Painting bricks: pros, cons, costs and how to do it

Yes, you can paint brick, and done right it transforms a home. An honest Hunter painter's guide to prep, breathable paint, cost and lasting results.

Should you paint your brick? The honest pros and cons

Painting brick is worth it when the brick is dated, mismatched or already painted, and you want a modern look with some added weather protection. It’s the wrong move when you love the raw brick, because the change is effectively permanent. The honest test: are you sure you’ll never want the bare brick back?

Plenty of Hunter homes were built in the 1960s to 80s in red or brown brick that now looks its age. A quality job modernises the whole street frontage, lifts kerb appeal when you’re selling, and can add to property value by evening out patchy or previously-painted brickwork that can’t be un-done. Applied over the right primer, the coating also adds a layer of protection against UV and driving rain.

The trade-offs are real. Painted brick needs maintenance and a recoat every so often, where raw brick is close to zero-maintenance. If the wrong product goes on, you trap moisture inside a wall that was designed to breathe. And you cannot easily go back to natural brick once it’s done, which is the single most common regret I hear.

Why do people say you shouldn’t paint brick?

Most of the “never paint brick” advice online is really a warning about trapped moisture and poor prep, not about the coating itself. Brick is porous and needs to release moisture. Seal it under a non-breathable film over dirty or damp brick and the water gets stuck, which causes peeling, mould and mortar damage. Done correctly with a breathable system, brick performs fine.

Painting vs the alternatives: limewash, staining, rendering and bagging

Paint isn’t your only option, and each alternative changes the look, the breathability and how reversible the result is. Limewash and staining keep more of the brick’s texture and are more forgiving on breathability. Render and bagging change the surface entirely. The right choice depends on the look you want and how permanent you’re comfortable going.

Option	Look	Breathability	Reversible?	Maintenance	Best for
Painting	Solid, uniform colour; hides brick texture	Good if breathable masonry paint is used	No (near-permanent)	Recoat every 10–15 yrs inland	Dated or previously-painted brick, full colour change
Limewash / whitewash	Soft, patchy, textured; brick still reads through	High (very breathable)	Partially (weathers/washes back over time)	Refresh every few years	A softer, heritage or coastal look
Brick staining	Natural, permanent colour shift; keeps texture	High (soaks in, doesn’t film)	No, but looks natural	Very low	Changing brick colour while keeping a brick look
Render / bagging	Smooth (render) or lightly textured (bagging)	Depends on system	No	Recoat/repair every 7–10 yrs	Hiding brick completely for a contemporary finish

For a Hunter home, limewash suits owners chasing a relaxed coastal or heritage feel who don’t want a hard painted edge, staining suits anyone who likes their brick’s texture but not its colour, and full paint suits dated or already-painted brick that needs a clean reset. Rendering and bagging are a bigger job better suited to a full modern makeover. Limewash and paint removal each deserve their own guide, and we’ll link those as we publish them.

Can you paint straight onto brick? Why prep decides everything

No. You should never paint raw, dirty or damp brick. It must be clean, sound, fully dry and sealed with a masonry primer before a drop of topcoat goes on. Skipping prep is the number one reason painted brick fails early. On most jobs, correct preparation decides how long the finish lasts, not the painting itself.

Clean the surface

Start by washing the brick down with sugar soap and a stiff brush to strip dirt, grime and any loose material. Remove any efflorescence, the white powdery salt deposits that push out of brick, with a dry brush and a masonry cleaner rather than just coating over it. On shaded or coastal walls, treat any biological growth like mould or lichen with a biocide first. If you use pressure washing, keep it low: around 1,000–1,500 PSI with a wide fan tip, kept moving and never held on the joints, is enough to clean the surface without eroding the pointing (older or soft mortar is safer soft-washed at 500–1,000 PSI with detergent). Then let the wall dry for around 48–72 hours before you go near it with primer, and longer in cool or humid weather, because brick can look dry on the face while still holding moisture inside.

