Last year, my wife and I bought a house that has a brick fireplace that was covered with several layers of white paint. I tried stripping and removing the paint with every chemical and process I could find, but it still looks terrible. Does anybody know whether I can simply cover the brick with some type of tile, or maybe even brick laminate, without needing to remove the old brick (to avoid ruining our new floors)? I’d appreciate any ideas. Thanks.
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Sandblasting will remove it all, but it's messy.
Yeah, but you might have to blast off a lot of brick to get all the paint if the brick and mortar weren't in pretty good shape when it was first painted. I see a lot of brick with little pits and crevices that go at least 1/8" into brick. Plus mortar that has eroded and chipped over the years, or was never very smooth to start with.
Edited 1/21/2005 6:24 am ET by Uncle Dunc
That's the problem - there's white paint settled deep into the brick. Blasting is not an option at this point, so I thought I may be able to simply put some thin faced laminate brick or tile over the old brick, but I don't know if the new materials will adhere to the old brick and mortar - not to mention that it might look bad!
You could maybe glue a thin (3/8" layer of drywall over it) or parge it with something like stucco. I don't see why tile or brick veneer wouldn't work either. (I haven't done any of these things, so others' advice might be the thing to follow!) (Maybe try a couple tiles or veneer bricks and see if they hold.) (Was thinking you'd get a flatter and better result if you glued and screwed (using Tapcons) tile backer to the brick first.)
You could firmly apply metal mesh onto the brick surface and cover it with plaster or stucco. If you want to spend alot of money have a good faux painter redo the fire place (brick by brick), there are no design limits.
Maler, nice to see you.
JP, Are you worried about the floors because they go around the fireplace and you would have to scab in?
If you wanted a new stone look, I dont know why you couldnt put real or cultured stone right over the old work, because of the mortar lines, it should give you great adhesion. You basically back butter the stone and push it on.
Another option would be Durock (cement board) and new layer over it.
-zen
Hi Zen, good to hear your voice!
I like your idea of going directly onto the brick because it offers a solid foundation - if stone finish is the objective and the desired design.
I'm still thinking of a historic revival trend in southern Germany where one can find open fire places designed in a country style with white rough stucco finish with mostly rounded corners and set- backs within the face above the opening or on the side. Older farm buildings used to have these fire places and now the yuppies need it in their humble suburban mansions. The installation costs in Europe are out of this world but the working procedure is quite simple. The mentioned metal mesh is used in this context.
Keep up the good advice
Maler
Maler,
Lets see some pics of these German fireplace,
If the install can bring some bank, do we need to work in Europe for the winter every year? Im game, can we get some work in Italy and Greece?
Can we market them here as well?
-zen
Hi Zendo:
Sorry I was working out of town for a while. Why on earth would you want to work in Europe??? The trades are beeing suffricated by the unions, labor law and law suits, the unemployment rate is the highest since WWII, the corporate tax rate is over 60% and the news today say 25% of the Germans fear for their job. No, no I'm quite happy here, I'm booked almost for the year and last Christmas I received flowers, food basket and cash rewards from customers. In Germany 50% of my time (building houses) was legal work, mostly labor law. Forget it!
The fireplaces - I think - are marketable here, but you need experienced mason tradesman/woman for good results. In Germany it is an own master trade to do the fireplaces and you couldn't compete with the Italian/Greek trades, they truly are artists! In Italy/Greece there is no need for fire places it is too hot down there, like Florida. (but you can try...ha...ha)
I've never tried to load pics on this site how do I go about it??
Maler, I searched in the sandbox, I havent posted pics either, there are a bunch of different threads but this one should do it.
http://forums.taunton.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=tp-thesandbox&msg=277.2
Good to hear you are booked, my work has been lean. I have been waiting on this graphics guy to finish my layout for weeks.
-zen
I have used morter/thinset and tile on brick with sucess. If most of the paint is removed just use a stiff cup wire brush on a angle grinder for 'tooth' if needed.
Grinding can make a mess so seal off a working area with plastic and tape. Wear a quality respirator if you grind!
Mine was a combination of brick veneer and tile. Worked for me. The fireplace was about 7 feet wide and about 9 feet tall.
Success?
Edited 1/25/2005 6:22 am ET by Will George
Thanks everybody - I guess I've got some figuring to do!