Painting a brick wall can be a serious undertaking — be read to get your hands dirty!
Ooh, exposed brick! How lovely! But might it look even lovelier with a gleaming new coat of bright white paint? Oh, the possibilities! Ultimately, the choice is up to you whether you want to maintain the beautiful and rustic clay color or make your brick surfaces stand out from the rest with a fresh coat of paint. The best we can offer is some advice before you take on the project.
Painting an Exterior Brick Surface
Let’s start here because this might be where we have the closest thing to a concrete (check out that masonry pun) answer for you. Painting an exterior brick wall more often than not ends up being quite the large undertaking, involving significant time, resources, and physical labor. This isn’t at all to say that it can’t or shouldn’t be done — just know that it’s a serious project. You’ll first need to research proper tools and techniques to clean and coat the surface in preparation for paint, including sandblasting the wall for a perfectly clean surface as well as filling any cracks in the surface. Once this is done, though, you should be ready to slap on a shiny new coat of paint for a sleek-looking exterior brick surface.
Painting an Interior Brick Surface
While slightly less physically demanding and with less risk of damage than working on an exterior brick wall, an interior project will still be quite time-consuming, so be ready to do some work! You’ll still have to give it a good cleaning and make sure that the surface is otherwise properly prepared. A good paint job on an old brick wall can really bring new life and brightness to a new room. However, be aware that once you paint a brick surface you can never go back to the natural brick look. Also be aware that brick is a much more porous surface than drywall, so expect to buy more paint and primer than you would for a standard painting project.
Keep Your Masonry Looking Good with Del Prete Masonry!
While there are many other materials that we use at Del Prete Masonry, we’re not about to abandon concrete anytime soon. It has proven its worth many times over and we know that we can bring you a solid masonry structure with it. To find out more about your masonry options including concrete masonry, please contact our office today at 410-683-0650 or email us at mike@delpretemasonry.com. We serve Baltimore City, County, Harford County, Carroll County, Anne Arundel County, and Howard County. Keep up with our blog for masonry related information, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.