One of the first projects I embarked after buying our house was to fix the painted brick fireplace. Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against painted brick when done correctly and with the right decor – however, it was clear that whoever had done this had no idea what they were doing and perhaps didn’t even care. The job was spotty where there were clearly thinner layers in places than others. The overall coverage was just bad. So I went on stripping the paint to restore the original brick.
This image was taken from the original house listing. You can see how poorly the paint was applied to the brick.
From my research I found some methods of removing paint from brick, however most of the methods were for outdoor brick and involved a power washer. I had read that you could apply paint stripper and cover it in a sheet to peel it away. I did try this method first and it did not work AT ALL. My thoughts are because the paint was applied so thinly, there wasn’t enough for the sheet to grab and peel off.
In the end I opted for applying paint stripper and then scrubbing away the paint with a wire brush. I then cleaned the brick as best I could with mineral spirits. This was such a long and laborious process that took me several weeks.
An in progress photo of scrubbing the brick clean of paint. This was after several hours of labor and scrubbing.
Unfortunately, there was no way I could remove all the paint and was left with a white cast. I did originally want the raw brick to show but the outcome of the paint stripping was less than ideal. I decided to opt for a German Schmear look and bought white mortar from the local Home Depot.
The German Schmear process is pretty easy. I mixed my mortar to be thick enough to stick to the wall but thin enough to spread. I let the brick dictate which areas would be thicker or thinner and tried to get an even surface. Overall I was pretty happy with the outcome! Much better than the painted brick from before!
The final results! This photo was taken after I applied the mortar and let it dry for a few days.
Rachel Williams
Artist | Designer | Educator
Making mistakes and fixing them, so you don’t have to