Value of Wood Frame Vs Brick
Was wondering if anyone had some feedback on what the difference in value for a wood frame versus brick townhouse. For example, if they were the exact same houses, same locations, etc, but A was wood frame and B one was brick, is one worth more and if so by what general %? We saw…
Was wondering if anyone had some feedback on what the difference in value for a wood frame versus brick townhouse. For example, if they were the exact same houses, same locations, etc, but A was wood frame and B one was brick, is one worth more and if so by what general %? We saw an attached townhouse recently that we assumed was brick (front and back are brick) but on inspection of the COO it is listed as construction classification 4 (wood) and we are not sure how to compare it to the market. Any guidance is welcome.
I love Brownstones, frame + brick alike, but they are all firetraps.
I don’t have an answer for your question based on current research, but from my fuzzy memory, I remember frame houses being about 10-15% cheaper to purchase when I searched for a place about 2 years ago. That’s probably because they have lots of disadvantages that you can’t control. The main
one for me was fire. It just seems like a bad idea to have the structure of a building made of dry lumber.
And it seems that I was right. I recently found out that when a large fire starts in a frame house, the FDNY feels that its necessary to open the roof, ceilings and walls of the houses to the left and right of the row house on fire.
It happened around the corner from me on Nostrand between Willoughby and Hart about two months ago. The second to last house at the end of a row of houses caught fire in its top floor. The firemen cut open the roofs and top floor ceilings of the two houses next to it (which don’t seem to have caught fire) and completely wrecked the two with water. The fire did some pretty big damage to the house in the middle.
All three houses now sit boarded up.
I’ve asked some contractors who should know, and I was told that such tactics aren’t used when fighting a similar sized fire in a brick building.
If anyone can add more info, please do.
OP, I am 12:35. You are right to be concerned about the classification apart from how it is constructed. Thre’s lots DOB will let you do to a brick and not to a frame. For example, we were told we could not put central AC compressors on the roof of a frame house. I think you can do this on a brick or brownstone house. You are likely right that there are issues of what DOB will allow you to build or put on top of a frame house on both structural and fire hazard grounds and, if it is a brick house improperly classified as a frame, I don’t know how easy it is to change that. That’s a somewhat different question from market value, though related because it may affect value.
This has been really helpful: thank you. I think one of the underlying concerns as new home buyers was are we paying for what appears to be a brick (just called “townhouse” in the realtor’s description)house because the front and back are brick and sides are hidden due to attachment, but really buying a wood frame house as on the COO. Also, we wanted to possibly build up on the lot and again not too sure about this but think that if it is a construction clarification 4 then they will not allow for the additional 1,000 square foot to be built on the roof whereas if it was a brick house it could…
I have a frame house in ground zero for the frame v. brick issue, namely South Slope. The trick is, there are many degrees in between a true wood frame and true brick. For example, the party walls of attached frames are still brick and frames usually have some amount of masonry at the bottom before the exterior wall switches to frame. Sometimes, the frame part even has brick fill, which is sometimes just loosely placed and sometimes mortared together.
That said, what makes a wood frame house is the frame. The front and back walls of a true frame house are framed much the way an interior wall is framed, with wooden studs and (hopefully) a fair amount of blocking.
If painting were the issue, you wouldn’t see such a price difference. With these old houses, there are fears that come with wood framing (rot, water, termites) that I think are scarier to buyers and perhaps more costly than what one might typically fear in a brick house of similar vintage. Frames are also perhaps a bit harder to keep waterproof. We ended up finding rotten studs, front and back, directly under new wood siding that the flipper had put on, and we built an entirely new frame. One doesn’t usually have to take down the front wall of a brick house and start all over again (not that all that many frames need such radical treatment).
Now that I’ve got you humming along with the Commodores, I really think that a lot of these valuation debates are a bit silly (coop v condo, brick v frame) when they are used as a basis to decide which to buy. If there is a discount for frames (or coops) compared with bricks (or condos), you pay less when you buy and get less when you sell. It doesn’t affect the rate of appreciation. The debate is only meaningful in the context of determining whether a particular property is priced properly. So if you had two houses side by side, frame v. brick, and everything else equal (condition, details, light, amenities, etc.) the brick should be priced higher. A higher price is no reason to buy the brick, it’s only to know that you should avoid the frame if they are priced the same.
Its possible the COO is wrong. I can’t see why anyone would cover wood with brick on the back of a row house with bricks. Who would bother?
COO are often incorrect.
Love my frame house too, though I suspect that a brick house would be generically worth more. As you can see from above, a lot of people place value on their wood frames, so it ultimately is about personal preference.
As for the construction, there are buildings out there that have historic (not fake) brick fronts and backs and wood-frame sides. It may be an older alteration or original construction.
Frame house owner here chiming in.
Regarding insurance, we never had an issue. We are covered by Allstate. Understand that they’ve been dropping people (brick + frame alike) but not us – yet.
Regarding construction classification, there are a lot of homes with brick facades (real not faux) that are wood frame construction. I think this means that the joists are resting on wood framing and not set into the brick.
We use Chubb for our wood frame. Great coverage.