Painting the exterior of a brick house is not quite an easy job. It takes time and requires some basic skills, but the result will definitely worth the effort.
However, the homeowner opinions are quite different. Some of them prefer the antique and rustic look that only a brick masonry can have it. In contrast, others enjoy the new, clean, and cheerful look of a fresh painting. Unfortunately, many times even masonry itself demands to be restored. But a restoration of brick masonry is expensive, exceeding your budget, so painting remains the most economical option, although the painting of an old masonry is not recommended due to the porosity of the bricks.
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More than that, painting a brick masonry is not a reversible job. It is true that over time, you can paint over and you can even change the color of the wall, but you cannot return to the stage of a bare masonry. Therefore, painting the exterior of your brick house is your personal choice, and is depending of several factors such as style, aspect, functional and economical. It can be an ideal way to cover an unsightly and damaged brick wall but before doing that you can consider other options such as a sand blasting or just a power washing.
Materials & Tools
– Pressure washers; Plastic sheets or Drop cloths;
– Silicone acrylic caulk; Premixed mortar patches;
– Brushes; Rollers and Paint trays;(Paint sprayer)
– Latex masonry primer and Acrylic latex house paint;
Steps to Take:
1| Preparation is the essential part of this job. You should make the brick masonry look clean and good before start painting. This is in fact, the guarantee of a job well done.
– Place plastic sheets or drop cloths around your home exterior to protect the sidewalk, vegetation and other objects.
– Use a pressure washer to clean thoroughly the wall surface, removing all the dirt, grime and debris. Make sure your brick surface is perfectly clean, before start painting.
– Make all the small needed repairs using premixed mortar, such as brick repointing where the cement mortar is too deep, worn away or has fallen out. Allow time for mortar to dry. In fact, the whole surface of the brick wall must be perfectly dried before starting painting.
– Use silicone caulk and caulk around doors, windows, wood trim and fill all the wall gaps.
2| Primer Coat: Because bricks are an extremely porous construction material and can absorb quite quickly your paint it is highly recommended to apply first a coat of latex masonry primer to the surface. In this way, your painting job will be much easier. Using the roller apply the primer with large and light movements without pressure. Work only on 3-suare foot wall sections until the whole surface is covered.
3| Paint Coat: Allow time for primer to dry and apply the acrylic paint coat in the same way as for the latex primer. If there are sections of the wall, where you cannot reach with the roller use a paintbrush and fill them.
Note: Just as well, you can use a paint sprayer instead of roller to cover the brick surface.
Your Home Is Protected by the Façade Finishing (howtobuildahouseblog.com)