Repair the pointing and cracks

Paint won’t hide structural problems, it highlights them. Repoint any crumbling or missing joints and let fresh mortar cure fully. Fill cracks with a flexible masonry filler that can move with the wall, and check the reveals around windows and doors while you’re at it. Sound substrate first, colour second.

Let it dry, and mind new brickwork

Brick holds more moisture than people expect, so give it time to dry completely after rain. If the brickwork or mortar is new, wait about 28 days for it to cure before painting. This 28-day rule is one of the most-skipped steps and one of the most important. Coat over green mortar and you’re painting over a moisture problem.

Choosing the right paint and primer for brick

The correct system for brick is a dedicated masonry primer or sealer followed by two coats of breathable acrylic masonry paint. It locks down the porous surface and stops the topcoat soaking in unevenly. The breathable topcoat lets the wall release moisture while keeping weather out. Standard interior paint and oil-based products don’t belong on exterior brick.

Why brick must breathe

Brick works like a sponge, drawing in and releasing moisture with the weather. A breathable (vapour-permeable) masonry paint lets that moisture escape. A non-breathable film seals it in, and trapped water is what lifts the coating off the wall. This is the single biggest technical reason painted brick fails, so a breathable masonry system isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s the difference between a finish that lasts and one that peels.

Best paint for brick

Australian homeowners have solid options here. The table below is a general guide to common exterior masonry systems and where each fits. Expected life figures assume correct prep and a breathable primer underneath.

Product	Type	Best use	Expected life*
Dulux Weathershield	Breathable acrylic exterior	General exterior brick, most homes	~10–15 yrs
Taubmans All Weather	Breathable acrylic exterior	Exterior brick, weather exposure	~10–15 yrs
Haymes Ultra Premium Exterior Solashield	Breathable acrylic exterior	Exterior brick and masonry	~10–15 yrs
Wattyl Solagard	Breathable acrylic exterior	Sun-exposed exterior walls	~10–15 yrs
Crommelin Brick & Render Sealer / Resene Sureseal	Masonry sealer / primer	Sealing coat before topcoats	- (base coat)

*Expected-life figures are the typical interval before a recoat is due, not a warranty term. They assume correct prep and a breathable sealer underneath, and they shift with exposure, aspect and coats. The premium topcoats above carry long manufacturer guarantees against peeling and flaking (for example, Wattyl Solagard’s 25-year and Taubmans All Weather’s lifetime guarantees), but those cover film failure on a correctly prepared surface, not the point at which colour dulls and a fresh coat looks better.

Most of these are available through Bunnings and paint retailers, so sourcing isn’t the hard part. Choosing the right system for your wall and getting the sealer coat right is.

Which finish and colour?

For exterior brick, low sheen is the most popular choice because it hides minor surface imperfections while staying easy to clean, with matte for a flatter, more contemporary look. On colour, mid-tones and off-whites are safe performers on Hunter homes, and very dark colours absorb more heat and UV, which can shorten their life. We’ll cover brick colour selection in more detail in a dedicated colour guide.

The Hunter climate factor

This is where a local job differs from a generic how-to. Our coastal strip from Newcastle through Lake Macquarie gets salt-laden air, high humidity and strong UV, and all three attack an under-prepared paint job faster than inland conditions do. The closer you are to the water, the harder the coating has to work. The table below shows what that means in practice.

Painted-brick durability in the Hunter	Coastal (salt + humidity)	Inland (Maitland / Hunter Valley)
Quality breathable system, correct prep	~8–12 yrs before recoat	~10–15 yrs before recoat
Under-prepared / wrong product	2–4 yrs	3–5 yrs
North and west-facing walls	Recoat 1–2 yrs sooner (UV)	Recoat 1–2 yrs sooner (UV)

The pattern is simple: near the coast, the spec and the prep matter even more, because the climate is less forgiving of shortcuts.

