Painting exterior of house (brick) do I need to point?

I’ve seen plenty of houses with thoroughseal (or some such similar compound) on bricks that seem to be in good condition. Of course repointing is always the best route but, done right, it’s expensive; done wrong, it’s a waste of money at best or a cause of more serious problems at worst. If you use the thoroughseal, you’ll probably have to reapply in 5 – 10 years, whereas a good repointing job lasts for decades. If you opt for the thoroughseal, for best results, be sure all really loose masonry is out and patch larger holes first.

aninspector

in About Brooklyn 10 years and 4 months ago

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granbymartine | 10 years and 4 months ago

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Hello, I can’t seem to get a straight answer. I have to point parts of the back wall of the house but if i paint it as oppose to stucco, to I still need to strip and paint it all or just the bits that are crumbling… Thanks in advance

thetinkerswagon | 10 years and 4 months ago

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I was always told that the worst thing you can do to brick is paint it. the story is that if water gets in – which it always does – it will have no way to get out if the brick has been painted. that said, if this were my house and for some reason I had to paint it, I would probably only point the joints that had crumbled. Steve

thetinkerswagon | 10 years and 4 months ago

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and just to be clear, i am not a mason. so take what I said with a grain of salt. Steve

granbymartine | 10 years and 4 months ago

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thanks! I’m pretty sure it is Breathable paint.

jockdeboeraia | 10 years and 4 months ago

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Do not paint brick, it was not designed that way, locks the moisture in.

NeoGrec | 10 years and 4 months ago

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The back of our house was a horrible mess of cracking, peeling thoroughcoat (the stucco-like paint often used on brownstone rear walls) and cement patching. Our mason was able to remove much, much more of it than we expected through a combination of wire brushing, chipping and pressure washing. Then we repointed. No paint. 10 years on, we still have a good surface that, while it has some cementitious residue visible, is basically an attractive brick wall.

Guest User | 10 years and 4 months ago

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We had the back of our house repointed last summer, but first they had to strip the paint and do the best they could to remove the stucco as well, which was only on the bottom floor (top 3 floors were thankfully only painted and not stuccoed). The contractor we used, Shamin Ahmed, said that most brick — at least old brick — is not meant to be painted or stuccoed. Like everyone else has said it’s supposed to breathe. We love how it looks. Brick is beautiful.

NeoGrec | 10 years and 4 months ago

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I second the recommendation for Shamin. He has done lots of masonry and hardscaping work at our house. He didn’t do the repointing I mention above but, had I known of him back then, I would have hired him!

granbymartine | 10 years and 4 months ago

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THanks everyone. My major issue is cost. It’s not a very big house but it has peeling paint and some stucco or cement on some parts and I think it may be very costly to remove it down to the original brick, which is what I wanted initially. I keep hearing that breathable paint is available… I will ask Shamin for an estimate and go from there. Many thanks