Render or paint brick: Paint or Render Brick House

Paint or Render Brick House

What is best?

Often we will come across a client who is deliberating on whether to paint or render their brick house. Some are often not sure on the look they are after therefore
trying to figure out which look will suit their tastes, while others are looking at it from a cost effectiveness point of view and we also have other clients who are looking at it from
a long term perspective.

What are your long term plans with your home?

As this is a suggestion/opinion piece, the advice I would give is look at what your long term goals are with your home before committing in either direction.
If the goal is to sell your home in one year – then render it, the value added by rendering will quadruple the money spent to render it. Thus making it
an investment of sorts. If you plan to keep the home for a long time and the painted look is something that you love and is more affordable then paint it.
The reason painting is a bad idea for selling is because rendering over painted surfaces cost more money and takes more time making a painted house
less appealing for a buyer.

Reasons Brick Work is not Painted Often

If you spend a day driving around your neighbourhood you will realise most brick work is either bare as is or rendered,
painted brick work is not that common for the reasons listed below.

• Painted brickwork costs more money to render in the future
• Painted brickwork is less likely to appeal to the majority of people
• Painted brickwork needs to be painted more often then painted render has to be repainted
• Painted brickwork does not actually provide protection to the house – it is pure cosmetic. When your render a brick house there is
  a lay of protection

In Summary

As stated the goal or outcome you are looking towards will determine the best of coarse of action when deciding to paint or render your brick house.
Either can look great – just depends on you. Rendering provides added benefits of protecting your home, providing insulation and when it comes to render
there are many different options and finishes.

Why Rok Rendering

You don’t render often, so when you render do it right with the team
at Rok Rendering. With three generations of experience in the rendering
industry you can be assured you are in good hands.

Cement Rendering is one of those things that is most noticeable when the job is done wrong or not a professional standard. For home owners cement rendering is a renovation to their house they might do once or twice in a lifetime so Rok Rendering prides ourselves on delivering an excellent rendering project outcome for all of our customers.

When hiring a tradesman there should be no guess work when it comes to the quality they offer, expectations should be set before the project and met at completion. Repairing external rendered walls is a very common call out for the team at Rok Rendering, with a lot of our work being in the realm of restoration. Hiring tradesman is complicated and confusing enough, no one wants to be quality checking a tradesman they are paying!

At Rok Rendering we can come to your property and provide you with a solution to your problem. We only use the best material and our work is always of the highest quality. If you would like to work with a cement rendering company that you can trust call Rok Rendering today on 0452-523-921
or contact us using the online form by clicking here.

The quality of you render remains long after the invoice is paid!

Top 4 Things You Need To Know Before You Render A Brick House – Elle Blonde | Luxury Lifestyle Destination

Render is a type of cladding used on houses up and down the country. It comes in a range of materials and can be applied for a few different reasons, but is it actually worth it?

Top 4 things you need to know before you render a brick house

What types of render are there?

There are different materials used for render, each with their own special characteristics and appearance, and they are:

Silicone render

Silicone render is ideal for modern homes, and is the most modern material. It is great at staying clean and dirt-free, helping to improve the appearance of brick homes.

Acrylic render

Acrylic render is one of the most popular materials, and it has the benefit of coming in many colours. This means that it doesn’t require painting, making it an easy render to have applied to external walls. It is best suited to pre-rendered properties.

Polymer render

Polymer render is a material best suited to modern homes. It has additional polymers within it compared to other render materials, allowing it to be more flexible than cement render and lime render.

Cement render

Cement render is one of the most commonly used renders, and it is best suited to 20th-century homes. It requires much more cleaning and repairing than other cladding materials, but can also be one of the cheaper options.

Others include tyrolean render, monocouche render, coloured render & lime rendering.

