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Housing Materials Of Choice. First, There Is Brick.

By
Real Estate Agent with Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate 303829;0225082372

Housing Materials of Choice.  In My Area, the Mid-Atlantic States, Housing Exteriors Begin With Brick. 

Alternatives to brick are numerous.  Some good.  Some not so good.

First there were many homes with clapboard siding.  I remember them well.  However, the painting every 4-5 years was time consuming and costly.  What to do?

Build homes with asbestos siding.  No painting needed.  However, the risk of particles of asbestos invading the air and our lungs was frightening.  What to do?

Easy, cover the asbestos siding with aluminum siding.  No toxicity.  No painting.  However, after a while the panels would fade and deteriorate.  What to do?

Easy, use fiberboard/Masonite.  No toxicity.  Rarely repainted.  However, after a few years, it would deteriorate.  What to do?

Easy, use EFIS, better known as synthetic stucco.  Used extensively in the early 1990s, it was popular until the homes literally rotted from the inside out due to moisture penetration.  What to do?

There are other options, but represent only a small percentage of housing.  The most popular today is probably vinyl siding.  While it's susceptible to wind damage, vinyl siding is attractive and versatile. 

Inspired by Jay Markanich in You Mean Aluminum Siding Can Deteriorate?

What's your choice? 

    
About 10,000 homes in Bowie MD were constructed with asbestos siding.   Many have been upgraded with aluminum or vinyl siding over the asbestos.

  

The most popular is the house with a brick front and vinyl siding.  It's rare to see homes with 3-4 sides of brick except in luxury class homes. 

  

With luxury homes, combinations of materials are often seen.  The above is stucco and stone.

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Comments(15)

Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Lenn- We were used to stucco here in Florida, so when we moved to Leesburg, we were happy to see brick again.  Our home had brick on all sides, something Larry insisted on.  Loved it. 

Mar 13, 2014 11:52 PM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

Kathy.  The stucco you have in Florida is probably going to be REAL stucco.  Not that popular in this area.

4 sides brick is the consumer's choice here but it's only found in luxury communities because of the cost.  You were in such a community.

Mar 13, 2014 11:56 PM
Kristi Knutson
Kirkland, WA
Blog Trainer ☂

My home is all brick - but also was built (by my Grandpa!) in 1955! Perhaps because of that, I have a soft spot for hard materials - stone and brick, primarily :)

Great post, thanks for sharing!

Mar 14, 2014 12:11 AM
Dick Greenberg
New Paradigm Partners LLC - Fort Collins, CO
Northern Colorado Residential Real Estate

Hi Lenn - We see few brick homes here, even though it's a great building material. I think part of the reason is that we've never had a lot of bricklayers moving from back east to ply their trade, which makes sense since we didn't have many refractories to provide the building materials and shipping was expensive. We do see a lot of brick trim, but much of that is veneer.

Mar 14, 2014 12:31 AM
Debbie Reynolds, C21 Platinum Properties
Platinum Properties- (931)771-9070 - Clarksville, TN
The Dedicated Clarksville TN Realtor-(931)320-6730

Lenn, Brick and stone are my favorites and now the Hardiboards (sp?) have long life too. I tend to think brick will last forever.

Mar 14, 2014 12:41 AM
Patricia Beck
RE/MAX Properties, Inc., ABR, GRI, SRES - Colorado Springs, CO
Colorado Springs Realty

Although we do not see many brick homes here, I think brick is the way to go.  It lasts the longest! I am not a huge fan of vinyl siding.  We get hail storms often here and they do rip up the vinyl siding on homes in Colorado Springs.

Mar 14, 2014 01:11 AM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

Kristi.  Homes of that era were primarily of brick.  That was before the cheaper vinyl, etc.  The problems is that many home buyers want homes that were built much later.

Dick.  Brick vaneer is the material here too.  I haven't seen a new home built of brick for many years.  Just not cost effective or competitive.

Debbie.  Well, we have those wonderful homes in Williamsburg that have lasted a while.  That's our style and choice of materials here.  Hardiboard is popular, but expensive compared to vinyl siding.

Patricia.  HA!  All we need is a strong wind, or hail and the insurance companies are replacing siding, in entire communities.

Mar 14, 2014 01:33 AM
Tom White
Franklin Homes Realty LLC (615) 495-0752 or www.FranklinHomesRealty.com - Franklin, TN
Franklin Homes Realty LLC, Franklin TN

Lenn, I grew up in a brick home built in the 50's. It was great. When we built our current home 8 years ago we chose Hardiplank. It's durable and "looks right" on our Cape Cod type house in the country. To each his own, I guess...

Mar 14, 2014 03:54 AM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

Tom. Looking right is important.  I believe that brick fronts on homes with wrap porches look strange. 

Hardiplank on a Cape is perfect.

Mar 14, 2014 06:26 AM
Jay Markanich
Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC - Bristow, VA
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia

Our 50s home in Kensington was brick.  My grandmother's home in Chevy Chase (1910) still has the original wood siding!

Thanks!  Glad to inspire a thoughtful blog!

Mar 14, 2014 06:37 AM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

Jay.  HA!  I thought for a while that the city of Kensington had a residency requirement that the home be brick.

Chevy Chase is a tad different.  Wood was the siding material in those days.  No matter what the material, maintenance is important.  Even for brick.

Mar 14, 2014 06:50 AM
Jay Markanich
Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC - Bristow, VA
Home Inspector - servicing all Northern Virginia

The wood siding obviously has lasted because they painted it a few times with lead-based paint!

Mar 14, 2014 09:26 AM
George Souto
George Souto NMLS #65149 FHA, CHFA, VA Mortgages - Middletown, CT
Your Connecticut Mortgage Expert

Lenn I remember all of those sidings and have lived in houses with almost all of them.  The worst was the clapboard siding, it looked great when new, but after a few times of scraping and paint, and they did not look to good.

Mar 14, 2014 10:41 AM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

Jay.  You're probably right.  A mixture of linseed oil and white lead is all that's needed every 5 years or so.

Mar 14, 2014 09:07 PM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

George.  The sidings like vinyl are so popular just for that reason.

Mar 14, 2014 09:09 PM