Jul 08, 2007 by Mary K | Posted in Do It Yourself (DIY)
My ex-boyfriend has just bought his first house. It's made of a white brick that's quite insightly. I don't think it has ever been painted, it was just made an ugly white. We'd like to do something with it, as he plans on reselling the house in two years. Should we paint it all, including the mortar, or is there some way to paint it to look like natural brick? How do we go about painting it? Rollers, brushes?
The brick isn't smooth at all. It's actually incredibly rough, more so than you would expect brick to be!
With a rough brick, it will be nearly impossible to paint just the brick. Paint will collect in the irregular portions and run down onto the mortar. I would say this is an all or nothing project.
Before you paint, cleaning is a must. If you have efflorescence on the brick (looks like globs of salt on the surface), this will need to come off. You can try a brick cleaner containing phosphoric acid, follow directions. If that doesn't work, muratic acid will take it off but it is very nasty to work with. With this type of brick, you will need to take great care not to scald the brick. Follow directions carefully and rinse as you go.
If there is no efflorescence, you can clean with a good detergent to remove any dirt and grease. 1 cup of Tri-Sodium Phosphate per gallon of water. Start at the top and work down. Apply with a soft scrub brush and scrub a bit. Rinse thoroughly. A pressure washer is not a good idea here. It may blast of pieces of the brick and will not get into the irregular places without quite a bit of maneuvering.
After cleaning, dry thoroughly. At least a day, maybe a few days if the brick soaks up much water. It should look even, no damp spots.
Next the primer. This is important. For a quality finish, you must use a masonry primer. Not a standard primer, not a stain block. Masonry primer. You may need to find a paint store to get it. It is usually very thin and runny, smells really bad. Masonry primer is necessary because masonry is alkaline, the primer will balance the ph and seal the surface at the same time. If you do not balance the ph before painting, you could get a reaction with the topcoat causing it to peel or scald the brick.
After the primer is on and dry, topcoat with a good acrylic latex house paint, color of your choosing. The choice of paint is not as important as the primer so long as it is a good quality paint.
Both the primer and the paint may either be brushed, rolled or sprayed. My choice would be a roller with a heavy (3/4" or so) nap. I would never spray the primer because the overspray is really nasty, but it should work if you must. Paint is not so bad to spray, but I would still go for a roller.
be_a_lert | Jul 08, 2007
For practical terms there are two kinds of bricks that I would assume that you may have. One kind has a very slick and shiny surface much like a bathroom tile. The other is what most would call brick. If you have the later, use an exterior latex or acrylic paint. and yes, paint everything. You will need to use both brushes and rollers. You will not need to use a primer, however acid washing the entire house would be wise. good luck.
Glenn B | Jul 08, 2007
A thing to do if you're going to paint brick is to wet it first and then put paint on it, otherwise the brick will absorb the paint. You can buy natural brick colors at any hardware store to do this and I'd suggest a roller rather than a brush. Depending on the color of the mortar and the color you decide to paint the brick determines if you should paint it or not. If you want the house to look like natural brick, don't paint the mortar. If you decide to paint the brick another color, I'd paint the mortar too.
Cat | Jul 08, 2007
pressure wash it then use a sprayer
Holdon | Jul 08, 2007
well you first would go to0 seres and buy brick red paint and you would use rollers and gooood luck
brittanyedgmand2 | Jul 08, 2007
if you paint that brick you will be relegated to painter's hell, that's where you get to deal with a 60' extention ladder alone in waist deep mud, with a fat mexican forman screaming at you. have the brick cleaned (sandblasted most likely). won't cost much more than painting it the three or four times you will have to paint it while you own the house. once you paint brick you are commitied to problems you wouldn't believe.
