Replacing Windows in a Brick Home: What DFW Homeowners Should Know

Drive through Plano, Richardson, Garland, Carrollton, or almost any DFW neighborhood built after 1970 and the houses are brick. Not all of them, but most, and on most of them the windows sit back in the masonry with a bead of caulk where the frame meets the brick. So when the windows finally need replacing, the first question we hear is some version of: does the brick have to come out?

The short answer is no, and the rest of this guide explains why, what the project actually involves on a brick house, the few situations where the masonry really does have to move, and what to look at on your own walls before you get a quote.

The Short Answer

If the new window is the same size as the old one, the brick stays put. That covers nearly every replacement job. Brick veneer holds itself up, the window is attached to the wood framing behind it rather than to the brick, and both installation methods, full frame and insert, are done from inside the wall. The exterior brick is not disturbed, and the finished job is a new window and a new sealant joint against the same brick return you have now.

The brick only comes into play when the opening changes: a bigger window, a lower sill, a window turned into a door, or a bay pushed out through the wall. Those are real projects and we cover them below, but they are the exception.

How a Brick Veneer Wall Is Built Around a Window

Almost every “brick house” in North Texas is a wood-frame house with a single layer of brick standing in front of it. That is what brick veneer means. Understanding four parts of that assembly makes the rest of the replacement conversation easy to follow.

• The brick holds up only itself. The Brick Industry Association's Technical Note 28 on brick veneer over wood stud walls puts it plainly: anchored brick veneer “carries its own weight and transfers it to a foundation or other vertical support.” It is tied back to the framing with metal anchors across a roughly one-inch air space, but it is not structural, and the windows are not holding it up.
• A lintel carries the brick above each opening. The same note explains that brick veneer “must be supported over openings by lintels,” which bear on the brickwork on each side of the opening. In residential work that is usually a steel angle. You can often see its lower edge as a thin line right above the window head. That angle, not the window frame, is what the courses of brick above your window rest on.
• The window is attached to the framing, not the brick. Technical Note 28 is specific that window and door frames “must be attached to the backing, not to the brick veneer.” On most DFW homes from the 1970s onward, the original window was nailed to the framing through an integral nailing fin, and the brick was then laid up in front of it. The brick that wraps into the opening is the brick return, and it simply sits alongside the frame.
• The wall is designed to get wet and drain. BIA describes brick veneer as a drainage wall: water that gets through the brick runs down the back of it, hits flashing, and exits through weep holes, the small open vertical joints you see along the bottom course and above lintels. The joint between the window frame and the brick return is closed with a backer rod and sealant, not mortar. That sealant joint is the piece of the assembly a window replacement touches.

What Replacement Actually Involves on a Brick Home

There are two installation methods, and the choice between them is about the condition of the existing frame far more than the brick. Our full frame vs. insert replacement guide covers that decision in depth. Here is what each one looks like from the outside of a brick wall.

Insert replacement

An insert sets the new window inside the old frame after the sashes and hardware are removed. Nothing on the exterior changes except the sealant joint. The brick return, the lintel, and the flashing behind the brick are all untouched. This is the method with the least exterior work on any house, and on a brick house it is the reason inserts are often quoted first. The tradeoff is the one our comparison guide explains: the old frame stays, so whatever is wrong with it, thin aluminum, a rotted sill, an out-of-square jamb, stays too, and you give up some glass area.

Full frame replacement

A full frame replacement removes the old window entirely, frame and all, and this is where brick homes differ from homes with siding. On a sided house the installer can strip trim, expose the old nailing fin, pull the unit, and lap new flashing into the housewrap. On a brick house the fin is trapped between the brick and the sheathing, and it is not coming out without taking the brick down. So the work moves inside:

• Interior trim or the drywall return comes off to expose the old frame and the gap around it.
• The old frame is cut free of its fin. The frame is separated from the nailing fin with a saw from the inside, and the frame comes out in pieces or as a unit. The fin fragment stays behind the brick, where it does nothing.
• The opening is inspected and repaired. This is the main practical advantage of full frame: the rough sill and jambs are visible, so water damage from a failed sealant joint can be found and fixed rather than covered.
• A fin-less replacement frame goes in. The new unit is fastened through its jambs into the framing, set on a sloped sill pan, and insulated around the perimeter.
• The exterior joint is rebuilt. The gap between the new frame and the brick return is closed with backer rod and sealant, the detail BIA describes for openings in brick veneer. Some products and some homes call for an exterior trim piece or brick mold instead of a bare sealant line.
• The interior is finished. New extension jambs and either wood casing or a re-wrapped drywall return, then paint.

One honest point about the flashing. BIA says window flashing should be integrated with the wall's water-resistive barrier. On a brick home where the fin and the original flashing stay behind the brick, a replacement window cannot be flashed the way a new-construction window is. The sill pan and the exterior sealant joint carry more of the job. That is not a reason to avoid full frame; it is a reason to ask any installer how they handle the sill and the exterior joint on brick, and to expect a specific answer.

When the Brick Does Have to Move

Every case below is a change to the opening, and every one is a masonry project as well as a window project.

