for an ugly brick fix -- is paint a go, or a no?

In my 'hood almost every home is brick. But they are bricks of a different color.

You've got the charming and classic red brick...

The beigey brick ...

The yellow brick...

Or even orangey brick...

And all these houses wear their colors well in my opinion. I wish I could show you a house of powder puff pink brick a block away, but it just turned over, and guess what the new owners did? Yep, they painted it gray. I can't blame them. Who'd want to live in the "pink house"? Okay, maybe my 2 year old niece, but she's not paying the mortgage.

It really seems like a lot of the neighbors are going for paint on the brick. It's a no brainer if it's already painted, but taking that leap is a long term commitment. And everyone has an opinion about whether it's a good idea.

One of my neighborhood clients (and friend), just bought a house with an orangey tone brick. This orange (which she detested) was, shall we say "enhanced in its orangeyness" by a terra cotta trim on the windows, gutters, and fascia. We talked a lot about how we could tone down the orange in the brick with a different trim color, and she was convinced, albeit reluctantly not to paint the brick.  BUT, she just really hated the brick. It kept needling her. I kind of wanted to go for painting it too, but we kept hearing, "It's bad for the brick." We both were having dreams like this.

Source: google.com via Lisa on Pinterest

I did a little research, and came up with some interesting information. "Painting brick can be tricky because brick is porous, especially if it’s older brick. Porous brick absorbs water, so you need to give the moisture a way to evaporate. If you cover the brick with paint that blocks moisture, ice crystals may form within the brick in cold weather, causing spalling. A cement-based coating is the safest paint for exterior brick, says Chip Clark, vice president of engineering services for the Brick Industry Association, a trade group. He recommends against all-acrylic house paint for exterior brick." (read full article here)

Now that's good information, but we quickly learned that almost any opinion could be substantiated by someone advocating for their position. Rather political, eh? Ultimately, the following is the advice we heeded, frankly because it was what we wanted to hear. "Painting a brick exterior on a house can be a time consuming job, but the results are often worth the effort. Some people adamantly feel that exterior brick should not be painted with house paint, while others enjoy the aesthetic look of exterior paint on brick. Painting exterior brick is a choice that comes down to personal preference, functional need and style. It's ideal to paint over a brick exterior when it is damaged or unsightly." (read full article here)  The plain truth is that my client and I both found her brick "unsightly" and that gave us the permission we needed to proceed.

So paint the brick she did, and we are all thrilled. It looks amazing. I almost drove right by the house the first time I visited. WHAT a difference!

{The AFTER shot.  Their 3 square lite front door is now a glossy black. Very hip.}

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