Benefits of rendering exterior walls

So why do people render brick houses? We asked We Do Render for some help with this one and this is what they said:

Brick creates solid walls, so what is the purpose of house rendering? Well, there are a few benefits to rendering your entire house which are what attract most people to getting their property rendered. Adding a rendered facade to your home can:

Boost appearance

Many brick homes have worn, mismatching brick work that isn’t the most aesthetically appealing. Those looking to improve a property for themselves or to add value ready for selling may choose to add wall covering to the exposed brick walls in order to change the appearance. Adding a lime wash or lime plaster has been shown to drastically change the look and style of the home.

Protect against rising damp

Damp proofing is a big benefit of rendering a home. If a property suffers from penetrating damp, owners can damp proof the home by adding rendering. Regardless of what type of render is used on a property, it will be able to protect the home from damp issues to some extent.

Typically speaking, brick is not very weather resistant and can be quite easily affected by things like damp issues, so by damp proofing the exterior walls, how owners can help to reduce the risk of structural damage. Applying render is a relatively simple way to protect the integrity of the building.

External wall insulation

Rendering is a great way to make a property more energy efficient, especially old properties with solid brick walls. The render will work as an additional layer to add insulation, helping to manage the property’s temperature.

Rendering also provides the opportunity to enhance the property’s thermal performance even further by adding external insulation to the home. Whilst the property is already having work done, it makes sense to also make other changes to enhance the building. External insulation is a great way to improve the property’s energy efficiency and as a consequence can add to the value of the property. It is expensive, and will cost more money than just rendering, but would be worth it in the long run.

Downsides of house rendering

There are sufficient benefits to rendering a property, but there are also some downsides to rendering an existing house. Regardless of whether your property is rendered with cement based render or lime render, there will be some downsides to having it done. They are:

Render can crack

Whilst your render finish might look great to start with, you will likely find over time that render (especially cement renders) will crack. This can be really annoying and can really impact the appearance of the render finish.

Cracks in render can be caused by anything from the weather to rising damp, and will need attention relatively soon after forming. Repairing cracks in house render is not too hard of a job, but it can be tiresome to have to fix the wall covering on such a regular basis.

Mould and algae

Some render finishes will be prone to developing mould and algae, especially during the cooler, damper months. The mould and algae will grow on the render surface, ultimately ruining the appearance of the solid wall and making the property look less than appealing. Cement render is especially prone to this and will require a regular cleaning to remove said mould. I covered in a previous article how mould is a toxin in your property.

Flaking paint and discolouration

Typically, lime render, cement renders and polymer renders are painted once applied. This paint, as it is left in the open for a long time, can flake and discolour. This can lead to the property’s appearance worsening, and can be expensive and tiring to fix.

Rendering is expensive

Whether you are adding to existing render, rendering a new extension project or rendering a property for the first time, it is a pricey process. It will take several days, especially if you intend to get the entire property rendered.

Overall, is rendering a brick house worth it?

Rendering a brick house can help to enhance the energy efficiency of the property, and protect from penetrating damp (especially if lime render is used), but it can be costly, and may take a lot of maintenance. There are other cladding materials that are lower maintenance such as timber cladding, but for those who like the appearance of render, it may well be worth the money. Just ensure that you get the right render material for the property and that you have the time and resources to properly maintain the render finish.

How to paint decorative brick-like plaster

You can create such a popular style of home interior decoration as painting a brick wall in bright or white colors yourself. To do this, you need to properly prepare the surface and paint the masonry.

How to paint a brick wall: tips and tricks

Brick walls without plaster are increasingly common in the interior of modern apartments. To protect the surface from moisture and dirt, their painting is used. A similar method is used with perfectly even masonry seams and a presentable appearance of the material.

Painting a brick wall

By choosing this method of interior design, you do not have to level the surface with plaster or drywall, and then also apply a finish coat.

