Mold on painted brick? (house, charge, place)

[dscotto183]

I painted my red brick fireplace white months ago and then all of a sudden a couple weeks ago I noticed some of the bricks started turning yellow and 2 of them have what I think is mold or fungus growing on them. I don’t really know why this happened. Has anyone had this happen to them?

[sabbathunter]

What kind of paint did you use on them? Could the bricks be turning yellow from smoke or heat from the fireplace?

[dscotto183]

I used Benjamin Moore paint, regular paint I guess. They turned color before I started using the fireplace.

[ChalkItUp]

When I did it years ago I was told to wash brick and then seal before painting. Major hassle but didn't have bleeding issue from moisture in brick.

[BBCjunkie]

^^^ This.


We had a brick fireplace in our first house painted along with the rest of the interior. The bricks had a lot of efflorescence and also black soot near the opening because the chimney hadn't been drafting properly (we had that fixed.) The painter cleaned the brick surface with a degreasing cleaner (may have been TSP before they banned it in NY State), put on a coat of one of the sealing primers (BIN or Kilz, can't recall which), then 2 coats of Benjamin Moore satin finish latex. He said the satin finish or a semi gloss would be easier to clean in the future.

ETA: Efflorescence is the white stuff that develops on concrete, brick, etc in the presence of moisture.

[Kbinspections]

It is not recommended to paint brick, period. inside may work, outside is a terrible idea. Brick is porous and needs to absorb and discharge water vapor.