How to paint brick, step by step

The proper way to paint brick is prime, then a couple of coats minimum, working the coating fully into the joints and checking coverage in raking light. Brick’s rough, recessed surface is unforgiving, so tools and technique matter as much as the product. Here’s the method we use on a brick house exterior.

Tools you need

Use a thick nap roller, around 18–22mm, so paint reaches into the joints and textured face of the brick. Pair it with a masonry or angled cutting-in brush, an extension pole, and drop sheets. Let the roller soak up plenty of paint in the tray so it carries enough into the surface, since a dry roller just skates over the texture. To estimate how much paint you’ll need, measure the wall area and check the tin’s coverage rate, then add extra because thirsty, textured brick drinks more than a flat wall. On larger jobs, painters often spray and then back-roll to push the coating into the surface, which combines speed with proper coverage.

Protect and prime

1. Protect and mask. Cover windows, ground, gardens and anything you’re not painting.
2. Prime. Cut the primer into the joints and edges, then roll the field, and let it dry fully per the product’s instructions.

First coat and second coat

With the primer dry, lay on the first coat: cut in, then roll top to bottom, loading the roller so the paint works into the grooves rather than skating over them. Keep a wet edge and slightly overlap each pass, so the laps don’t flash up once it dries.

Then apply the second coat, and a third on raw, thirsty brick that’s still drinking it in. Before you call it done, check the joints in raking (low-angle) light, because that’s where thin spots hide.

Weather window

Paint in mild, dry conditions. As a general working band that keeps you inside every major brand’s limits, that means roughly 10–35°C: the acrylic exterior systems above should not go on below about 10°C (or when it will drop below that overnight while the paint dries), and painting above the mid-30s in harsh sun flashes the surface off too fast. Pick a dry day with no rain forecast, and hold off if rain is likely within a few hours of finishing, because the coating is only rain-proof once it has properly dried. In the Hunter, that usually means starting early on the shaded side of the house and chasing the shade around. Always check the tin, as each product states its own minimum temperature and recoat time.

Painting specific brick surfaces

Not all brick is an exterior wall, and each surface has its own rules. The prep principle stays the same everywhere: clean, sound, dry, primed. What changes is the product and the detail.

Exterior brick walls

This is the main event and what most of this guide covers. It’s also the job with the most at stake in our climate, which is why it’s the core of our exterior house painting service.

Interior exposed brick walls

Interior brick is more forgiving on weather but still needs sealing so it doesn’t drink your topcoat. Use a low-VOC interior masonry paint, prime first, and consider a white or limewash-style finish for a lighter, modern feature wall. We handle these as part of interior painting.

Brick fireplaces

The firebox itself needs heat-resistant paint rated for high temperatures. The surround and mantel can take standard masonry paint or limewash. Clean soot and smoke residue off thoroughly with sugar soap before you start, or it bleeds through the finish.

Garden and retaining brick walls

These sit in constant contact with soil moisture, so start with a waterproofing base coat and consider an elastomeric coating that bridges hairline cracks. Seal the capping on top of the wall, because that’s where water gets in and works its way down.

How long does painted brick last, and how to maintain it

A quality breathable system over the correct sealer typically lasts around 10–15 years, while an under-prepared job can start failing in 3–5 years. Coastal exposure in the Hunter shortens both figures, as our durability table shows. The finish you get is set by the prep far more than the price of the paint.

Maintenance is light but worth doing. Walk the walls once a year and look for early flaking, chalking or fading, especially on the north and west-facing sides that cop the most sun. Touch up small areas as they appear, wash salt and grime off coastal walls, and plan a full recoat when the colour dulls and the coating thins rather than waiting for it to fail.

