Best Way To Paint Fireplace Brick – Brick fireplaces are great, but they often look old, dark and dirty. Instead of living with that dirty, moldy look, learn how to paint a brick fireplace to give your space a new look.
When it comes to fireplaces, brick is the most popular material choice for surrounding walls. It is affordable and its non-flammable properties make it a practical choice. But as brick ages, it decays, loses its color, and retains dirt and grime. Give your fireplace a new look by learning how to paint a brick fireplace.
Best Way To Paint Fireplace Brick
Note: White is the most popular color to paint a brick fireplace, but the steps below apply to any color.
Painting A Brick Fireplace For An Impressive New Look
Painting a brick fireplace doesn’t have to be done all day, but there is a certain sequence you must follow to achieve the perfect painted brick fireplace look. The following steps will take you from preparation to finished product.
Even well-maintained fireplaces are very messy to paint, so some preparation and cleaning is required. Start by moving around the fireplace, if there is one. This usually requires loosening a few screws inside the housing.
After you’ve moved and exposed all the brick, take a wire brush and clean the brick and mortar joints. This will loosen any debris, bits of dirt and loose plaster that will affect the paint. Use a wet-dry vacuum cleaner to remove dust.
With the dust removed, it’s time to clean the surface to remove soot, chemicals, oils, and anything else that may be on the brick. Put on rubber gloves, a respirator, and a pair of safety glasses and mix the sodium phosphate solution as directed. Use buckets and sponges to clean the bricks.
My Painted Brick Fireplace 3 Years Later
After removing all loose debris, burrs and dirt, allow the fireplace to dry for several hours. In the meantime, use tape and throw towels to protect walls, stoves, mantles, and any other surface you don’t want to paint. Take your time with this step, as the brick needs to dry anyway, and the more work you do now, the less cleanup you’ll have to do later.
Before painting a brick fireplace, the porous surfaces of the plaster and brick should be sealed. Using a product specifically designed for masonry sealing will ensure that these holes do not absorb paint, require fewer coats and result in a better result. And the sealer will prevent stains and create an even base coat for a clean finish – especially important if your color of choice is white.
Place a tray liner in the paint tray and pour about ¼ gallon into the tray. Use a brush to work the sealant into the plaster, pushing it into all the cracks and crevices with the bristles. Use a paint roller and a ¾-inch nap cap to cover the brick with sealer. The thick nap should quickly cover the brick while having plenty of sealant in all the nooks and crannies. If necessary, apply a second coat.
As long as you’ve taken the time to prep and seal it, painting a brick fireplace is fairly simple. While the sealant is drying, wash the brush with soap and water. Also change the ink tray liner and replace the ink roller with a new roller liner.
Ultimate Guide For Fireplace Painting
Pour about ¼ gallon of acrylic latex paint into the paint pan, then use a paintbrush to work the paint into the plaster joints, followed by a paint roller. Go slower with this step than with the sealant because it’s easy to miss a spot if you use a white or light color on a lighter colored sealant.
Repeat this step as often as necessary until you are satisfied with the coverage. Once the paint is dry, reseal around the fireplace.
While the main purpose of painting a brick fireplace white is to brighten up a dark, drab element in the home, ease of maintenance is a secondary benefit. Warm water, a non-abrasive all-purpose cleaner and a sponge are all it takes to keep a white brick fireplace looking fresh and clean.
And with work behind you, it’s time to enjoy a fresh, clean, bright space. Choose new decor items, houseplants and other touches to accent your painted brick fireplace for a whole new feel.
How To Tile A Brick Fireplace
Get the latest Old House news, insider tips, tricks and clever DIY projects from our experts – straight to your inbox. The DIY brick fireplace makeover started with building a brick fireplace from scratch and finished with a wood beam and shiplap accent. However, the last step in this complete fireplace renovation project is to paint the wall! We knew from the beginning that we wanted the brick to be white to make the space as bright as possible. After discussing whitewash, German stain, and solid paint, we decided that solid white, the same color as the tile, would look best in this space and would be the easiest choice. No fancy techniques or special paints required, just use your favorite color with a quality primer for this DIY. Here’s how to paint a brick fireplace white with primer and plain paint!
The first photo shows our house when we first bought it, the next after we whitewashed our house while redoing our entire interior, the third photo shows this fireplace after we added a diy and new wood mantle, and then the finished brick. fireplace Photo of fireplace after construction and addition of new ship and large wood mantle – last photo shows the white color of the brick in the fireplace.
Before you paint your brick, make sure it is completely free of dust. You do not need to clean the brick unless it is unusually dirty. The trick is to deep clean the brick with a good vacuum brush. Cover the mantle, floor and walls with masking tape and masking paper before painting.
First you’ll want to use a good quality primer. For this project I’m using Benjamin Moore Advance Paint which is water based, so I’m using a water based primer from Kilz. When you paint, you’ll want to use a coarse brush like this and get into all the bricks and grout lines first to make sure you really get the paint there. Don’t be afraid to break the brush hard to get the paint into all the cracks and crevices of the brick. Use the brush to make the sides and edges of the fireplace hearth.
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Then use a roller and roll the brick on top. prime it completely. The roller should apply the paint well to the brick stains. We ran a few light coats over the whole thing. Allow the primer to dry completely before applying the top coat of paint.
You will follow the same technique for the finish color as the primer in this step. We used Benjamin Moore’s Dove White, the same color as the top bar. Be sure to draw the grout lines with a brush first and then roll the brick completely.
Finally, after the finish paint is completely dry, tighten any seams or edges that need it. We need to surround the entire fireplace and floor to hide the imperfections in the picture.
And finally! Painting a brick fireplace is actually quite easy when you paint it a solid color. All you need is to make sure you use a good primer on the clean brick and then finish with the color of your choice.
How To Paint Your Brick Fireplace
Check out the full DIY on how to build a brick fireplace, how to install a fireplace accent wall, and how to install a rustic fireplace mantel here! Preparation is always the most important part of a great paint job, so even though it’s the most boring, don’t skip it! If you don’t clean your brick well, your paint won’t adhere properly and will chip over time. I use my vacuum cleaner and degreaser. However, if yours is particularly dirty, you can clean it first with a wire brush.
Tape off any areas you don’t want the paint to continue, such as adjacent walls. I also recommend running the tape under where the brick meets the floor if possible. This ensures that no paint will drip onto your floor under the plastic. Then glue the floor surface well – do not leave gaps in the plastic. I always like to put plastic tape over the area I’m going to work on and then put a drop cloth on top. This ensures that nothing will happen and ruin the floor!
It is important to use a high quality primer before painting as it allows the latex paint to adhere to the brick. I used a special primer made for masonry called Locson by Sherwin Williams. However, you can also use standard keys. To apply the primer, use a stiff brush to press the paint
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