• Widening an opening. Brick is cut on one or both jambs, the existing lintel is too short for the new span, so a new lintel goes in, and the cut edges are re-laid. The framing behind the brick needs a wider header too.
• Lowering a sill. Brick below the window is removed and a new rowlock sill is laid. The lintel usually stays. This is common when a homeowner wants more glass in a living room or is turning a window into a patio door.
• Making an opening smaller. Physically simple, visually difficult. Brick infill in an old wall almost never matches, and a patch under a window is at eye level. If the goal is less glass, a fixed picture window or a different glass package usually gets there without touching the brick.
• Adding a bay or bow. A bay or bow window projects past the face of the wall and needs its own support and roof detail. Our Southlake bay window conversion shows what that kind of project looks like.

The hard part of any of these is the match. Brick colors are discontinued regularly, and even a perfect product match will not match a wall that has weathered for thirty years. Mortar color is its own problem. Masons sometimes salvage brick from a less visible spot, behind a fence or under a porch, to patch a front elevation. Whatever the plan, scope the masonry first: the window is sized to the finished opening, not the other way around. If a bedroom is involved, a size change can also bring emergency escape requirements into play, so check with your city's permit office before committing to a smaller opening.

What to Check on Your Brick Before a Quote

A window replacement is the best chance you will get to look closely at the masonry around each opening. None of the items below stops a window from being replaced, but each one is worth knowing about before an installer is standing at the opening.

• Rust on the lintel. BIA notes that steel lintels should be coated or otherwise protected against corrosion. Many older ones were not, or the coating has failed. A rusting lintel swells as it rusts and lifts the brick above it, which shows up as a stair-step crack rising from a top corner of the window or as a rust stain along the head. This is masonry work, not window work, but it is far easier to address while the window is being replaced than after.
• Cracks from foundation movement. Much of the metroplex sits on expansive clay, and stair-step cracking at window corners is common. It usually means the opening is no longer square, which affects how the new window is sized and set. Our guide on how to measure for replacement windows explains why diagonals matter on a house that has moved.
• The condition of the sealant joint. Cracked, pulled-away, or painted-over caulk between frame and brick has been letting water into the opening. On a full frame job the installer will see the result; on an insert job the joint is the only thing that gets renewed, so make sure it is on the quote.
• Weep holes that have been caulked shut. Well-meaning homeowners and painters seal these all the time. They need to stay open so the wall can drain.
• Original aluminum frames. If the windows are the thin silver or bronze units common in 1970s-1990s brick homes, the pocket behind the brick return is shallow and the frame conducts heat. Our aluminum window replacement guide covers why these usually end up as full frame projects.

The Interior Side

Because the work happens from inside on a brick home, the interior finish is where you will see the most disruption. Many DFW homes from the 1980s onward have drywall returns, meaning the wallboard wraps into the opening with a metal corner bead and no wood casing. A full frame replacement on those openings means the return is cut back, the new frame goes in, and the return is rebuilt, taped, textured and painted. Homes with wood casing are simpler: the casing comes off and goes back on, or is replaced. Either way, ask who does the drywall and paint. Our window installation process guide walks through what a typical day looks like, opening by opening.

Frame Color and Brick

Since the brick is staying, the new frames have to live with it. Bright white frames against red or orange brick read as traditional and are the most common pairing in older neighborhoods. Bronze or dark brown disappears into darker brick. Black frames against tan, blonde, or painted brick are the current favorite in Frisco, Prosper and Southlake, and our black frame windows page covers which materials carry a dark exterior well in Texas sun. Grid pattern matters as much as color on a brick elevation, and both are the things an HOA architectural committee looks at first; see HOA window replacement rules in Texas before you finalize a color change.

Cost and Planning

Brick by itself does not change what a window costs. It changes the labor on a full frame job, because the perimeter detail against masonry takes more time than the same detail against siding, and it adds a masonry line item if the opening is changing size. Our window replacement cost guide and the DFW cost breakdown explain how installation method fits alongside frame material and glass package. Financing is available if full frame throughout is the right method and more than this year's budget. Plano owners of older brick homes should also check the City of Plano Great Update Rebate.

How Bradley James Windows & Doors Handles Brick Homes

We are a veteran-owned, owner-operated installer, and we do not use subcontractors, so the person who looks at your openings is responsible for how they are finished. On a brick house that means we look at each opening from inside and out before the quote: what the existing frame is, how much pocket there is behind the brick return, whether the lintel or the sealant joint shows a problem, and whether the opening is still square. The quote states the method for each opening in plain language, and if a change you want means the brick has to move, we tell you that up front so you can scope the masonry before anything is ordered. For a real example of a whole-house project in a 1990s home, see our Plano whole-home window upgrade, where we replaced 14 original aluminum windows with Andersen 400 Series double-hung units.

We serve 24 cities across the metroplex, including Plano, Richardson, Dallas, and Carrollton, where brick veneer is the rule rather than the exception. See all our service areas. We also offer first responder and military discounts. Browse the rest of our window and door guides, or request a free estimate, and we will start by looking at your openings, brick and all. For further reading on how brick veneer walls are put together, the Brick Industry Association publishes its Technical Notes free of charge.