Outdoors: the best choice of paint

A few things to consider:

• In the future, it will be almost impossible to remove paint from bricks. How to paint decorative plaster on the ceiling? The original color of the material cannot be returned, and the only way to change the appearance is by repainting it.
• The outer wall must be painted at +25°C or more, otherwise the surface may be streaked. For painting use a spray gun.
• Start at the top edge and apply two or three coats of paint, allowing the surface to dry. Modern high-quality paints make it possible to hide some surface imperfections and minor oversights in the painter’s work. For accurate work, use masking tape. It is glued to adjacent unpainted areas.

Interior

finishing : how to paint

Preparatory work is required to paint interior walls. This applies to the removal of furniture from the room, so that it is easier to paint.

• Cover the floor with foil or other material to prevent soiling.
• Work is carried out with a long pile roller or brush. They paint the wall with stripes that overlap by 1-2 mm.
• Brush preferred. So the surface of the masonry is felt better and the strokes are more even. Paint the wall in a horizontal direction according to the texture of the masonry. For alkyd and oil paints, natural hair brushes are used. Their width should be in the range of 75-100 mm. Corners are treated with a narrow brush with a cut edge.
• The use of a roller is advisable when a carelessly rolled layer is created on the wall, which decorates the interior of the room. Brick quickly absorbs a lot of paint and the roller will have to work for a long time to create a perfectly smooth surface.

Used to paint the surface and sponge. Its use creates the effect of faded old masonry on the wall. Bronze highlights are applied with a sponge or contrasting color spots are added to the surface.

Paint preparation: important requirements

When carrying out surface painting work, it should be borne in mind that brick is a porous material. For complete drying and weathering of the wall, the house must stand for a long time in its original form.

Exterior

When choosing to paint an exterior brick wall, the following points should be considered:

• It is undesirable to paint fresh masonry. The surface must fully pass the stages of drying, weathering and leaching. It may take a year.
• Surface of wall is prepared before painting, it must be clean. What color to paint the decorative plaster in the hallway? To do this, clean off salt stains, wash with soapy water and allow to dry well. Excess moisture will evaporate from the surface in a week.
• Painted brickwork creates a modern and trendy home style. Attention is diverted from small wall defects. You can choose the color of the paint, combined with other buildings on the site.

For interior work

Large and clearly visible imperfections are best filled or plastered. Although the brickwork should be rough with a surface without large cracks and chips, it is easier to paint this way, and the wall looks neater.

The surface of must be carefully primed. Choose a deep penetration primer that creates a dense water-repellent film.

Brick, as a building material, is not entirely suitable for painting. This is due to its porous structure. In the future, removing paint from it and plastering the surface will be quite problematic.

The only possibility is to repaint the wall in a different color.

Do-it-yourself painting of a brick wall

Before painting the brickwork with your own hands, you should study a few points of this work.

What kind of paint to paint

The work is carried out with interior acrylic or alkyd paints with a matte or semi-gloss effect. Oil paints are also used. From this, the surface of the brickwork is obtained with a soft sheen.

It is undesirable to use facade paint, as it contains hazardous volatile substances.

Choice of style

The most popular style is to paint the wall white. On a white background, brickwork looks especially elegant and stylish. In addition, there are many stylistic directions for painting brickwork.

There are no restrictions in this matter.

Often found in the interior with a painted wall in the style of country and gothic. Country style involves the use of rich tones, letters and numbers, the presence of graffiti on the surface of the wall.

Keeping the texture of the brick wall

If the brickwork is perfectly even and the surface of the wall is smooth and presentable, you can leave it in its original form. It is only necessary to eliminate minor flaws and protect the wall from dust and dirt. For this, clinker oil is used.

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After processing, the color of the bricks becomes brighter and more even. Further care consists in regular washing of the surface to prevent the appearance of mold.

Brick wall contrasting

One of the painting techniques is brickwork contrasting. Walls with brightly colored seams will look spectacular in the interior of the house.

The soft and calm style of the room will create a combination of white, gray and black colors in the coloring of the masonry.

The interior brick wall will look interesting if it is decorated with bright graffiti.

