Painting your exterior brick house is a great way to improve its curb appeal, increase your home’s value, protect your exterior brick, and fall in love with your home all over again.
For many, an exterior brick home is outdated and there is a strong desire to bring the home into the 21st Century and make it modern.
In this article, we’re going to share with you the basics of how to paint exterior brick house. Painting an exterior brick house has many similarities to other siding options, like vinyl or aluminum, but there are also several differences you have to account for.
If you don’t love the look of your brick home, unfortunately, brick is extremely expensive to repair and replace. Plus, you would lower the R-factor of your home if you replaced your brick siding.
The most cost-effective way for updating your brick exterior is by painting. It is a simple, cost-effective, and a modern solution.
Painting your exterior brick house is a four step process:
Prep the exterior and the house
Protect the exterior
Paint the exterior brick house
Clean up
Let’s dig into each of these steps so you feel confident painting your exterior brick house. We’re also going to share how much it might cost to paint your house by yourself versus hiring a painting company.
#1: Prepare The Brick Exterior
Before you run up to the store and grab the paint cans, brush, or paint sprayer, you need to make sure your brick exterior is properly prepared, cleaned, and in good condition.
In the painting industry, we have an old adage that says, “most of the work in a painting job is in the prep work.”
That’s because properly preparing the brick exterior will result in better job quality and ensure the paint job lasts longer.
Make sure your brick exterior is free of dirt, dust, cobwebs, mildew and efflorescence. When water containing dissolved salts evaporates, the salts are pulled to the surface of the brick. The brick has this white salty look to it that should be cleaned off the brick.
The best way to clean your brick exterior house is to use a pressure washer. If you’re in need of a pressure washer, you can rent one from a hardware store for roughly $83 per day.
Once you’ve pressure washed the home, wait 24 hours before painting the brick exterior.
To get a good painting result, the brick must be dry.
Note: if for some reason it rains, make sure to wait 24 hours before painting your brick exterior. The brick must be dry in order to properly adhere to the brick exterior surface.
After your brick is dry, it’s time to assess the brick and mortar for loose mortar and damaged bricks. If you have any holes in your mortar or brick, fill the holes with a mortar repair caulk or another similar product.
If your bricks are seriously damaged, you may need to contact a mason to repair and fix the bricks.
#2: Protect The Exterior
Once your brick exterior is prepared, it’s time to protect the exterior. This means removing items, such as shutters, light fixtures, and mailboxes.
It’s not required to remove these items, but it can make your painting job a little bit easier and faster. Otherwise, you’ll have to cover these items to protect them or use a paint brush to cut around them.
Next, if you’re painting around windows or doors, you’ll want to use some tape to protect yourself from painting the trim. If you’re using a sprayer, you will need to cover the entire window and trim to avoid overspray.
Lastly, lay drip cloths down over plants and landscaping that you don’t want any paint on. It’s a good idea to water your plants and landscaping before laying drip cloths over them.
#3: Paint The Exterior Brick House
There are two main ways to paint the exterior of your brick home — using a brush and roller or a paint sprayer. For most DIY homeowners, it’s better to use a brush and roller than overcome the learning curve using a paint sprayer.
For small to midsize projects — houses under 2,00 square feet — you can paint the house with a brush and roller. Any home above 2,000 square feet may require a paint sprayer.
Once you’re ready to paint, you should start at the roof line. It’s a good idea to work your way from top to bottom when it comes to house painting.
If you’re painting by hand, make sure to paint across the bricks and shove the brush into the mortar. There are a lot of nooks and crannies in brick that you have to make sure is covered. Once you cut in the entire house, the roof line, around doors, windows, and the bottom, you are ready to roll the paint.
You’re gonna need to use a ¾” brush. You want something that is designed for rough surfaces.
Roll the paint onto the brick for the first coat. Wait the recommended time between coats, generally four hours.
Calculate Your Paint Costs
If you’re planning to go the DIY exterior painting route, a majority of your costs are in paint. Before you can start your project, you need to figure out how many gallons of paint you will need.
The average exterior paint gallon is $40 to $80 per gallon and generally covers 200 to 400 square feet when it comes to brick exterior.
To calculate your needed gallons, you need to find the square footage of the surface that’s being painted. This is relatively simple and is done using multiplication, addition, and subtraction.
Looking at the front of your house, measure the height and the width. Multiply the height and width to find the square footage of a side.
Do the same thing for the rest of the sides and add up the total.
From there, subtract the square footage for windows and doors. Often, you can subtract 15 square feet for a window and 25 square feet for a door.
So, let’s say you’ve done the math and figured your brick exterior house is 950 square feet. At roughly 250 square feet per gallon, you’re going to need four gallons.
At $80 per gallon, your total paint cost is $320.
Of course, if you’re painting yourself, you also need to factor in material costs — paintbrushes, protective gear, pressure washer, and more.
Cost To Hire Painting Contractor For Brick House
Hiring a professional painter in Lansing and Detroit to paint your one-story brick exterior house will typically cost around $2,100, give or take.
Of course, larger homes are priced higher. If this seems a bit of a sticker shock to you, it’s understandable. Keep in mind that you’re not just paying for the paint when you hire a painting contractor. You’re also paying for the necessary materials, the contractor’s time, experience, and wages.
When you contact a Lansing painting contractor, you will find prices all across the board. Some that seem cheaper and some that seem too expensive.
In general, the price you receive is often a function of experience, references, insurance, and guarantees. You don’t want to have to pay to get everything redone if you’re not happy the first time or if your painting contractor ghosts you.
Is Painting Exterior Brick House Worth the Cost?
Despite the cost, is painting your exterior brick house worth the cost? Absolutely.
First, the durability and appearance of brick typically means they sell for six to ten percent more than other homes. Second, painting the exterior house can increase your home’s value.
You’re bound to stand out from the rest of the block when you paint your brick exterior.
At the end of the day though, whether it’s worth it or not is based on more than a financial outcome. If you fall in love with your home all over again, then it’s worth it.
#4: Clean Up And Reinstall
Once you’re done painting, it’s time to clean up. That means removing tape, drip cloths, and plastic coverings. Clean your brushes and roller. Most homeowners choose to let the pan, brush and roller dry out and then just trash them.
After four to 24 hours, reinstall items you took off the house. This is a great time to update light fixtures, shutters or anything else you’ve been thinking about changing.
Extra paint can be painted on a flat piece of drywall to dry out and trash or you can store the paint cans in a dry, moderate temperature place in case you ever need to use it as a touch up.
Afraid to Try On Your Own?
There you have it. That’s the simple four step process to painting your brick exterior.
If you’re afraid to do this on your own, then look no further than Robinson Painting Co. With our network of qualified exterior painting contractors, we can transform an old home into a modern masterpiece. We can paint your Detroit or Lansing brick houses.
Whether you’re thinking about selling your home or just want to love your home again, we can help you with your exterior brick house painting job.
We’re passionate and professional and will make sure that you have the best possible experience. We love to make homeowners happy. We offer flexible payment options, color consultations, and design advice to serve you better.
