Fake brick cladding on brick houses. Why?

[Toddlerteaplease]

Some nice brick Victorian terraces near me have had this done. It looks dreadful. It’s not like the fake stone stuff from the 80’s. It also sticks out by a few inches.

I've not seen this but it sounds awful and may also trap or cause dampness inside.

I have seen some older 'council houses' where they have been clad, to improve insulation, but they had a rendered finished and looked OK.

I've only seen it on old council houses that aren't made with brick & mortar pub pre fab, that was originally grey or yellow. In that circumstance fake brick looks well improved!

I can understand on those council houses and the ones near me look good. But this just looks awful. The lintels are painted ok and don’t match the rest of the terrace. It’s also got large air vents. It spoils an otherwise nice terrace.

Not my thing, but because they like it I suppose. Daft question really. Or just more judgement from you?

It sounds likely external insulation with a brick effect to “match” the original

Hmmmmm I was considering brick slips clddding. About to buy a property that’s had an extension done in breeze blocks and the rendered and I dislike render. The brick slips look alright to me? Maybe not over original brick

Many Victorian houses were cheaply built with poor quality bricks which didn’t always hold up well against the elements over time, so were later re-clad. As a previous poster said, it could also be external insulation: it can be more difficult to retrofit internal insulation to older properties without either compromising on internal space and aesthetics or having to do a lot of costly remodelling.