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May 21, 2009
painting over thoroseal
The rear brick facade of my limestone has a couple coats of this concrete/paint stuff called thoroseal on it, which is peeling and cracking in a few places (tho generally holding up okay). I know brick masonry needs to breathe, and ideally I'd have it stripped and repointed, but that isn't in my budget (and I've heard it damages the brick to try and remove thoroseal). The original job is patchy and very ugly, because they thorosealed the bottom of the house a different color than the top.
So I was going to either a) wire brush off the loose parts and put another coat of thoroseal on or b) brush off the loose spots and put a couple coats of elastomeric masonry/brick exterior latex (something like valspar duramax.) Any idea which would be preferable? Can thoroseal be painted over, or do I have to keep coating with he same battleship gray stuff forever?
Anyone have any experience with this?
Comments
I have a similar problem & had a mason work on it last year. He burshed the flaking areas & pointed them. He strongly recommended against further ThoroSeal or painting (even though he stood to gain by either task.) So I'm living w/ unsightly patchwork.
Posted by: Arkady at May 21, 2009 9:23 AM
More often than not, Thoroseal has been applied to disguise deterioration and/or delay much needed repointing. I strongly suggest closer examination of the underlying masonry, and more thought, reading and rethinking the budget before applying another coat of any material:
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/above-ground-masonry-walls.shtml
http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/TPS/briefs/brief02.htm
Posted by: vinca at May 21, 2009 12:26 PM
You should have a good mason look at the wall before you recoat with anything. Our back wall was covered with Tseal when I bought my house, and in seemingly good shape. When we opened up the interior walls we found the masonry was in a state of failure and the whole thing had to be rebuilt.
Thoroseal comes in white or grey.
Posted by: wyckoff at May 21, 2009 1:28 PM
We've just had our rear wall scraped and resealed. I'm not sure what the product was (BASF manufactures it), but it comes in a variety of colors.
Posted by: cornetor at May 21, 2009 3:00 PM
Would people mind mentioning the name of the good masons they used? Thanks...
Posted by: Cobblekrill at May 21, 2009 5:58 PM
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