How To Paint Brick Exteriors, Fireplaces, And More
You Can Learn How To Paint Brick So Your Home Can Become Your Ideal Space In San Diego County
Painting your brick house or fireplace is a great way to make it as unique as you are. The process for how to paint brick, in general, takes about 5 steps: clean the brick, repair any damages, clean off any dust, prime it, and then paint the brick. As for the best paint for brick, elastodynamic paint is great for exterior brick while acrylic paint is best for interior brick and brick fireplaces.
Painting your brick house or fireplace is a great way to make it as unique as you are. The process for how to paint brick, in general, takes about 5 steps: clean the brick, repair any damages, clean off any dust, prime it, and then paint the brick. As for the best paint for brick, elastodynamic paint is great for exterior brick while acrylic paint is best for interior brick and brick fireplaces.
It’s Time For A New Look
“Marge, why do you keep staring at the walls and fireplace?”
Marge looks at Homer like he should already know the answer (which he should). She’s said it before that she wants to change the look of the house by painting the brick. They’ve been the same brownish-beige for the past who-knows-how-long and it’s time for a change.
Marge asks Homer when he’s going to paint the brick exterior, interior, and fireplace. He says he’s going to look up the steps for doing those right now.
Homer thinks they should hire a professional painter but he’s not going to fight that battle. He likes doing home projects anyway so this will be a good experience.
How To Paint A Brick Exterior
Homer begins by looking up the process for painting a brick exterior:
- Carefully clean using a pressure washer
- Remove any loose paint
- Repair any cracks or other damages
- Sand brick*
- Clean dust off from sanding
- Cover windows and doors
- Prime brick exterior
- Paint brick exterior
Breaking Down The Steps
Homer knows cleaning is important because dust, dirt, etc keeps paint from sticking well. If that happens then their house will look bad and they’ll have to paint it again.
Scraping off the loose paint should be done with a scraper, not a wire brush (it can cut in too deep sometimes). He’ll need newspaper and painters tape to cover the windows and doors with.
As for the primer Homer’ll want an exterior acrylic/latex-based one because they tend to stick better to brick. The actual paint can be either elastodynamic paint (great for filling in cracks and preventing them) or an exterior acrylic/latex-based one (great against mildew).
It’s a good thing he has a paint sprayer because that’ll cut his work time in half. Homer’ll only need a brush for the detail areas like the trim and around windows and doors.
Now he’s going to look at how to paint brick interiors.
- Carefully clean brick exterior with a pressure washer
- Remove any loose paint
- Repair any cracks or other damages
- Sand brick*
- Clean dust off from sanding
- Cover windows and doors
- Prime brick exterior
- Paint brick exterior
*Step 4 is optional
Breaking Down The Steps
Homer knows cleaning is important because dust, dirt, etc keeps paint from sticking well. If that happens then their house will look bad and they’ll have to paint it again.
Scraping off the loose paint should be done with a scraper, not a wire brush (it can cut in too deep sometimes). He’ll need newspaper and painters tape to cover the windows and doors with.
As for the primer Homer’ll want an exterior acrylic/latex-based one because they tend to stick better to brick. The actual paint can be either elastodynamic paint (great for filling in cracks and preventing them) or an exterior acrylic/latex-based one (great against mildew).
It’s a good thing he has a paint sprayer because that’ll cut his work time in half. Homer’ll only need a brush for the detail areas like the trim and around windows and doors.
Now he’s going to look at how to paint brick interiors.
How To Paint A Brick Interior
- Put down drop cloths
- Clean the brick using TSP
- Repair any damages
- Prime brick
- Paint brick
Homer has TSP (trisodium phosphate) on hand along with gloves and goggles. He also has some acrylic caulk leftover he can use to repair any cracks and damages he finds.
All he needs to do is find his .75-inch lamb’s wool roller to paint it and his brush to touch it up…or he can use the paint sprayer again (it’s kinda fun once you get the hang of it).
Oh wait, there’s something…
He almost forgot about the acrylic/latex-based interior paint! Hmmm, should he choose gloss or semi-gloss though? They both show off the brick’s texture better and it’s easier to clean than flat/matte paint.
Eh, he’ll leave it to Marge to decide.
The last thing Homer needs to look up is the steps to painting a brick fireplace.
How To Paint A Brick Fireplace
- Put down drop cloths
- Apply painter’s tape
- Repair any damages
- Clean brick fireplace
- Prime
- Paint your brick fireplace
Picture by Donald_Trung: creative commons license 4.0
Homer will put the painter’s tape wherever he doesn’t want paint to go.
As for damages he can repair them with acrylic caulk.
Homer has a scraper and TSP (trisodium phosphate) to clean the brick with. He’ll be wearing gloves and goggles while he does it so the TSP doesn’t irritate his skin or eyes.
The primer he should use is a masonry primer and the paint should be an interior acrylic/latex-based paint.
But Before You Start…
Now that Homer (and you) know the steps for painting brick exteriors, interiors, and fireplaces, one thing needs to happen: someone needs to pick the color. He’s going to let Marge do it (smart man) and he’ll take care of the actual painting part.
Actually, he should probably look up how to paint a wall…
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