The brick house is a structure that uses brick walls and reinforced concrete beams, slabs, columns and other components, which mainly bear the load on the wall surface, without any other support points. The advantages of brick houses are good durability, thermal insulation and sound insulation, corrosion resistance, and long service life. The disadvantages of brick houses are heavy weight, poor seismic performance, and the need to set up ring beams and structural columns to enhance the integrity and stiffness. The brick house is suitable for buildings with few floors (six or fewer), and the load-bearing walls cannot be changed.
Steel structure house is a structure that uses steel materials to make beams, columns, trusses and other components, which mainly bear the load on the steel materials, and connect the walls and foundations with chemical anchors, expansion bolts and other methods. The advantages of steel structure houses are lightweight, good integrity, moderate stiffness, strong seismic performance, flexible room layout, and increased effective area. The disadvantages of steel structure houses are poor corrosion resistance, special treatment required for foundations with service life requirements, and high requirements for construction sites. Steel structure house is suitable for large-scale workshops, large-span structures or super-high-rise buildings.
Based on the above information, we can compare the brick house and steel structure house in terms of cost, energy efficiency, strength and engineering:
Cost: Steel structure house is cheaper to build than brick house. The brick house is very labor intensive as it requires laying bricks or concrete blocks manually. Steel structure houses can be framed with wood or steel columns with exterior steel paneling that can be installed very quickly. These steel panels are cut to size in the factory and attached to the framing during construction with stainless steel crews.
Energy efficiency: Steel structure house is more energy efficient than brick house in terms of thermal regulation. Brick house has a thick wall (8 inches) that offers some energy efficiency from its own mass, but it is difficult to fully insulate to the same value of a steel structure house. The R-value of a concrete block is between R-1.9 and R-2.5. You can insulate the cavity (vermiculite) of the concrete block during construction to achieve an R-value rating approaching R-10. On the other hand, steel structure house is constructed as post-frame buildings with columns and trusses every 8 feet, that allows for a superior insulation package as there will be less air leaks and additional space for insulation. With a qualified insulation professional, a steel structure house can easily exceed the R-value needed for exterior walls in your zones.
Strength and engineering: The strength of your building depends on the engineering behind its design. Steel, concrete and wood all have different structural properties that need to be incorporated into the engineering of your buildings. The building should be engineered by a licensed engineer or architect to ensure that it meets all of the required buildings codes. Steel structure house has better seismic performance than brick house as it can withstand a certain degree of earthquake and other disasters. Brick house is more prone to collapse in case of earthquake or other disasters as it has heavy weight and poor integrity.
In conclusion, brick house and steel structure house have their own pros and cons, and there is no absolute good or bad. You need to choose according to your actual situation and needs.
