Staining Brick (Dallas, Industry: house, transfer, contractor)

[TeamLynn]

I've seen a fair number of North Dallas homes where the brick is painted.
Typically I think to cover up major cracks in the brick veneer.

Anyone ever seen stained brick?
Is that possible?
Is it better for the brick than painting it?
Are there any issues with painting brick?
I've always heard brick is breathable....so does painting it change that where staining wouldn't?
Anyone seen mold or mildew behind brick that was painted?

Anyone have recommendations for a brick stainer?

[EcoDeb]

IMO Brick is painted to hide a problem, in addition it will need to be maintained, whereas brick alone is designed
to be low maintenance.

Are you just trying to change the way the brick looks?

[EDS_]

We just painted our 1960s era brick home. For a few reasons.
1). Some of our old hand cast soft brick was just beginning to weather. Paint stops that cold.
2). Hand cast soft brick absorbs/transfers more water than modern brick, at least usually. Paint controls that issue nicely.
3). The old brick was an odd pearlescent medium red. It was really pretty up close but odd looking from any distance.
4). Paint is much less attractive to casual mosses that tend to grow on brick homes - around downspouts and the like.
5). Although not a big deal our new lighter color should heat a good bit less than the older much darker color. Sherwin-Williams has some data on this but I didn't pay much attention.
6). Some older homes have terribly dated brick colors. Painting solves that issue and in nearly every case I've seen the result is much prettier.

Painting brick with modern primers and water based paints allows modern and old hard-fired brick to wick, slows that process in softer more porous brick, stops any brick from further weathering erosion and lasts about 15/18 years with minimal maintenance.

I'm sure some people paint to hide problems but that's silly as paint does not hide surface imperfections very well at all. In fact other than masking color differences in mortar or maybe varying brick colors for example paint makes many physical imperfections waviness, cracks, gaps, edge imperfections and off-plane defects more noticeable.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by TeamLynn

I've seen a fair number of North Dallas homes where the brick is painted.
Typically I think to cover up major cracks in the brick veneer.

Anyone ever seen stained brick?
Is that possible?
Is it better for the brick than painting it?
Are there any issues with painting brick?
I've always heard brick is breathable....so does painting it change that where staining wouldn't?
Anyone seen mold or mildew behind brick that was painted?

Anyone have recommendations for a brick stainer?

Many of your questions regarding brick can be answered at the Brick Industry Association WEB site Tech Notes located here Technical Notes . Tech Note 6 addresses painting of brick.

I have not seen stained brick but brick is much more porous than wood or other stained substrates. I would not think that stains would do well on brick and/or shades/colors easily controlled. There are many paints out there now that emulate stain colors and would be a better choice on brick.

[NP78]

Originally Posted by EDS_

We just painted our 1960s era brick home. For a few reasons.
1). Some of our old hand cast soft brick was just beginning to weather. Paint stops that cold.
2). Hand cast soft brick absorbs/transfers more water than modern brick, at least usually. Paint controls that issue nicely.
3). The old brick was an odd pearlescent medium red. It was really pretty up close but odd looking from any distance.
4). Paint is much less attractive to casual mosses that tend to grow on brick homes - around downspouts and the like.
5). Although not a big deal our new lighter color should heat a good bit less than the older much darker color. Sherwin-Williams has some data on this but I didn't pay much attention.
6). Some older homes have terribly dated brick colors. Painting solves that issue and in nearly every case I've seen the result is much prettier.

Painting brick with modern primers and water based paints allows modern and old hard-fired brick to wick, slows that process in softer more porous brick, stops any brick from further weathering erosion and lasts about 15/18 years with minimal maintenance.

I'm sure some people paint to hide problems but that's silly as paint does not hide surface imperfections very well at all. In fact other than masking color differences in mortar or maybe varying brick colors for example paint makes many physical imperfections waviness, cracks, gaps, edge imperfections and off-plane defects more noticeable.

Good post. Our house is also a 60's era ranch and our brick was painted about 10 years ago (prior to us owning the home) and the paint on the brick is still good as new. It wasn't done to cover up any damage, but was done for cosmetic reasons (I found some old photos of the street and our home was a hideous salmon type color before) by the contractor that renovated the home.