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Hi - I’m looking to change the look of the entire exterior of my house, it is a brick veneer with these light orange/cream colored bricks. They’re probably very familiar - they have quite a smooth finish and are not particularly porous (water doesn’t soak right in rather beads off the surface).
My current plan is to spread Dunlop Acrylic Render using gloves hand/sponge etc to create a light bagged look - that is I want to fill the mortar lines pretty well flush with the brick face but I want to leave the smooth surface of the brick face in tact (in a trial run basically this leaves the bricks looking fully coated but only the mortar lines really have the render in them, the surface looks sort of painted by the color of the render but doesn’t have any texture/sand of the render itself). Other than pressure washing the brick and removing effervescence with vinegar and letting it dry well, I don’t plan to apply anything else to the surface and would spread the render directly onto the brick.
My current plan is then to paint over this lightly bagged brick with a few coats of an exterior paint such as Taubman’s All Weather. It is self priming so I wouldn’t intend to apply any other primer or sealer over the light render coat, I’d just paint right on top of it.
What I’d like to confirm is:
1 - does the plan sound reasonable to achieve a durable and lasting finish?
2 - I keep reading comments on forums from people saying never to paint bricks because they need to breathe and they’ll crumble and crack eventually if you do. They also cite creating ongoing maintenance.
I’m sure these must be exaggerated opinions to a certain extent - all exteriors eventually require maintenance and it’s the cost/reward of having a nicer looking exterior. Also I accept that bricks can absorb and need to disperse that moisture back out, but I see painted brick all the time that looks very much in tact and has been there for years, so clearly it can be done safely.
Will a paint like the Taubmans All Weather be suitable to go over the top of my lightly bagged brick? That is, does it allow the brick/render coat to breathe if it needs to deal with moisture, either by being a breathable topcoat itself, or does it create a seal to prevent the moisture absorption to begin with? The paint says it’s suitable
for brick, though it’s not a specialist masonry paint. If a specialist masonry paint is required I’d look into that though.
3 - Would I be better off using a product like Dulux texture to achieve the same thing? After watching a dulux video applying it, I suspect I can probably achieve a similar lightly bagged look though I suspect it would be more expensive especially if second coat is needed - but at the same time the color is part of the product itself so it may have benefit in that respect compared to a few layers of paint.
Hi @sheldo,
Your plan for transforming the look of your brick veneer home with a bagged and painted finish sounds promising, but there are a few things to consider for durability and long-term maintenance.
Firstly, while your approach of applying a light layer of Dunlop Acrylic Render to fill in the mortar joints and leaving the brick surface mostly intact can work, the application of the render in such a thin coat on the brick surface may lead to cracking over time. Render typically needs to be applied in a thicker layer—usually around 5mm or more—to provide structural integrity and durability. A thin coating of render may not bond as strongly and could crack, especially under external stresses such as temperature fluctuations or moisture. It’s also important to remember that once the render begins to set, it becomes difficult to remove. Therefore, I recommend filling the mortar joints with render and then carefully wiping the surface of the bricks with a damp sponge before it cures to clean the bricks and maintain the look you're going for.
Dulux Texture can then be applied for a textured, bagged look. While it may be more expensive, it would be a more reliable way to achieve the textured effect you desire on the face of the bricks instead of the render.
As for paint, Taubman’s All Weather is a good option as it is self-priming and suitable for brick surfaces. However, exterior paints typically aren’t breathable. While the debate about painting bricks continues, many painted brick homes do hold up well for years, but they can be difficult to maintain or repaint after a long period. If you choose to go this route, it’s important to understand that if the paint eventually deteriorates or flakes off, it will be hard to fix without a lot of effort. There is also the risk that the paint could trap moisture inside the wall, leading to damage.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
Hi @sheldo,
The Dulux texture primer and texture coat are not vapour permeable. The Dulux technical has mentioned that it's not advisable to paint the old red clay-based bricks, but newer bricks are fine to paint. However, they've also mentioned that the bricks must be porous for the primer to adhere, so please test to see if they absorb water and wet the surface or if they are sealed and the water beads off without penetrating. If it beads off as they are sealed, they can't be painted.
Mitchell
Hi Mitchell,
we are trying to do exactly the same thing has this person.
we were told at bunnings that the texture paint from dulux would be too thin to fill in the mortar gaps between our brick so we went with acrylic render and have started the project. We did some test patches around 3 months ago. They have settled fine. We did half our garage wall yesterday and apart from one corner that isn’t drying (do you know why?) it also has settled well.
my question is, if cracks or issues are going to arise, how soon will they show up? I don’t want to continue if we are going to end up in year with a wall full of cracks.
also, we used quite a wet sponge to get the tender off the brick surface. Does adding extra water/moisture to the render by doing this cause any damage or is it ok because we have such s small amount of render on the wall (only what has filled in the mortar gaps)?
questuon 3: you mention that the brick needs to be porous for us to paint over. We were going to paint over our acrylic rendered brick. Is it ok to paint over the very fine powder on the brick surface left by the acrylic render?
Hi @sheldo
Thank you very much for adding that extra information in regards to bagging your brick wall. Let me tag @noidearhi as well to make sure they see your recommendations.
Eric
