Block Work vs Brick: Choosing the Right Masonry for Your Build

On most new builds and additions in Toronto, the question isn’t really brick or block. It’s where each one belongs. Concrete block carries load and gets buried in the assembly. Brick faces the weather and gets looked at every day. Understanding how the two divide the work makes it much easier to follow what a contractor is proposing, and the crews at Automatic Masonry handle both sides of that assembly on projects across Toronto and the GTA.

What Each Material Actually Does

Concrete masonry units, which almost everyone on site just calls block, are large hollow units made from cement, aggregate, and water. They’re fast to lay, they can be reinforced with steel and filled with grout, and they carry serious vertical load. Their weakness is appearance and moisture: block is porous and it isn’t meant to be a finished exterior surface.

Clay brick is smaller, denser, and fired rather than cured. It resists water far better, holds its colour for decades, and it’s the material Toronto’s building stock is largely made of. It carries load too, though in modern construction it’s more often doing the facing work while something else carries the weight.

Put simply, block work does the structural job and brick does the weathering and the appearance. Most contemporary walls in the GTA use both, which is why brick and block work usually shows up on the same estimate rather than as competing options.

The Standard Modern Wall

A typical exterior wall on a new Toronto build looks like this from inside out: a concrete block or framed structural wall, insulation, an air gap, and a brick veneer tied back to the structure with metal ties.

Almost every modern wall in the GTA therefore involves both trades. That air gap is the part people miss. It lets any water that gets past the brick drain back out through weep holes at the base instead of soaking into the structure. It’s also the main difference between a modern wall and the solid masonry walls on century homes, which have no gap at all and manage water differently.

The consequence for a build is straightforward. The block wall has to be laid plumb and level because everything else references off it, and the brick veneer has to be tied and flashed correctly or the drainage plane doesn’t work. Both trades are masonry, but the tolerances and the priorities are different.

Where Block Work Belongs

Block work earns its place anywhere strength matters more than appearance, or where the surface will be covered anyway:

• Foundation walls and basement walls
• Retaining and garden walls that will be faced with stone or left utilitarian
• Party walls and fire separations between units
• Mechanical rooms, elevator shafts, and stairwells
• Commercial and industrial structures where speed of erection matters
• Interior load-bearing walls in additions and second-storey builds

Reinforced block wall construction is the workhorse of commercial building in the GTA for a reason. Steel in the cores and grout fill turns a stack of units into something close to a reinforced concrete wall, at a fraction of the forming effort. Our block work masonry crews build these as both structural elements and as the backup wall behind a brick or stone face.

Where Brick Belongs

Brick belongs anywhere the wall will be seen or exposed to weather:

• Exterior veneer on houses, additions, and low-rise buildings
• Chimneys above the roofline
• Front steps, porches, and piers
• Garden and privacy walls where appearance matters
• Repairs and infill on existing brick buildings across Toronto

The case for brick on exterior faces is mostly about longevity. It handles freeze-thaw cycling well when it’s laid with the right mortar and detailed properly, and a brick wall built correctly today will still look right in fifty years. Choosing units for a repair or an addition is its own exercise, and matching an existing wall is covered in our guide on brick replacement.

Brick and Block Work on Commercial Projects

On commercial and multi-unit sites the division of labour is even clearer. Block wall construction goes up as the structure: reinforced cores, grout fill, and bond beams carrying floor and roof loads, with fire separations and shafts built from the same units. Brick then arrives as the face, often only on the elevations the public sees, with a finish system or exposed block elsewhere.

That sequencing is why brick and block work on a commercial project is usually scheduled as two distinct phases rather than one continuous trade. The block work has to be complete and cured before veneer can be tied to it, and the ties themselves are often built into the block joints as the wall goes up. Missing that window means drilling and anchoring later, which is slower and never as good.

Scale changes the tolerances too. A residential garage wall can absorb small variations. A block wall construction run of thirty metres cannot, because every deviation compounds along the veneer above it. Our commercial masonry crews plan the structural wall around what the facing needs, not the other way around.

Cost, Speed, and Labour

Block covers area faster. One unit replaces several bricks, so a block wall goes up with fewer placements and fewer joints. That speed is the main reason it dominates below grade and on commercial structures.

Brick takes more time per square metre and more skill in the finishing, since every joint is visible and inconsistency shows. The tooling, the joint profile, and the colour consistency of the mortar all become part of the finished product rather than something hidden behind a wall.

That’s why brick and block work is priced as two different kinds of labour on the same estimate, and why the material split usually follows visibility rather than budget. Nobody specifies brick for a foundation to save money, and nobody specifies block for a front elevation to save time.

Where the Two Meet

The junctions are where problems tend to start, so they’re worth understanding:

Ties. Brick veneer has to be mechanically tied back to the block or frame behind it at set spacings. Too few ties, or ties that were bent to reach, and the veneer isn’t properly restrained.

Flashing and weeps. Water that enters the cavity needs somewhere to go. Base flashing directs it out, weep holes let it exit. Blocked or omitted weeps mean water sits in the cavity.

Control and expansion joints. Brick expands and concrete block shrinks. They move in opposite directions, so joints have to be placed to allow it rather than letting the wall crack where it wants to.

Bearing. Where a brick element sits on block, or a lintel spans an opening, the load path has to be deliberate. Improvised bearing is one of the more common defects on additions. Our block work retrofit project is an example of block being introduced into an existing structure, where bearing and tie-in had to be worked out before anything was laid.

What to Ask on Your Build

If you’re reviewing a proposal that covers both brick and block work, a few specific questions tell you a lot:

• What’s carrying the load, and what’s veneer?
• Is the block reinforced and grouted, and where?
• How is the veneer tied, and at what spacing?
• Where are the flashings, weeps, and movement joints?
• What mortar type is specified for each element?

A contractor who can answer those clearly is thinking about the wall as an assembly rather than as two separate piles of material. Blockwork and brickwork are priced and scheduled differently, but they fail together. If the answers are vague, the details usually get improvised on site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is block stronger than brick?

Reinforced and grouted block carries more vertical load than an equivalent brick wall, which is why it’s used structurally. Brick is denser and handles weather exposure better.

Can concrete block be left exposed outside?

It can, and it often is on utilitarian structures, but it’s porous and needs sealing or parging to hold up. For anything visible, a brick or stone face is the better choice.

Do I need both brick and block on an addition?

Usually yes on an exterior wall, since one element carries load and the other faces the weather. Some additions use a framed structural wall with brick veneer instead of block.

Why is my new brick wall cracking near a corner?

Most often it’s a missing or badly placed movement joint. Brick expands over time and needs somewhere to do it, or the stress relieves itself as a crack.

Can block wall construction be used above grade?

Yes, and it commonly is on commercial buildings and party walls. Above grade it’s normally faced with brick, stone, or a finish system rather than left bare.

Planning a Build in Toronto or the GTA

Whether you’re putting up an addition, a garage, a retaining structure, or a commercial shell, the material split is worth settling early. Getting the structural wall and the facing right at the design stage costs far less than correcting ties, flashings, or movement joints after the wall is standing.

Contact us for a free estimate and we’ll go through the assembly for your project.