Or can you do that? The other thread got me wondering, why can't you rip the siding off the house and finish the rest off in brick. I figured they didn't do the whole house to save on construction costs.

I'd say it was a cost issue..

need a foundation for the brick to sit on, and the cost of bricks are not cheap. (in comparison)

I hate wood siding.. I'm wanting brick for my next house.

Often it's for aesthetic reasons as much as cost.  A house all made of brick can look funny if it's not done right.  Brick also has maintenance costs associated with it that siding doesnt.  Especially now that houses "aren't built like they used to" and settling is a major issue.

What maintence is required for brick? I have never done anything for it, so what am I missing?
I can see the aesthetics, the only house I lived in with no siding was stone, not brick, so I have never seen an all brick house before.

As for the foundation, would it make a difference adding the weight back to places that never had that weight before?

Even the best buildings settle over time.  This causes the brick, and the mortar in between to crack eventually as the building will very likely not settle evenly.  Replacing the bricks and mortar can be a pain in the ass.
As far as loading the foundation..
You should run the brick all the way down to the footer under the foundation if you want to do it right.  If your house is slab on grade, there likely won't be a footer that you can use, and you'll have to pour something.  If you've got brick say up to the 4' mark, and then siding above that, you can probably just continue the brick on up to the eaves of the house.

i built an all-brick house. it's, by far, one of the best exterior materials under the sun. stone is also durable.

brick (in cold climates) requires a frost footer. if your house lacks a footer, it must be back-dug and a footer poured and block laid to just below the finish grade. brick is heavy and must have substantial footing to support the mass.

done properly, there will be no settling, no cracking of joints, stair-steppring, etc.

remamber to figure the steel in for you carry's over man doors, windows and garage doors.

the last home i owned was partial brick and 40+ years old. other than a little repointing of the morter (easily done by a semi-skilled home owner), brick is as close to zero-maintanance as it gets.

also, your brick should be tied to your plywood/osb with masonry ties...easily done as you stripped your old siding off.

brick runs $275-$450/1000 in my area and my house used just under 20k brick (std. size). that's about $8k in bricks. by the time you figure morter and labor costs, it worked out to about $1 per brick to go that route.

don't forget, brick adds mucho value to the resale/desirability of your home. some realtors i spoke with said it usually figures in the 25-30% range in my locale for vinyl vs brick.

Ouch. That is way more than I figured. My house is a two story, and is brick all in front, and siding from the second story up from the sides and the back. So I guess I already have the footer. I guess the brick ends about the 6 foot mark.
So I need to re-enforce the door and window frames? Of am I good already based on the brick there now?
How do the windows get taken care of, can you leave them and brick around, or do you have to remove them and reinstall?

If you have brick all the way around your house already then you're good to go. The masons can just continue on from where they leave off. Sometimes the biggest problem is matching the existing brick and mortar. Especially if the brick was a custom order.You shouldn't have to do anything to the existing windows and doors. The masons will simply put a steel lintel over the openings to carry the load of the brick. You will have to modify the rake and frieze boards to accomodate the depth of the brick. The rake and frieze boards will have to come out 4-1/2" so the brick can go behind it.

I would never buy a house made with anything else BUT BRICK!!

Thanks guys for all the help. It really is amazing what the people here know.