What Really Grinds Your Gears?

[FU BK]

Funny the subject of painted brick got brought up today. On WANE 15s web page, an old historic mansion here in Fort Wayne that is now the downtown women's care center was just painted pink over the brick. Talk about looking like ass

 

[Huntr]

Painting brick.

I won’t go as far as saying it always looks terrible. There are definitely houses that look better after the brick is painted…for now. But this current obsession with painting every brick house is ridiculous. It strips away a lot of the character of the home while adding more upkeep, more maintenance, and more cost long term.

And yes, my wife is obsessed with painting the brick on our house, and it’s grinding what little I have left on my gears.

Omg yes. I hate it so much.

There's a huge housing development here that has expanded over time; it's what's considered the nicer area to buy a house.

So, so many older brick houses with paint. Looks like absolute dog shit.

 

[Wild Bill]

Do not paint exterior brick (or seal it). It is porous and naturally allows moisture to pass through it. If you paint or seal it, you risk trapping moisture in the wall cavity and causing problems. If you want to change the color, stain it instead. It soaks into the brick and doesn’t not seal the pores. It will also last a lot longer than paint and be less maintenance.

Yes, absolutely correct. This was my first line of defense, but my wife was assured by the moron designer she hired that it's absolutely not an issue at all - it just has to be done right. I asked her where we could find the magical paint that doesn't seal brick and she didn't have a response.

Told her the response is to limewash or acid stain for future reference. Those options didn't really fit their vision.

Ever look into how much it would cost to remove the paint?? If it's the entire house I'm sure it would be a small fortune but just curious....

I bought a red brick multi-unit building about 15 years ago that was built in the late 1800s. Sometime in the 1950s, some fella apparently drove his car right into the corner of the building - probably after a long night of trying to cope with his wife’s insanity. They rebuilt that corner with newer brick and painted the entire building.

When I bought it, ivy was growing all over the sides that I took down and a lot of the paint peeled right off with it. The original brick cleaned up easily with a power washer, but the repaired corner was a total nightmare - it clung to every drop of paint. Eventually I gave up and just had a red brick building with one random white corner. Sounds ridiculous, but it's a college town and it kinda fit in - old building with an odd charm type thing.

Last year the bastards in City hall sent me a letter demanding I repaint the whole building so it matched. I politely told them to fuck off. They were persistent and I didn't want to waste money in court so I told them I woudl strip off the existing paint intead. They really wanted paint but agreed to let me try and they woudl let me know if it worked for them.

Got quoted around 10k to strip the corner and clean the rest of the brick. No chance I was paying that, so I did it myself. Tried chemicals and power washing first. Barely worked. Ended up using a 4 inch angle grinder and about $200 bucks worth of sanding disks to clean the brick, tuck pointed the mortar joints and power washed it once more. It turned out good enough to appease the city.

It's relatively expensive to hire someone. It can be done on your own but the diffculty varies based on the type of brick and the type of paint they used and if they prepped teh brick correctly before it was applied.

 

[Huntr]

Got quoted around 10k to strip the corner and clean the rest of the brick. No chance I was paying that, so I did it myself. Tried chemicals and power washing first. Barely worked. Ended up using a 4 inch angle grinder and about $200 bucks worth of sanding disks to clean the brick, tuck pointed the mortar joints and power washed it once more. It turned out good enough to appease the city.

That's my favorite kind of "fuck you, government."

The kind that makes it a giant pain in the ass for me, but I'll be damned if I'm doing it the City's/County's/State's way. Good on ya.

 

[Irish#1]

Yes, absolutely correct. This was my first line of defense, but my wife was assured by the moron designer she hired that it's absolutely not an issue at all - it just has to be done right. I asked her where we could find the magical paint that doesn't seal brick and she didn't have a response.

Told her the response is to limewash or acid stain for future reference. Those options didn't really fit their vision.

I bought a red brick multi-unit building about 15 years ago that was built in the late 1800s. Sometime in the 1950s, some fella apparently drove his car right into the corner of the building - probably after a long night of trying to cope with his wife’s insanity. They rebuilt that corner with newer brick and painted the entire building.

When I bought it, ivy was growing all over the sides that I took down and a lot of the paint peeled right off with it. The original brick cleaned up easily with a power washer, but the repaired corner was a total nightmare - it clung to every drop of paint. Eventually I gave up and just had a red brick building with one random white corner. Sounds ridiculous, but it's a college town and it kinda fit in - old building with an odd charm type thing.

Last year the bastards in City hall sent me a letter demanding I repaint the whole building so it matched. I politely told them to fuck off. They were persistent and I didn't want to waste money in court so I told them I woudl strip off the existing paint intead. They really wanted paint but agreed to let me try and they woudl let me know if it worked for them.

Got quoted around 10k to strip the corner and clean the rest of the brick. No chance I was paying that, so I did it myself. Tried chemicals and power washing first. Barely worked. Ended up using a 4 inch angle grinder and about $200 bucks worth of sanding disks to clean the brick, tuck pointed the mortar joints and power washed it once more. It turned out good enough to appease the city.

It's relatively expensive to hire someone. It can be done on your own but the diffculty varies based on the type of brick and the type of paint they used and if they prepped teh brick correctly before it was applied.

You made my day Bill. lol