ALL exterior walls in the house exposed brick.

Contractor · Saint Louis, MO · Member since 2019 · 20 posts · 0 votes

I am considering rehabbing a 100 year old brick house in St. Louis City as a rental. With the quickpoint tuckpointing gun, tuckpointing is very cheap and easy, most likely easier than hanging and finishing drywall. The biggest problems I can think of with exposed brick walls are cleaning the brick walls during turnover and lack of insulation.

Assuming having all exposed brick walls are way way cheaper than drywall, what problems might I encounter with having exposed brick walls?

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Aaron Schump

Architect · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2017 · 16 posts · 16 votes

@Cameron Hillebrand

The exposed brick is not an issue, though you will want to seal them after they have been repointed. If you dont the brick will flake off over time. It's a real mess. We like to use a water-based product, not a polyethylene.The water-based options will allow the brick to "breathe/dry out".

St. Louis still has great masons, since most of the city buildings are true brick constructions, so no problem with labor. The insulation value is sort of an issue, but it's not really any worse than the plaster you already have in place. The huge thermal mass of the brick is what slows down the heat/cold transfer. If you want better insulation, you will want to remove the plater and fur out with 2x4's to allow for insulation. Rockwool works great in a brick application.

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Jim Goebel
Real Estate Investor · Des Moines, IA · Member since 2016 · 922 posts · 533 votes
6y
@Cameron Hillebrand
Well - I've never owned an old school masonry building, but there's multiple reasons that structures stopped being built that way in the early 20th century. One is that when there is a failure of some sort, like heaving, cracking, etc - it's systemic in nature and affects how it looks and also makes the structure compromised. The next is the upkeep - I watched a video of that gun and sure, if you already have masonry there it may be easier / cheaper especially if you're doing the labor. Good masonry work though is becoming harder and harder to hire out. Not many people do it anymore.
The other reason is one you touched on. I don't know St. Louis climate well, but brick has an R value per inch of roughly 0.20 / inch. Compare that to maybe an R value of 3-5 / inch for actual insulation, and yes, you're either paying huge bills or passing those along to your tenant(s), unless you can figure something else out.
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Aaron Schump
Architect · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2017 · 16 posts · 16 votes
6y
@Cameron Hillebrand
The exposed brick is not an issue, though you will want to seal them after they have been repointed. If you dont the brick will flake off over time. It's a real mess. We like to use a water-based product, not a polyethylene.The water-based options will allow the brick to "breathe/dry out".
St. Louis still has great masons, since most of the city buildings are true brick constructions, so no problem with labor. The insulation value is sort of an issue, but it's not really any worse than the plaster you already have in place. The huge thermal mass of the brick is what slows down the heat/cold transfer. If you want better insulation, you will want to remove the plater and fur out with 2x4's to allow for insulation. Rockwool works great in a brick application.
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Steven Foster Wilson
Rental Property Investor · Columbus, OH · Member since 2017 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
@Cameron Hillebrand exposed brick looks Sexy! However the efficiency for a home can lack BIG time with only exposed brick walls. Especially in a northern state like MO. In your climate you preferably want R15-R30 insulation to keep hot air in during the winter, and cold air in during the summer. A double layer brick wall has an R value of about 1.6.
However I have exposed brick walls and im in Columbus OH, I keep it that way, but end up paying much more for heating and cooling.
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Cameron Hillebrand
OP
Contractor · Saint Louis, MO · Member since 2019 · 20 posts · 0 votes
6y
@Aaron Schump
Hey Aaron. Thank you so much. I'm hoping to make a youtube series and/or a book to rehab city houses cheaply. I think that there is so much opportunity and deals to be had in STL if people knew how to properly and cheaply rehab a brick house.
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Cameron Hillebrand
OP
Contractor · Saint Louis, MO · Member since 2019 · 20 posts · 0 votes
6y
@Steven Wilson
Hi Steve. Thanks for your reply. It is good to hear the opinion of someone who lives in a exposed brick house. I'm considering doing that to mine for the ease of rehabbing it. It looks super sexy without having to put a bunch of thought into the design. I can just set up 2 15/hr guys on the quikpoint and knock it out in 2 days with them. I'm also curious about how all exposed brick affects the resale value of a house.
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