Residential services: Brick and stucco painting in Ottawa

Should your brick be painted?

Painting brick can transform a house: orange or mismatched brick becomes a clean white, warm grey or charcoal, and an addition can be tied in with the original. But it's a long-term decision. Painted brick has to be repainted every so often, and getting paint off brick again is slow, expensive and hard on the masonry. So the first thing we do is look at whether your brick is a good candidate.

Brick that is sound, dry and well pointed usually paints well. Crumbling mortar, flaking brick faces or white salt deposits mean the wall has a moisture problem, and paint won't fix it. In a freeze-thaw climate like Ottawa's, water trapped behind the wrong coating freezes inside the brick and pushes the face off. Those problems get fixed first, or we'll recommend leaving the brick alone.

Masonry has to breathe

Brick, stucco and mortar take on moisture and need to let it out again. Ordinary exterior paint can form a film that traps it. Masonry coatings are made to let water vapour escape while keeping rain out, and that's what goes on brick and stucco. Older, softer brick, like that on many pre-war houses in the Glebe, Sandy Hill and Old Ottawa South, is the most sensitive and needs the most breathable products.

Preparing brick and stucco

• Washing the walls and letting them dry thoroughly
• Cleaning off efflorescence (white salt deposits) and finding where the water is coming from
• Repairing cracked stucco, and bringing in a mason where mortar needs repointing
• Priming with a masonry primer where the surface calls for it
• Applying the finish coats by roller, brush and spray, working the coating into mortar joints and texture

Stucco and parging

Stucco takes paint well and can be refreshed in a new colour without re-stuccoing. Hairline cracks are common, and where the stucco is otherwise sound and dry, a flexible elastomeric coating that bridges fine cracks is often a good choice. Larger cracks are repaired first.

Many Ottawa houses also have parging, the cement coating over the exposed foundation, which cracks and flakes after a few winters. It can be patched and painted with a masonry coating to suit the rest of the house.

Colour and finish

Painted brick looks best in flatter finishes that keep the texture of the masonry. Whites, warm greys and deep charcoals are the most common choices, often with black or dark bronze trim and windows. Try your colour on a section of your own wall before you commit, because texture and shadow change how a colour reads on brick.