How to Paint Exterior Brick Like a Pro

Add curb appeal to your home by updating your brick house exterior with paint.

Updating your home's exterior can seem a daunting task. After all, most of your home's exterior features are things that can't be changed without costly renovation. Painting brick is a simple solution to updating the outside curb appeal of your home without an expensive price tag.

Changing your exterior paint color can easily transform the appearance of your home. And why hire a professional painter when painting a brick wall can easily be done yourself? Though painting a brick surface is not a quick job, it is well worth the effort to do it yourselves. Save money while updating the exterior of your home!

What You Will Need:  (affiliate links)

• Painter's tape
• Painter's paper
• Graco Magnum X7 paint sprayer
• Paint mask
• Paint roller
• Primer - I used Sherwin Williams extreme bond primer
• Paint - I used Sherwin Williams Duration Exterior in White
• Cardboard or paint cloth (optional)

Also, weather conditions matter! Dry weather is preferable when painting the exterior of your home. Rain or snow will create an absolute mess with your paint, so avoid it if you can.

Prep Work for Painting Brick Homes

Follow along with this DIY to learn how you can improve home exteriors with a fresh coat of paint on your unpainted brick.

• Remove furniture
• Clean brick
• Tape off unwanted paint areas
• Cover porch

Remove All Furniture

When beginning a new paint job on your exterior, it's always a good idea to remove anything that might be in your painting zone. Overspray tends to get everywhere when you use a paint sprayer.

Remove all porch or patio furniture as well as plants and decor.

Clean Your Brick

This next step is very important. In order for your primer to stick correctly you must clean the exterior of your brick.

The easiest way is to use a pressure washer to spray everything off. Pressure washing allows for a much faster clean up process. Then go back with a rag and a scrub brush if needed to make sure there is no dirt or grime left behind.

Keep in mind that if your exterior brick walls are crumbling in any areas, you will probably want a professional to repair it before attempting any application of paint.

Tape Off Windows and Doors

Your doors and windows can easily be covered in paint using a sprayer. The best way to avoid this is by taping off any areas you don't want paint. Use Frogtape and painter's paper to cover any open areas.

Spend the extra time to tape and cover your windows and front door well. It will be well worth it if you don't have to scrape paint off your windows at the end.

Use Coverings

Spraying is very messy so make sure all surfaces are covered. Painter's tape and paper will not cover everything, but it's a good place to start. A great way to prevent paint in unwanted areas is by using large sheets of cardboard, drop cloths or old bedding sheets.

How to Paint Exterior Brick

• Use a primer on brick
• Paint exterior brick of your home

Prime the Brick

Once everything is covered and taped, now you are ready to prime the surface of the bricks. Use your sprayer to apply long even strokes of primer on the brick. As you prime have someone follow behind you with a roller to back roll everything.

Also make sure you are priming with an exterior primer that is designed to bond to the brick exterior surfaces.

I have also found that a good sprayer with low overspray is the most efficient option for a larger painting project like this. If you are not interested in using a sprayer, just keep in mind that using brushes or rollers will take much longer getting into all of the cracks and crevices.

Paint Exterior Brick

After the primer is dry it is time to apply that new coat of paint. When picking the color of your choice, use a high-quality paint that is specific for exterior use. Neutrals are always a popular way to go, such as different shades of white, gray, or brown.

As you paint the first coat of paint, it is easiest to have a second person follow behind with a roller to smooth out the paint. This will also help it to adhere to the brick.

Apply paint with even strokes. We applied 2 coats of paint, leaving it to dry in between coats and after the second.

Painting your exterior brick adds so much to your home's value for low cost. The end result of our painted home turned out fabulous.

See how we also painted the pergola attached to the front of our home.

After we painted our brick, I decided to paint our backyard shed to match the exterior of our house. It's amazing what a little paint can do! So if you are looking for a way to ramp up your home's curb appeal, try updating with painting the exterior brick.

Happy Painting!

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