captsnuf | Jul 08, 2007
ANOTHER OPTION TO CONSIDER WOULD BE TO USE WALL BOND ON THE BRICK TO CREATE A STUCCO EFFECT IT IS SOLD THE A 40 LBS. BAG AT HOME DEPOT OR OTHER LUMBER DEALERS MIX LIKE CONCRETE AND TROWEL ON ABOUT A 1/8TH TO 1/4 INCH THICKNESS I WOULD POWER WASH AND CLEAN BRICK FIRST
Debbie J | Jul 09, 2007
You first need to pressure wash it..I use a 4 to 1 water/bleach combination as the cleaner...now we go into many options here..I prefer to spray a mortar sealer first on it to seal it in and use less paint and coats to paint(use a bug sprayer here..pretty simple.... now if you want you can opt to spray or to roll and brush it..to roll it you need a good thick napped roller 1 1/2 inch nap if not thicker..roll it up and down heavily filling the cracks..roll out of a 5 gallon bucket with a screen that fits in it..available at all hardware stores, walmart etc.mop that piant on heavy dont worry about drips yet, for you will have plenty...after coating about a 5 foot section of this from bottom to top..take your roller back over it when it is "dry" meaning dont load additional paint on it..then what we call"dry rolll" back over the previous painted area, using very little to no pressure, and mop up the runs...this will get most of them, but have a brush with you in a gallon paint pot..with a little paint in it to take care of any additional runs..complete the job like that.. now..i would opt to spray, but if your not experienced in this...best to hire someone...do not try using a little wagner splatter sprayer..they will never finish the job..you need a good airless to accomplish this..all windows masked etc...The rolling option probably meets your needs more, but keep in mind cover all bushes etc for "mopping" paint in this manner is not very clean at all, but necessary ...you will go through numerous rolling covers and rolling frames as well here..for the roughness of the bricks "eats them for lunch"....as far as the lines looking like mortar..only way to do this is paint as I suggested..then literaly paint back in the mortar lines..or paint each brick by hand..one at a time....not getting paint on the mortor now..wheewwww..this was more like a book here lol..good luck
pcbeachrat | Jul 09, 2007
check with your local home improvement store. i work at LOWES and we carry a stain that you can use with paintgun and never have to worry about repainting like you would with regular paint
josh g | Jul 12, 2007
What do yall think about painting a brick house?
Nov 06, 2007 by Baby Girl Due May 2009! | Posted in Decorating & Remodeling
We have a 1970's brick home that has white, brown, red & black spots in it. I like it & from the road it just looks tan to me but my husband thinks its ugly & wants to paint it. I dont think that we should paint it...Has anybody ever painted brick before? What do yall think that we should do? Thanks so much! :)
I own construction/remodeling company and from my experiance I would say "don't do it". After you do it might look ok but it will start coming off and you will have to have it repainted. Especially it you paint it much different color for example if ou have dark brick and paint it lighter color as soon as some of the paint start coming it will be visable. Also in many situations when selling house new people have problem with painted brick.
I hope that helps . Good luck
proremo.com remodeling corp | Nov 06, 2007
Question about painting brick in the front of my house?
Mar 02, 2007 by eyedoc999 | Posted in Maintenance & Repairs
The exterior of my townhome is brick and vinyl siding. I want to paint the brick a light tan color. Overall, I estimate it's about 500 square feet. How do painters determine the cost of a job like this? Do they use a spray gun or a roller? Any advice on what to look for in a good painter or good bid?
Painter's determain the cost on how long they think their painters would take to complete the job. Then they add in all the material costs. Some may also use a square foot price. A union paint shop is going to be more expensive, but the quality of work is usually a lot better. Union painter's go through a 4 year apprenticeship to learn all the tricks of the trade. The good union painter's usually stick with the same company for many years. We have some guys working for us that have been here over 20 years. You can always ask for references, and go look at some of the painter's work. If the painting company has been around for a long time, they are probably good. Get a few bids, and don't go with the lowest just to save a few bucks. Make sure you like their work. Going cheap can mean a sloppy job. Also ask about their warranty and the manufacturer's warranty. If the weather conditions are wrong at the time of application, you can end up having to repaint the entire area. This will usually happen within a year, so make sure the company has a one year warranty at least.
To paint brick, I believe we usually spray it on. You can always request it sprayed or rolled. Spraying is going to make sure all the paint gets into all the hard to reach areas that a roller couldn't.
Atreyu's Mommy & Due Aug 24 | Mar 02, 2007
painting brick walls in a basement?
Jul 26, 2008 by Joseph S | Posted in Do It Yourself (DIY)
i want to paint the brick walls in the basement. I've cleaned them. what do i use for paint?
just water base paint the kind of paint you would paint your walls with
pickmefirstplz | Jul 26, 2008
what is involved in painting on a brick house?
Mar 28, 2009 by wjlang2002 | Posted in Do It Yourself (DIY)
I would like to paint my brick house a different color, but am unsure of what paint to use and how to prepare the brick to paint if possible.
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