Need a permit to paint the exterior of home? Paint recommendation?

Our townhouse is not a land-marked building (nor the street we live) in Park Slope. We’d like to paint the exterior of our brick-stone mix townhouse with all white and also paint our front door with shiny glossy black (deep black).  Someone told me that I will need a permit to paint the exterior of our home (but not the door). Is this true?  I’d also appreciate if you can recommend some great ‘white’ colored (not off-white, we haven’t decided whether we shold go with satin or semi-glossy finish yet) paints you’ve used for your previous projects (esp., for exterior wall) as well as some high-quality glossy black paints for front door. Thanks!

juno2010

in Doors 12 years and 6 months ago

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needmtg | 12 years and 5 months ago

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Funny how there are always nay-sayers, yet even a simple Google search shows any number of painted brick houses world-wide. Even large, expensive houses. They can’t be all wrong. My take on it is that you must use the right paint for concrete/brick, not regular exterior latex, and it’s fine. And tha patina of paint changing with time is wonderful. Look at this site: http://www.dexknows.com/local/home_improvement/guides_and_videos/what-should-i-know-painting-brick-house-6331/

tlocane | 12 years and 6 months ago

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I also own a brickstone and had issues with water leaks on the back of the house. The contractor who did the original gut renovation recommended sealing the back brick by painting it with waterproof paint. I hated doing it beacuse the brick was beautiful; but decided to go with his recommendation. What did I know, right?   A year after painting it, salts started leaching out and I got these nasty white streaks all over the back paint. The brick wasn’t breathing properly. I wound up removing all the paint and repointing the back and side of the house … at great expense. Repointing should have been done the first time instead of painting the brick. It made a huge difference, in both aesthetics as well as waterproofing.

m926bk | 12 years and 6 months ago

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You don’t need a permit to paint, but the contractor will need a permit to build/hang scaffolding, and you might also need to put up a sidewalk bridge.  Painting brick and stone in general, though, is a bad idea.  It traps water inside the materials accelerating their deterioration, and hides other problems (like smaller cracks and bad joints).  It also adds more maintenance as the paint will fail (peel) over time.  Aesthetics aside, and if you are not painting over existing paint, have you considered cleaning and repointing it?  If you are set on painting, you’ll want a breathable masonry coating.