Brick Stands Up to the Big Bad Wolf and Hurricanes

The three little pigs, safe inside the brick house.

Intuitively we knew the third little pig had the right idea when he built his house out of bricks. Still, people like to quantify such matters.

A study sponsored by the Brick Industry Association (BIA) and conducted at the Wind Science and Engineering Research Center at Texas Tech University demonstrated that a 7.5-foot long 2 x 4 flying through the air at 25 mph would penetrate a home built with vinyl or fiber-cement siding (not to mention the first piggy's straw home). To penetrate a brick home, however, that 2 x 4 would have to reach 80 mph, said the study.

A wood 2 x 4 was used because wood framing in home construction is expected to become airborne in hurricane winds.

The test revealed that at 34 mph, the 2 x 4 bounced off brick veneer with no damage to the interior wall. At the same speed, the 2 x 4 penetrated the vinyl or fiber-cement sided wall, with more than five feet of the timber passing through the interior wall. The tests were said to represent weather that would generate wind speeds between 100 and 140 mph.

The tests were the second phase of a two-year study conducted by the BIA on the impact resistance of typical residential wall construction to wind-blown debris.

For more info, visit www.bia.org