What it costs, and when to DIY vs hire a licensed painter

Painting a brick house exterior in the Hunter usually runs as a per-square-metre or whole-house range that depends on the size of the home, how many storeys, the condition of the brick, access, and how much prep is needed. Expect a sound single-storey home to sit well below a two-storey home that needs mortar repair and access equipment. Because those factors vary so much from home to home, we price every brick job with a free on-site quote rather than a flat figure over the phone.

The biggest cost driver is almost always prep. A wall that needs efflorescence treatment, repointing and mould removal costs more than one that just needs a clean, because that’s the work that makes the finish last.

When DIY makes sense

DIY is reasonable on a single-storey home with sound, sheltered brick, when you’re comfortable with proper preparation and prepared to do it right rather than fast. If you can clean, seal and apply two even coats without cutting corners, a modest wall is achievable.

When to hire a pro

Bring in a licensed painter for two-storey homes and anything at height, coastal-exposed walls, heritage brick, or brick where a previous paint job has already failed. Those jobs punish shortcuts, and a botched attempt costs more to fix than it would have to do once. At Platinum, we’re fully licensed (NSW Lic. 459336C) and insured, we use premium breathable systems specified for Hunter conditions, and we back our work with a 5-year workmanship warranty. If your job falls into the harder end, get a free quote or read more about our exterior painting work across the region.

Frequently asked questions

What kind of paint do you use on brick?

Use a breathable acrylic masonry paint over a dedicated masonry primer or sealer. The primer stops the porous brick soaking up the topcoat unevenly, and the breathable topcoat lets the wall release moisture while keeping weather out. Avoid oil-based and standard interior paints on exterior brick.

Is painting bricks a good idea?

It can be an excellent idea when the brick is dated, mismatched or already painted and you want a modern look with added protection. It’s a poor idea if you love the raw brick, because the change is close to permanent. The key is getting the prep and the breathable system right.

Can you paint straight onto bricks?

No. Painting directly onto raw, dirty or damp brick is the fastest route to peeling. Brick must be cleaned, any efflorescence removed, repairs made, then dried fully and sealed with a masonry primer before you apply your topcoats. The prep is what makes the paint stay put.

What is the proper way to paint brick?

Clean and repair the brick, let it dry, then apply a masonry primer followed by at least two coats of breathable masonry paint. Use a thick 18–22mm nap roller to push paint into the mortar joints, and check coverage in raking light before finishing.

Why do people say don’t paint brick?

Almost always because they’ve seen a job trap moisture and fail. Brick needs to breathe, so a non-breathable film over poorly-prepped brick peels and can cause mould and mortar damage. The warning is really about bad product choice and bad prep, not about painting brick itself.

How long does painted brick last?

With a quality breathable system over correct primer, painted brick generally lasts around 10–15 years, or as little as 3–5 years if it was under-prepared. In the coastal Hunter, salt air, humidity and UV shorten those intervals, and north and west-facing walls usually need attention a year or two sooner.

How much does it cost to paint a brick house?

Cost depends on the home’s size, number of storeys, brick condition, access and prep required, so it’s quoted as a range rather than a flat figure. Prep is the main driver, which is why a free on-site quote is the only accurate way to price a specific home.

Can you un-paint brick?

Not easily. Removing paint from brick is slow, expensive and rarely returns the brick to its original look, because chemical strippers, soda or media blasting can damage the face of the brick. Treat painting as permanent, which is exactly why the decision to paint deserves careful thought up front.

The bottom line

Painting brick works brilliantly when the decision is deliberate, the prep is thorough, and the system is breathable and matched to your conditions. It falls apart when any of those three are skipped. In the Hunter, our salt air, humidity and UV raise the stakes, so the spec and preparation matter even more here than they do inland.

If your brick is single-storey and sound, this is a job a confident DIYer can take on with the right products and patience. If it’s two-storey, coastal, heritage or previously painted, or you simply want it done once and warranted, that’s our wheelhouse. Get a free quote from a licensed Hunter painter and we’ll tell you honestly whether painting your brick is the right call, and how to make it last.