I agree! Why in God's name do people do this?!!! The whole point of brick is to have ZERO/near-zero maintenance!! Brick looks so "stately" and lends a sense of "permanence" to a home. When someone paints it, it just falls into the "trendy-trap" vaguearies of house colors.
>> Jeez, I hope it's an ISOLATED trend where you live!
Sooooo....
PROS: Can't think of any...
CONS: Where do I begin.....
Faron
PS: UNLESS it's some manufactured panel that's MEANT to be painted...I didn't think of that right away!

Well, it was a trend here a few years ago when everyone discovered that DryVit was not such a good thing after all and everyone wanted the ability to paint, the low maintenance they could not get with wood (what were they thinking!?!) and started building new houses and painting the brick before the inspection.

Well, I took a another trip (for a different reason but while I was there) ventured into the neighborhood. Talked to some neighbors. In 2 or 3 brand spanking new neighborhoods with 300 thousand to 500 thousand dollar homes, I askied a resident working in his yard Sat.if that yas just painted brick. Well some were just pained brick and some had stucco over the brick and then painted. You can still see the grout lines of the brick showing through but it gives a muddled or unperfect look. I still think this is odd.

My home is red brick (not so pretty, not dark or light sort of med color red) Trim is white and shutters and door are gray/bluish color. With this color brick, I feel so limited to paint choices. I would love to change the look, any suggestions on color for trim, shutters, and door? Thanks.

Poodle I am in somewhat the same boat as you but I am looking at options for some interior bricks I want to re-color. There are two pretty interesting solutions I have found from Europe. one is a brick dye and tinting system from England called Dyebrick. The link is below. If you go to the gallery you will see several examples of people in the US who have used the product. I am trying to get some samples for a fireplace I want to re-do. The other thing I am looking into are Keim paints which are more like regular paint but are very durable and breathable and designed primarily for use over brick, stone and concrete. Neither option is cheap and with the Dyebrick you are essentially tinting each brick by hand but you have the opportunity for great results with a color that you would like and a brick house that still looks like a brick house.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dyebrick

You can sand blast the paint off the brick. My neighbor did it, but it doesn't look as nice as the original brick homes. She was told in 5-10 years, it will look the same as the others, but it's been 5 and it looks the same to me. Still much better than the paint though!! We ended up painting ours a deep red with white trim to match the classiness of our plain brick neighbors. Ours has been painted over for years, gray, then yellow! Eek! The neighbors were glad we painted over it!! An investor bought one of the brick homes in the neighborhood, remodeled, and painted the exterior in baby poop green!! It's been on the market over a year. We all can't believe the idiot painted over the original brick. It would have sold by now.

I LOVE white painted brick. I think it looks beautiful and classy. We are building a home, and I am considering this as well. However, I am having a tough time finding the right white. So far I have narrowed it down to Vermont cream by Behr, Overcast by Ben. Moore, Belvedere Cream by Behr, and Lunar Light by Behr.

I have not yet discussed this with my builder. I'm sure he will be against it.

One of the reasons i like it is that if the middle/main piece of your home is stucco and the side wings are brick, they end up looking chopped up. If you paint the brick the same color as the stucco, they all flow better.

I will paint the shutters two shades darker than whatever color I'm going with. I love this look.
bridget

bmh4796: do you have a pic or the brick painted white? I would love to see it. All the brand new homes that I saw on my trip were painted khaki's, browns, greens and grays. No whites. I would love to see that!
Thanks.

There is a solution out there that can give your home the look of authentic brick in a wide variety of colours.

If you are asking yourself what to do about your painted brick, check out a company called "The Brick Painters .Com"

Here is a link that might be useful: The Brick Painters .Com

We are in the process of having the house prepped for Cerama-Shield (Wallcoat is the company doing thework)which is guaranteed for at least 15 years.

Our house is brick and I think it looks even better AFTER the powerwashing. Although the next step corking/sealing, prior to painting, we are trying to decide if we should have them do the Peel Away thing to take more paint off, then seal the brick.

Its a pretty big decision to leave it rustic, and I am 80% sure we won't do it, but I sure do love the look.

What do you think?

Before Powerwashing

Ok, let's try again...it would definitely need more paint removal, but I really like it.I think it can however, look neglected and therefore it would be very important to remove the right amount of paint.

thanks, sue

Before powerwashing:
{{!gwi}}

After Powerwashing:
{{!gwi}}

I love the look after the powerwash. It is such a beautiful home! That is my vote.

DL

Yes, I rather favor it as does my husband, but up close it just looks messy. We have seen homes where they have removed the majority of the paint and we're not crazy about them, but to leave it as is, or with a bit more paint removed, doesn't seem to be an option because of how it looks up close.

Here's the before and during again...{{!gwi}}

During{{!gwi}}

There are many websites that have complete and easy instructions on how to go about painting your bricks. Paintbrick.com is one example of where you can find good informaton about the process.

Here is a link that might be useful: how to paint brick

I can tell you one reason why a 'yahoo would paint a brick house' .... because the house is 60 years old and the brick is stained - paint stains from a painted sided dormer that will not come off. Gives the house a new updated look - which will sell when the time comes - better than old stained brick.

I live and remodel in a neighborhood of 1950's brick ranch homes where the homes became somewhat run down but in the last 5-7 years there has been an influx of younger couples. Many of the homes were in disrepair and the homes were originally starter homes. Now, with that said most of the renovated homes have been painted and look 10 zillion times better. We actually went very bold and painted ours a dark gray (the new white). Soon after the first neighbor came over and I wanted for the response. They and the rest of the neighborhood loves it. If the home was higher end in the first place a 'higher grade' of brick was probably used. In any case, I say go for it especially if it is a ranch style home. Check out Atomic Ranch and you'll find some really cool examples

Here is a link that might be useful: Inside of house.