Painting Brick

I didn't know if you could paint brickwork.  My front porch bricks were so faded and old looking, that it just gave the whole front entrance a sad look.  It's looked like this for a few years now.  The sun beats down on those bricks everyday for hours, so time was really showing on them. Let's face it: the front door is the very first thing you see when when you arrive at someone's house. It should look friendly, clean and welcoming-don't ya think?
I searched around the Internet for some help, but didn't find much.  So hard could it
be?



I took a ride to Home Depot and bought a bottle of cement stain.  It's full strength and you're suppose to add it to cement.  So I figured that I could add a little water and  just paint it onto my bricks.  I wasn't sure if it would work but for 6 bucks I wasn't going to lose much. It doesn't say that you can use this stuff for painting brick, cut it's close enough for me.

I picked a bright, sunny day and went to work.

Supplies:
1. Water
2. Cement stain
3. paintbrush
4. cup of coffee for myself 'cause it's pretty early.

Before starting this project, I power washed the porch. Nice and clean and ready to roll. It must be dry though.

I simply painted every brick and just couldn't get over the transformation. Wow....I'm so glad I did this.  Now the important part is: will it last?  What if it rains and the paint comes off?  What if it doesn't last? Will it fade with time?  I can answer some questions.

It did rain and the paint is still there. That's good.
It could fade over time.  I'm hoping it sticks around though, because it looks really good.

Don't know if it will last but it's been four weeks and it's still looking good.
So I think that you CAN paint brick.  This paint just absorbed into the old brick like the brick was a sponge, so I'm pretty sure it will last a while.

Christy01 02 12