Changed my mind about painting brick fireplaces after seeing my neighbor's

I always thought painting brick was a huge mistake that you couldn't undo. But my neighbor Jeff did his fireplace last month in Sherman, Texas and I watched it go from dark brown to a clean white in just two days. He used a masonry primer and a 4-inch roller, and the whole thing cost him about $60. Has anyone else had good results with painting over old fireplace brick?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer_owens581d ago

How long has it been since Jeff did his, and is the paint holding up without any chipping or peeling around the heat from the firebox? That's the main thing I'd worry about with a painted brick fireplace, especially if you actually burn wood in it. Seems like a smart way to update things on a budget, but I'd be curious about the long-term durability.

nancyj111d ago

You're asking the wrong questions. That paint is going to fail. Brick is porous and it breathes. You slap a layer of latex or even masonry paint on there, and you're trapping moisture behind it. When the heat hits that from a real wood fire, that trapped moisture turns to steam and forces the paint right off. I've seen it happen where after one season you get these big bubbles and peeling spots right around the firebox opening. And when that happens, you can't just touch it up either. You have to strip the whole thing back down to bare brick because the new paint won't stick to the old peeling edges. Plus now you have paint flakes mixed in with your ash and soot. It's a mess. People act like this is some cheap fix but it's really just kicking the can down the road.