Why Brick? Everything You Need To Know About Brick Plus A Few FAQ's
/The day we came to look at our house, my eye looked past the Christmas colors red + green trim and went immediately to the front porch. I turned to Ron and said it was meant to be brick. Six years later, we finally got it.
If you want to know exactly how I DIY’ed our porch with thin brick, I wrote a blog post about the whole process here. Today, I am focusing on the why.
Why brick?
As I was working on this project, the most common question asked was why did I choose brick. Why spend all that money to add brick when the concrete slab was in ‘okay’ condition? Let me tell you, I am happy to share!
*This post was sponsored by The Brick Industry Association on why I chose to add brick to our home. But have no fear, all opinions are 100% my own. Any links that are provided contain affiliate links. Meaning if you purchase through my link, while it’s the same cost to you, I get a small commission – see my full disclosure here*
Character
Our house is a 1929 Cottage Tudor. Over the years, a lot of the original character has been removed. One thing that still remains is the original brick chimney. And at one point, a brick border walkway was added. We’ve always envisioned adding more and have slowly been working on adding those brick accents to bring back that character to our home.
We started with a brick pathway in our backyard after we built our kids playhouse. Our backyard went from a bland space to this little oasis for our family and the brick adds so much to that.
Then we did one of my favorite things inside our home and that was adding the fireplace back in. At some point in time, the fireplace was covered to add an additional room. We removed that wall and lived with a drywalled blank wall for a few years. We aren’t 100% sure what the original fireplace looked like, but we did know that brick was involved. So we went floor to ceiling. We topped it off with a $12 DIY Mantel which has worked well so far, but I do have plans to add in a deeper, more vintage looking mantel one day {stay tuned for that}. This room went from the most hated room in the house to one where we sit by the fire with coffee in hand. And nothing beats it during the Christmas season. Instant character!
Hands down the biggest project with the most character and impact was adding the brick to our 225 sq foot front porch last summer. It added instant character and was a game changer with our basic stucco exterior.
Curb Appeal
The first thing people notice when they walk up to our house is the brick porch, mentioning that it is the first thing they notice with how much character it brings to our house. I always hold myself back from telling them I DIY’ed it and smile with a “thank you, we love it.” 😉
But they are so right, the curb appeal changed drastically after adding in the brick. There is not a day that I pull into our driveway and wish I didn’t add it to our porch.
Maintenance
Bricks are so durable and hold up well over time with little maintenance . Time just gives it more character. The concrete slab underneath the bricks was filled with rust stains that would not come out, no matter what I tried. It also was extremely smooth which looked nice, but would become extremely slippery when wet.
Since adding the brick, we have been able to sit back and enjoy the porch. It has held up so well and I have talked to many people who added brick to their porch and it looks just as good as the day they did it. Brick is very maintenance friendly, making it a great option to add character + curb appeal without adding more work for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does it feel to walk on? It must be awful when you are barefoot.
This question came up a lot {I mean a lot} when I was in the middle of this DIY. I’m not sure what people are expecting; a dagger poking out of the brick maybe? But it feels like any other hard surface {tile, concrete, etc.} to walk on. I mean, if you are comparing it to carpet, then of course there is a difference. But I walk out here barefoot all the time with no issue. If anything, it is more comfortable than the slick concrete slab underneath that would become a slippery mess with any drop of water.
Is cleaning a nightmare?
Absolutely not! I clean it the same way I did with the concrete by rinsing it down with the hose and using a blower to dry. And I have only done that once since finishing it 7 months ago, whereas I would have to clean the concrete every couple of months before.
Why thin brick?
Let’s talk more about this! It is in fact real brick that has been cut down to thin pieces. Which means that it has all the same texture and that brick has, it is just thinner and lighter. This makes it an excellent option for many DIY projects and can be used in a variety of spaces.
So now to the actual question, why thin brick? The simple answer, because of how our porch is. A full size brick would have made our porch too tall. These thin bricks provided us with everything we wanted without making our porch too high.
There are times when a full size brick might be the better option and other times when a thin brick will give you the result you want. But either way, you get the beautiful character and durability that brick brings.
If you want to know more about brick and why it is an excellent option for your home, make sure to check out The Brick Industry Association. If you have any other questions, let me know below!
with love, andi
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