How To Properly Paint A Brick Or Rough Surface?

By Truman Crawford

owners often update the appearance of their houses with a coat of fresh paint. However if you are considering painting the 'bricks' on your house then there are a few things you must consider before you break out the spray guns and throw a party!

Painting rough faced brick, block, or stone isn't like painting anything else you will ever have to paint. The big difference is volume of work required and the quantity of material. These types of surfaces will use two times as much material as any other. Being that these surfaces are so porous, they act like a sponge.

The work comes in with the quantity of effort required to work the material into these surfaces. It is slow, hot work. The materials used as far as paint are not any different from any other paint except there are a few special products that do about the same job as regular paint. They may be a little heavier for better hiding. Like wood and metal, there are fillers that may be used on the coarse surfaces. They are latex or oil-based. They're worked into the surface with either a stiff brush designed for this work or a heavy roller.

Yes, you may use a giant quantity of filler and only get about 200 sq. feet per gallon. the advantage to using filler is it smooths the surface which means you will use less primer and less paint. Sometimes you may see someone making an attempt to use drywall compound in place of block filler. This is not a good practice. Using a product for anything that it wasn't reserved for can cost more than using the right product.

The one thing you can count on is that they will fail. Leaving you nothing except the same problem you started with plus an enormous mess to wash up. If you feel confident in your ability in using a spray to apply the filler or paint, that's's great too. Just be certain to cover any surrounding surfaces not being painted and remember even if you employ a sprayer the material will still need to be gone over with a roller to be sure the material is well worked into the surface. - 30435

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