Hi there...am considering painting my brick house this spring....Before I do anything, I want to ask you guys about the type of paint to use...and is it foolish to paint brick??? The house was built in the early "60's" and I am wondering about having the house tuckpointed??? before I paint. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated...Thanks..cj
paint brick, indeed. hmmph. you're turning a sturdy old stately material into a maintenance headache if you paint brick.
if it's old dark brick, lighten things up with landscaping. standard (giant) marigolds and some light colored climbing roses, cardinal climbers, mock orange, etc.
if you are seeing "sandy" uneven mortar, see if you can scrape any out. if so, you need to tuckpoint the brick. porous old stuff will allow water behind the wall, and in a freeze/thaw climate it will eventually force the bricks off. correctly done tuckpointing will leave a smooth surface on fresh mortar which will slope down and out, and force water that hits the house sideways over the brick face and down.
sig: if this is a new economy, how come they still want my old-fashioned money?
You can add me to that firing squad - do not paint your brick home. We get lots of posts here on how to remove paint from brick and honestly professional sandblasting is probably the best bet (and not cheap I am sure). As was previously posted do anything to lighten your homes exterior (if that is the issue). If you paint it, I fear you will quickly reget the decision.
You won't know if you can do something if you don't try.
Painting a brick home is not a good idea. Once you paint it you will always have to paint and it doesn't seem to add to the resale value of your home. Doing the tuck pointing that seems to be needed and consider cleaning it. Possibly adding shutters and changing the colour of trim or using plants as suggested to enhance the features of your home.
However, if you do decide to paint below are some links which may be of some help.
(Since the brick home is over 100 years old, the home was made from double brick and someone decided to paint it because it was white brick and hard to keep clean no doubt).
Dont use cheap paint, get some good paint and it will last a good many years. I get about 5 years or so from any paint we put on, even with a primer from our home in Ohio. (Seems the wood part, (add on porch converted to bedroom), keeps blistering the paint even with primer and paint from high end stores--New wood sheathing to boot!).
