Painting your home’s exterior brick surface (or even interiors) can be either a very good idea or a very bad, depending upon some factors that we list here. There is no hard and fast rule on if you should paint your brick exterior to make your home look better, it all depends on a few factors. Then we explain how you should paint your home’s exterior or interior brick finish if you need to do it in the first place.
When not to paint your Home’s brick finish?
Paint your home’s brick finish only if you have a very good, matching color and are absolutely sure you want to use this type of exterior finish. Brick paint can not be undone so in the following cases, you can paint them up!
- If the bricks are damaged or roughed up
- If the brick finish looks ugly
- If your home is looking too dull and old due to bricks ageing or cracking
- If there are mechanical repairs and that looks patchy
- If there are other issues like moisture penetration that is bothering you
- If you just want to do it for any other unavoidable reason of your own
remember that bricks cannot be cleaned up easily unless you are up for huge work involving wire brushing and chemical based paint removers. So do it if you think it is worth while
What painting your Home brick walls can lead to
While I am in no way trying to discourage you, but it’s important as a homeowner that you should know what is involved. Painting the bricks can lead to the following:
- A hard to remove paint
- You would incur cost, which is saved by brick finish in the first place
- You can never go back to the natural brick look
- The life of paint finish is not as much as natural brick
- In snow areas, there can be moisture trap, freeze and thaw issues inside the structure
When should you absolutely paint your bricks in your home
Now there are exceptions and you can absolutely paint your brick walls and make your home look better in cases where:
- The bricks are meant to be painted
- You are painting interior brick surface
- Bricks are damaged
- They are already painted and need a new paint
So when decided, let’s move to actually painting a brick wall, shall we?
How to paint brick house?
The paint: Use a silica or mineral paint as it can be porous and allow air to pass and may not be a hindrance to breathing. This way there will also be little problem with moisture trap. You may also use snowcem, a cement based colorant that holds very fast to brick and is a natural way to paint bricks.
The brush: Use texturing brushes to directly paint snowcem or paint, as it can be really creative and give some natural texture. Use a plain brush if you want to show the underlying brick’s original finish of your house. You can also be creative and use jute brushes that are available in some parts of the world. Especially useful with snowcem.
How to paint your brick home white?
Although you can use mineal paint, silica paint or snowcem, (snowcem being my favorite for white color, classic or snow) You can also use the good old limewash. The process is simple to get some natural lime powder or lumps and put them in water overnight, let it boil and cool, then stir mix in the drum in the morning and sieve it.
Now just apply it with a brush or sprayer and you are done. It penetrates the brick and also lets it breathe, so it is one of the best and oldest finishes that costs just a few quids to paint a brick wall.