How long it will last

With careful work, painted brickwork will last long enough and will please with its attractive appearance. How to paint decorative plaster on the balcony? Caring for the treated surface is quite simple: regular washing with soapy water.

Additional information:

You can experiment with both shapes and surfaces. Leave the bricks rough, uneven, or make them as smooth as possible – in both cases, the wall will look very interesting. For some designs, aged surfaces work very well.

Special processing can be carried out to achieve this effect.

The ready-to-use mortar should have a creamy consistency and should not run off the trowel. It should be taken into account the peculiarity of some solutions to harden very quickly – approximately 30 minutes after dilution. Based on this, the mixture must be stirred only before application and in a small amount.

After waiting for the complete drying of the applied layer, using a level and a pencil, it is necessary to mark the future drawing. In this case, it is necessary to ensure strict verticality and horizontality of each drawn line. The distance between the lines is determined by the size of the “bricks” and the size of the seams.

The process of imitating brickwork is best done according to a strictly defined algorithm, adhering to the basic recommendations of experts. Of course, this stage should be started after the completion of the preparatory cycle and the complete drying of the basic bases.

A special gypsum varnish is also used for the popular gypsum stone. Such a varnish provides a uniform surface color, dries quickly, does not flow down during operation, and does not create streaks. Water-based acrylic suspensions are also suitable for gypsum tiles.

A good design technique: first apply one color dye, and after a couple of minutes – another. It will also be useful to paint over individual “bricks” in a bright shade. After all, real masonry often strikes with variety and diversity, so that a brick wall made of plaster with your own hands has the right to be not monotonous. Creative natures can experiment with colors, because now it is not uncommon for products of various colors, from bright yellow to black.

Guests won’t guess that the masonry is not real!

Before starting work, the level of curvature of the surface must be measured using the long rule. If the deviation of the wall from the vertical exceeds 2-3 cm per 1 m of length, then it must be leveled with a plaster mixture and allowed to dry for several days. Only after that you can start decorating.

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How to treat the surface → Finishing rooms → How to choose the right paint → Surface treatment technologies → Leveling and finishing walls → Selecting and applying a primer → Removing from the surface → Stretch ceilings and technologies → Reviews and reviews

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The best way to paint a brick wall

Table of contents:

• Why paint brick walls
• Paint selection features
• Surface preparation for painting
• Features of painting a brick wall

Before you paint a brick wall, you should think carefully about whether it is necessary. By its very nature, brickwork is not meant to be painted. If it becomes necessary to remove paint from it (due to negligence or marriage in work or a desire to insulate the walls with a layer of plaster) or replace burnt out from old age, be prepared for the fact that it will be very difficult to do such work. This is especially true for stitched seams.

Nevertheless, bricks have been painted almost from the beginning of its use in construction. Quite often, it is even advisable to paint a brick wall or an old brick fence. For example, when the masonry has minor, but noticeable damage to the naked eye, or salt crystals of efflorescence protrude on its surface.

Scheme of plastering and painting the wall.

The need to paint the outer brick wall may also arise if, under the influence of time, sun and precipitation, the brick has faded, losing its original color and brightness. In this case, the painting, provided that it is matched to the tone, will return the brick to its original appearance.

Recently, the coloring of brick walls has become fashionable among designers and decorators. Such a design technique at minimal cost can give a brick house a special chic and individuality.

Whatever the reason for painting a brick wall, nevertheless, this operation must be approached very responsibly. With the wrong choice of material or careless painting, a brick house can turn into a hermetic damp box, losing the remarkable ability of a brick wall to have good vapor permeability.

Paint selection features

Brickwork has a porous, rough surface, which is also heterogeneous due to cement joints. It is extremely difficult to paint such a surface with ordinary paint with high quality, therefore a special facade paint was developed.

Scheme of the device of the spray gun.

But, when acquiring such paint, it is necessary to look for not just facade, but for painting brickwork. Even more, facade paints have been developed for painting separately old and new masonry, which have certain differences in their compositions.

