The Pros and Cons of Painting Brick Exteriors

When you’re considering painting your home’s exterior, there are many factors that you need to consider. One of the biggest factors is the material which you’ll be painting. Does your home have a wood or brick exterior? If your home has a brick exterior, you’ll need to consider the pros and cons because painting brick is not like painting any other type of material. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at painting brick to help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.

Pro: Increase Your Curb Appeal

Fresh quality paint on any surface always looks good. When you paint your brick exterior, you can be sure that the curb appeal of your home will increase. Curb appeal is the perceived value of your home from somebody that’s driving by. When people are looking at buying a home, one of the first things they do is visit the home in person and assess what they think of it, first, from a distance. When you paint your home’s brick exterior, you’re upgrading your curb appeal.

Con: Painting Brick Exterior is Permanent

Once you paint brick, you really can’t revert the brick back to its natural color without damaging the brick. Even if you somehow managed to strip all the paint from the brick, what will be left is a brick exterior that looks nowhere near as good as the original. Painting your brick exterior is like getting a tattoo -it’s pretty much permanent.

Pro: Painted Brick is Easier to Clean

Brick is very porous, which makes it easy for airborne dirt and grime to take hold and make brick home exteriors look dirty. Cleaning unpainted brick exterior is difficult because dirt really gets into the brick pores and sticks. When you have a painted brick exterior, you’re essentially sealing the brick pours and transforming it to a nonporous surface. Nonporous surfaces are much easier to clean.

Con: More Frequent Cleaning for Painted Brick Surfaces

Although painted brick exteriors are easier to clean, you will need to clean them more often. Any kind of dirt or grime will show up much more on a painted brick surface. The plus side is it will be fairly easy to clean compared to traditional bricks without paint.

Pro: Weather Resistant

When unpainted porous brick is faced with harsh elements like rain, snow, and wind it doesn’t perform as well as painted brick. Paint serves as a protective shell to some degree against the harsh elements. Over time the paint will fail, but adding new paint is much easier than dealing with damaged bricks.

Con: Painted Brick can Hide Rot

If there is any kind of crack in the paint that would let water in, the brick underneath the paint might not be able to release that water. Over time the brick underneath can decay and rot. Over time it would get progressively worse and costly. The one way to avoid this is by using paint that allows water release.

Need Help Painting Your Home’s Brick Exterior?

If you’re in the market for a new exterior or interior paint, we can help. We use the highest quality paints from Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams to ensure you get a finish that looks great and lasts. Call today and tell us about your project.