German Smear/Mortar wash/Limewash or Paint Brick

Hi Everyone,
I have bought this house in South East Melbourne earlier this year and planning to refresh the external wall due to the old look.

I have done some desktop study and found something a few solutions. The first two photos represent the look/color I like and the third photo is my house. The fourth photo is a projection if I change the color to white.

I want your suggestion/opinion on a few things:
1. Which one do you like and why?
2. Do you have any experience you want to share?
3. What can go wrong?

FYI, this is going to be my PPOR.

Thanks in advance .

 

Hmmm this is hard as your house is a very different style and is chocolate brown brick so I'm not sure the options where you can see some brick underneath go as they are more rustic and tend to work well with red or lighter colour brick.

Personally I'd probably render or clad. I'd probably go white render and maybe make a feature out of the fireplace chimney and clad that in stone or even some vertical weatherboard and use a feature colour on it.

 

Have a house nearby to me that went a fully render and fascade and went over the top "Hamptons" with a new cape cod roof as well. Shame I cant give you a now image as its really ...horrid.

Looks kinda out of character. It went from plain ...



To stand out ......and not in a good way. Its now 100% rendered and a pale blue / grey incl the roof tiles, a new fence with a timber entry , driveway etc.

The only thing not blue is the lawn and the trees. My wife calls it papa smurfs house.

 

Those garage doors arent a good colour. I would pay a dulux colour consultant. They come up with some very good looks and know their colours and can also suggest some textured coatings etc Also consider a resurface on the driveway etc

The roof tiles arent visible and may be a element too. eg can be like gray hair and a black beard.

 

I completely understand your desire to cover up that brown brick. I think that half painted look on those American style houses looks pretty awful, though. Like someone tried to cover up the brick but didn't bother to finish the job.

You could use something like Haymes rendercoat instead which will completely cover the brick. It is gives a subtle textured finished and can be tinted to any colour. It's not cheap, but at least you don't have to paint it. And it's easy to apply DIY and get a good finish, unlike render which requires a lot more skill.

Personally I would also go for a more understated colour on your PPOR to downplay the architecture. Plus white can get pretty dirty as an exterior colour. And do you really want to make a feature out of your garage doors?

 

Thanks Westminster. Initially I was looking for an easy and cost effective DIY solutions. Seems like I may need to change my plan and check out other options including rendering. I have no idea of cladding. Is it very costly?

 

Thanks Paul. I want my home to stand out in a good way! I just don't know how.

 

Its a tough one without re-designing the home. It looks like the back of the house not the front.
Im stumped apart from Westminister's suggestions, they seem reasonable.

 

You could fully paint the bricks if you want to DIY but I suspect that it's still going to be an awful lot of work - I would last about 30 mins DIY then throw the towel in but not everyone is as hopeless as DIY as me
The bricks would still look like bricks though once painted and my preference would be for the flat look of render.
However where do you stop? I'm assuming the roof is chocolate brown too? So I'd want to spray paint that. I love spending other people's money

If it's a DIY project then buy or hire a paint spray gun and some white paint and give it a go. Honestly anything is better than brown brick

 

Yes, I will definitely work on the garage door and roof painting. Also, thinking of changing the driveway concreting to exposed aggregate - my favorite.

 

agree with silver ghost, the white could appear very stark / bright. Perhaps a light grey & suitable coloured garage doors to suit. Render would be better but if budget doesn’t stretch even painting the bricks would be better.
Bit hard to tell from pics how visible the roof from the street etc as to whether it needs to be redone too.

 

Thanks Silverghost. Watched a few video of 'Haymes rendercoat' as I have never heard of them in the past. I liked the finish however, the examples used are from a pre-painted wall therefore I am not sure whether I need to paint my wall before applying it. What's your experience?

 

Thanks Phar Lap. I am sure I will find a way to make it beautiful!

 

Thanks Caigc. I will do the simulation with a few other colours as you advised. I agree, the Garage door can be much better. Also, I am attaching a photo from the other side to show the roof. In short, its not too visible from the street however I have a plan to paint the roof matching with the front.

Front photo from other side:

 

So a white roof? I don't think I would paint it the same colour as the walls. I'd probably go a grey - if you want a light colour then paint to match Colorbond Shale Grey or if darker is ok then Colorbond Basalt.

 

Thanks Westminster. No, not a white roof, my english created the confusion!
I will choose a roof color that fits with the front wall - may be like this one below:

 

You wouldn't need to pant first. The Rendercoat product will stick to unpainted brickwork.

Another option may be to use it on some walls but not others if you want to keep the cost down eg the front elevation of your house. As it can be tinted any colour you could paint the other walls to match. One warning is that it does make a mess so you need to drop sheet/mask off well beforehand (it sets like a rock so no getting it off later!).

As the videos probably showed, you can float it off (which is what I did) or leave it with a bagged finish.

 

Paint Spot in Wantirna South has the Haymes Rendercoat applied to its external brick wall if you want to see what the finish looks like. They have both the bagged and floated finish on display (they are very helpful and knowledgeable there too).

 

I really don't dislike the colour of the brick - in the 2nd photo (guess REA photo so likely enhanced!)

I agree with @Phar Lap comment about it looking like the back of the house.
Could you remove the brick on the left, that way looking more open and drawing you in (seeing the front door)
Maybe move the existing front hedge back inline with the front of the house
Add some sort of feature on the chimney?

 

What is behind that arch in the brick?