Brick vs. Vinyl Siding

Video 3 of 3: See Brick Veneer and Fiber Cement Video This video shows that homes built with brick offer dramatically more protection from wind-blown debris than homes built with vinyl or fiber-cement siding. The study, conducted at the Wind Science and Engineering Research Center at Texas Tech University, demonstrated that a medium-sized wind-blown object, such as a 7.5-foot long 2 x 4, would penetrate walls clad with vinyl or fiber-cement siding at a speed of 25 miles per hour (mph). By comparison, the same object would need to travel at a speed exceeding 80 mph in order to penetrate the wall of a brick home. In a test that simulated wind-blown debris traveling at a speed of 34 mph, the 2 x 4 bounced off the brick veneer with no damage to the interior wall. When the same test was conducted on a vinyl or fiber-cement sided wall, the 2 x 4 easily penetrated the wall, with more than five feet of the timber passing through the interior wall. The test was representative of debris that would be generated at wind speeds between 100 and 140 mph. All walls in these videos are of typical residential construction: 2×4 studs with fiberglass insulation between them, gypsum board on the inside of the studs and OSB sheathing on the outside of the studs. The only difference in the walls is the exterior cladding.