Why
Should I buy a brick home?
Nothing
else can match the classic beauty and elegance of a brick home.
Building with brick says, "You have arrived." But
there's more to brick than just looks. Brick offers lasting value.
It can enhance the resale value of your home by as much as 6 percent.
Brick is virtually maintenance free. It doesn't rot, dent, or need to be
painted and won't be eaten by termites. Brick is also energy
efficient, keeping you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. In
short, brick offers you a combination of advantages not found in any
other siding material. The world's most beautiful and most practical
homes are built with brick.
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Is
brick that much more expensive than other siding materials?
Brick costs more than some other commonly used
siding materials because brick is a premium product, but it's not nearly
as expensive as you might think. In many parts of the country, a new
brick home will cost you only 3-5% more than a comparable vinyl-sided
home. Other products, such as artificial stucco, cost about the same as
brick, but are far less durable and require much greater maintenance and
upkeep.
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What kind of maintenance
does a brick home require?
A brick home is virtually maintenance free. Brick is one of the
oldest building materials in the world, and one of the reasons it's
still so popular is brick's ease of upkeep. Brick never needs
painting, never rots, will never be eaten by termites and will never
dent or tear. Brick homes built hundreds of years ago still stand today.
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Is brick energy efficient?
Brick is a building material that has exceptional "thermal mass
" properties. Thermal mass is the ability of a heavy, dense
material to store heat and then slowly release it. For you, this means
that during the summer months your brick home stays cool during the
hottest part of the day. During the winter, brick walls store your
home's heat and radiate it back to you. Vinyl, aluminum, wood or EIFS
(artificial stucco) are all thin, light building materials that don't
have good thermal mass properties. The superior thermal mass qualities
of brick have been known for centuries. Most notably, the Pueblo Indians
in the Southwest used adobe masonry to moderate weather extremes and
keep their homes comfortable.
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How does brick impact my home insurance costs?
A brick home is fire resistant, pest resistant and weather
resistant. Brick is such a strong and durable building material that
your insurance companies may even offer you a discount on your home
insurance costs. Check with your agent for more details.
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Do brick homes have a better resale value?
Take a look through this Sunday's real estate section of your local
newspaper and read the home listings. Notice how people always
list brick as a primary selling point. Brick's beauty and
practicality are always a plus when you resell. On average, a
brick exterior adds 6% to the resale value of your home.
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Are there many color options available with brick?
Brick is an all-natural building material that is made from a mix of
sand and clay that is then baked, or "fired," in a kiln until
hardened. Different clays produce different colors, and there are many
different types of clays. In addition, various natural coatings, such as
sand and limestone, can also be added during the firing process to
produce different colors, effects, textures and finishes. Even a brick's
position in the kiln can affect the final look. When you combine
these with the tonal varieties of today's mortars, you can see that your
color choices in brick are virtually endless.
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