As an exterior painters in Oakville, Mississauga and Burlington we sometimes get questions from home owners about the painting of exterior brick surfaces. To help alleviate any miss understandings I have assemble this little blog posting for anyone thinking about the painting of their exterior brick walls.
Tools and Materials Needed:
Concrete or Brick bonding primer / sealer: If the surface has never been painted before then a sealer coat should be used. Since latex paint will stick to brick surfaces easily we use this product as more of a sealer than a bonding primer. If not sealed correctly brick and concrete surfaces act like a sponge when it comes to paint – you can end up using a lot of paint so you need to control just how much is absorbed by the brick. Most project sprayers like the Tradeworks 150 will not be able to spray concrete bonding primer but check the paint manufacturers specifications to your pump and see if it can be done. Having to roll out the sealer isn’t that of a big deal compared to the labour required to roll out the finish coat of paint (you’ll want to use a sprayer for that).
Power Washer: power washing achieves a couple of things. If the surface is previously painted and its failing the power washing will do great things to remove the loose and peeling paint. As well the washing will help to release debris, dust and other chemicals like salt from the surface prior to painting. If using a pressure washer make the surface is somewhat dry before you begin to paint. It’s not critical that surface be dry before you start your painting project. Sometimes if the temperature is really hot you can lightly spray the brick with water prior to the application of paint – this will allow the paint to run out into the porus surfaces easier.
Applicators: roller sleeves or an airless paint sprayer. If you planning to roll on the paint you will need a very think applicator such as a 30mm sleeve or roller. I prefer to use an airless sprayer to paint brick. From a time perspective i am not sure you save much but the airless sprayer will give you a much easier job physically and better looking, more detailed finish in the end. Painting brick with a brush and roller is a very messy and physically demanding job.
Exterior Latex Flat Paint: 100% arclyic latex paint is typically all that needed as far as the correct paint is concerned. Unlikely that you will want to use anything but a flat exterior latex (vs a semi gloss / gloss). Since the surfaces are not very smooth the flat latex works well and looks much better than semi gloss or gloss product. My experience is that if you hand-roll the surface you will use more paint than if you sprayed the surface, this is because brick is so pours its impossible to distribute the paint as evenly as using an airless sprayer.