Most of the specialized paints developed for painting bricks have increased elasticity and are able to penetrate deep into the surface material, leveling it and, due to its elasticity, gluing cracks.

A good solution for outdoor masonry is to paint it with elastomeric paint. With its help, you can reliably protect the wall from moisture and seasonal temperature changes, in addition, it will reliably close all cracks in the brickwork. But be prepared for the fact that when working with elastomeric paint, you will have to make a lot of effort. This paint has a much thicker consistency than ordinary facade paint, and besides, it needs to be applied in a layer 3 times thicker. She is expensive.

For interior painting, the choice is much larger. Internal walls can be painted with paints on various bases. But, when making a choice, it must be taken into account that the paint must be resistant to alkaline environments, and if we are talking about a bath, toilet or kitchen, it must also be water-repellent. For fireplaces and stoves, only special heat-resistant paints should be used.

Characteristics of a brick.

In addition to all the same facade paint for brickwork, you can use acrylate, latex or acrylic. All these paints do not fade under the sun’s rays for a long time, retaining their original brightness. A clear acrylic lacquer can be applied in several layers on a new, neatly executed brickwork. The wall will remain a brick color, but at the same time it will receive a special, incomparable shade.

Still, the best solution would be to use natural latex paint. She is the leader among all paints in terms of durability, has good water-repellent properties and perfectly seals small cracks. Its advantages include the fact that it is easy to apply to the wall.

And the final touch: when choosing a paint, we must not forget about the selection of its color. Here the choice depends on the features of the interior, the combination with the color of other buildings and personal preferences.

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Surface preparation for painting

Before you start painting, you need to prepare the wall. The first step is to clean the brick from dust, grease, efflorescence, and sometimes mold. If the wall has been painted before, you need to carefully remove the remnants of the old paint, otherwise the new laid layer will turn out to be uneven.

Scheme of applying paint with a spray gun.

To prepare the surface of a brick wall for painting, you will need the following tools:

• metal scraper,
• metal brush,
• trowel,
• roller or brush.

To remove old paint, use a scraper, a metal brush will scratch the surface of the bricks badly. Dust is removed with plain warm water supplied under slight pressure. But efflorescence or mold cannot be removed with water, you will only aggravate the situation. From mold, the wall can be treated with Whiteness or other chlorine-containing preparations.

The hardest part is getting rid of the exposed salt. First you need to try to gently remove the efflorescence with a stiff metal brush and wait a few days. If the plaque appears again, you need to be extremely careful, observing all safety rules, treat the wall with ammonia or 5% acetic acid.

When working with a scraper or a metal brush, you should try to preserve the cement joints as much as possible. If you still see that in some place the cement is pouring out, you need to remove it. The same should be done in those places where there are damaged bricks. Then, slightly moistening the cleaned area, seal it with cement mortar. After leveling and removing the remaining cement, wait 3-4 days until the cement is completely dry.

Latex paint is considered the leader of all paints in terms of durability.

Having finished cleaning the wall and waiting for it to dry completely, you need to perform a primer. First, a special priming varnish for brickwork must be applied to the surface with a roller or brush, capable of penetrating into the brick and closing open pores in it.

After waiting for the varnish to dry completely, treat the surface of the wall with a primer. The quality of painting directly depends on the quality of the primer, so it is better not to save money and purchase a special primer for bricks with increased water resistance.

First, the places cleaned of grease, mold or efflorescence are primed, and then the entire wall, applying a second layer of primer to the primed places. After 2-3 hours after applying the primer, you need to walk along the entire wall with sandpaper of medium hardness for better adhesion to the applied paint and proceed directly to painting.

Features of brick wall painting

For painting a brick wall, it is better to take paint made on the same basis as the primer.

The adhesion of the paint to the surface will be stronger if both of them have a related, and not a heterogeneous base.

Painting itself is done with a brush or roller. It is better to use a brush: although this method will take longer, it allows you to evenly paint over every crack in the brick surface.