Painting over brick can be an clean way to update the look of any outdoors or interior area—simply ask Eddie Ross, who used a coat of glossy white paint to help transform his house’s antique screened-in porch right into a sunny garden room. “We have been in the beginning going to stucco over the brick chimney, however we decided to strive a excessive-gloss white paint, just to see what it gave the impression of and ended up loving it,” said Ross. “We ended up saving some thousand bucks on stucco!”
But painting brick isn’t always as simple as throwing a few paints on drywall; if not achieved correctly, you may become with flaking paint or even an alkali-burned topcoat. So we asked Octave Villar, applications and lab supervisor at Kilz Primers & Paints, what you have to recognize before picking up a brush.
Don’t Paint Brand-New Brick.
That’s proper: A simply-built brick wall isn’t always an amazing canvas. “Brand-new brick and mortar can exude a powdery substance, so you need to present it at least a month to treatment earlier than painting it,” says Villar. “Otherwise, it will be splendid chalky and no longer keep on to the paint as properly.”
Start With a Clean Slate.
You’ll need to ensure sure the brick floor is completely smooth of free particles or greasy stains. “If you do not wash the brick first, you basically just portray over sand and dust, and it won’t bind,” says Villar. A mild power wash will typically suffice for outside brick; for interiors, thorough cleansing with soap and water ought to do the trick. Give the brick adequate time to dry, then cross in advance and patch up and lacking mortar or cracks if important.
Next, it is Time to Prime.
No, remember whether the brick you are painting is antique or new, indoors or outside, you honestly must use a primer. “You need a primer in an effort to ‘chew’ into the brick; the better it could wrap around those pores and get into all of the nooks and crannies, the higher the paint will adhere,” says Villar.
Primers made for brick and masonry are your first-rate bet. “They’re commonly a touch thinner, which enables the primer penetrates into brick’s porous surface and bind any chalky or unfastened substances, and that they have more alkaline resistance, which maintains the pinnacle coat of paint from getting alkali burn,” he explains. Choose a water-based primer in case you’re planning to use latex paint, or choose an oil-based totally primer for oil paints.
Use the Right Tools.
Since you’re managing a material it is a way extra tough and porous than your common drywall, you will want an applicator which could stand up to wear and tear. “Use an artificial bristle brush, and do not move reasonably-priced,” warns Villar. His select: a Chinex brush, “that’s designed to take a beating without becoming bent and misshapen,” he says.
If you are painting larger areas and want to use a roller, select one with a high nap—as a minimum half of an inch, says Villar—for you to make sure that the primer receives into all the crevices. And if you’re using an airless paint sprayer, move back over the floor with a moist roller while you’re carried out spraying to truly work the primer into the brick’s surface.
Now You Can Paint.
Once the all-crucial prep paintings is entire, you may move ahead and paint at the top coat within the coloration of your preference. Any sheen or components will paintings just satisfactory so long as you’ve got primed. “Generally humans like to use a higher-sheen method on brick because it’s extra immune to marring and marking, but you may also use an eggshell or flat end if it’s the appearance you want,” says Villar. A latex paint may be extra brief-drying and be less complicated to easy up, whereas an oil-based totally paint will dry to a tougher finish.
And this is it! Painted brick shouldn’t require a sealer—simply make sure to choose a wear-resistant outdoors paint if the brick might be uncovered to the elements.