my county (Lee) has been spent enforcing this look. It’s called “Mediterranean” and yes, it gets monotonous pretty quick. People have found out that those big, red roof tiles make great projectiles in high wind. So to answer the OP, southwest Florida is not made of brick, despite my wishes. ---
**Author:** ![alphaFemale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecb155/32.png) [@alphaFemale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaFemale)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/45 "2004-10-20T18:34:03Z")
lots of stucco in so. cal. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/46 "2004-10-20T18:43:06Z")
A huge difference from those UK homes, BTW, is the roofing - tile roofs are relatively rare here and usually limited to Spanish-style homes and buildings in the Southwest and Florida. In my experience traveling around the country and living in South Carolina and Georgia, asphalt shingles are by far the most common roofing material. There is some tile and some wooden shake, and every so often metal tries to make a break into residential homes, but on the whole roofs seem overwhelmingly likely to be asphalt. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/47 "2004-10-20T19:06:39Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Here in England, your typical suburban housing looks roughly like [this](http://www.movelocation.com/homesforsale/photos/110/house1.jpg). Or [this](http://www.elmspricemaston.com/letpics/letprp_00000087_1.jpg). Either one of those photos could have been taken in my Northern NJ neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/48 "2004-10-21T01:52:55Z")
> [@Jammer](#): > > North Carolinian here checking in. Our house is 6.5 years old and all brick construction. Most homes in our immediate area are the same, though a few have only 2 or 3 sides brick. > > Jammer NC is one of the major producers of bricks. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/49 "2004-10-21T02:23:23Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > **danceswithcats** - What’s wythe? Do you mean width? > > Around here (in Middle Tennessee) much of the new home construction is faced with brick. Most of the older homes are clapboard or vinyl over wood frame. > > StG From Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > A wythe is a continuous vertical section of masonry one unit in thickness. > > A ‘double wythe’ masonry wall often involves a decorative, interior masonry unit, and a more durable exterior masonry unit. ‘Double wythe’ walls are typically thicker than ‘single wythe’ walls, which are only one masonry unit thick. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/50 "2004-10-21T04:41:28Z")
Brick is a great building material in areas like the Northeast which have hot summers and cold winters. In the summer, a brick house surrounded by trees stays much cooler. (We live in one and barely had to run the air conditioner at all this summer.) In the winter, brick holds in heat pretty well, too. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/51 "2004-10-21T05:03:05Z")
You folks will note that the Commodores didn’t write a song about a stucco house, a vinyl siding house, or a clapboard house. _She’s a brick…house_😉 ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046/52 "2004-10-21T19:17:08Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Either one of those photos could have been taken in my Northern NJ neighborhood. Trust me, the UK does not look like New Jersey. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-brick-housing-common-in-the-usa/270046.md?page=2)