Anyone know a good product to paint/whitewash an existing brick wall?

Whitewash is a mixture of powdered lime and water. There are recipes online and it is inexpensive and DIY. However, it is different than paint in ways that are both helpful and but also possibly different than the result you may have in mind. Whitewash isn’t always as opaque as paint. It may fade over time. But it will allow the brick to breathe and will respond more subtly to any moisture issues than paint, meaning that it may dust off instead of paint peelng away. It’d be my choice if I wanted to lighten an unsealed brick wall and was looking for a natural, country, or historic look. It is also less likely to harm the brick and is more easily reversible than paint.

BHS

in Decorative 13 years and 8 months ago

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jmassage58 | 13 years and 8 months ago

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http://cdn.brownstoner.com/4e72352b73a22-.jpg

I would like to know if anyone can guide me to a product I can use to paint/whitewash the brick on an interior wall so that I may keep the texture/pattern of the brick, but lighten my garden apt. level front room.  The brick is very dark and absorbs a lot of the light that does come in though the windows from the street.  There are other areas of exposed brick throughout the house, so I’m not concerned with taking away the character of its natural brick bearing walls on this one room.  I’m aware that brick must “breath” so I’m wondering if there is a product out there that will allow it to breath, yet also allow me to wash/paint that wall ivory,

pigthree | 13 years and 8 months ago

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If the wall is not exposed to the exterior on the other side, painting should not be a problem.

pigthree | 13 years and 8 months ago

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that might be an indication water is finding its way down that wall from the top.  If there are moisture issues, the paint will not last.

levicapland | 13 years and 8 months ago

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We just white washed a brick wall. It was the exterior wall between us and the neighbor. The previous owner put a coat of polyurethane over it. We painted right over it with regular paint and it looks great. The fellow at Pitchnik told us the paint wont last a week. Well a month later it still looks great.  Here are some before and after pics. Excuse the mess during rennovations

http://cdn.brownstoner.com/4e7296b1e7011-processed-IMG_1484.jpg

http://cdn.brownstoner.com/4e7296c3590cb-processed-IMG_1777.jpg