Staining or Painting Brick Hearth Area?

[JV_Thimble]

There don't seem to be very many posts on this topic here, so I started a new one. If others have done this, would love to hear about your experiences and see some photos.

Potential goal is to lighten up the brick in the attached photo and install ceramic tile on the floor before getting a new wood stove. Would totally change/lighten up the look of the space.

Here's one product that looks good - http://www.brick-anew.com/info/colors.html?=_track_h1_left2 - any thoughts? If you just flat out paint brick, we don't think that's as good looking as that stained sort of look.

Any problems with heat around a wood stove when doing something like this?

Thanks in advance,

John

 

[Dakotas Dad]

The brick anew seems like a good choice, I didn't read the whole page(s), can the color be changed again if someone wants? Glad you are not wanting to just paint the bricks, I have always thought that looked terrible, and it's permanent. I wouldn't worry about heat, it's made for fireplace use.

Have you thought about tiling over the brick face? say with subway tile or something? It is a good look, and would surely lighten up the area. You could screw backer board onto the brick (screws into the mortar not the bricks) tile on the backer board, totally reverseable later if wanted. Could do it in a weekend.

 

[FGZ]

You have the luxury of experimenting a little before you pick a product. Pick a weekend to get the stove going for a full day or so, then turn it up to as hot as you're comfortable with (without overfiring) for a few hours and take some temperature measurements of the brick area you want to paint/stain. I suggest that approach because you may find that it's not getting over ~100* on the brick so you could use nearly any product you wanted w/o worrying about heating it up too much.

My hearth was already painted (latex I assume) when we got the house, and no inspector or sweep said anything about it before installing the insert. After a few fires, I know the brick face doesn't get very hot so I'm not worried about it burning. We do consider it kinda ugly, though, and want to put stone or something over it for a facelift.

 

[JV_Thimble]

The brick anew seems like a good choice, I didn't read the whole page(s), can the color be changed again if someone wants? Glad you are not wanting to just paint the bricks, I have always thought that looked terrible, and it's permanent. I wouldn't worry about heat, it's made for fireplace use.

Have you thought about tiling over the brick face? say with subway tile or something? It is a good look, and would surely lighten up the area. You could screw backer board onto the brick (screws into the mortar not the bricks) tile on the backer board, totally reverseable later if wanted. Could do it in a weekend.

It doesn't actually say if the color can be changed later, but it's really just a coating done in layers. So, it would have to be fine. The tiling idea is a good one, but we're definitely leaning towards the brick anew (or something similar).

As an aside this bit on their website cracks me up, because it's so inaccurate:

"Lye. Yes, Lye! Lye is a very volatile, very toxic and very risky acid."
I happen to be an environmental engineer, and I can assure you that lye is not at all volatile (doesn't evaporate quickly), it's not toxic (rather, it's corrosive - arguably worse in that regard), and it's not an acid (it's a base).

Clipped that bit from this page - http://www.brick-anew.com/articles/removing-brick-paint.html

 

[JV_Thimble]

You have the luxury of experimenting a little before you pick a product. Pick a weekend to get the stove going for a full day or so, then turn it up to as hot as you're comfortable with (without overfiring) for a few hours and take some temperature measurements of the brick area you want to paint/stain. I suggest that approach because you may find that it's not getting over ~100* on the brick so you could use nearly any product you wanted w/o worrying about heating it up too much.

My hearth was already painted (latex I assume) when we got the house, and no inspector or sweep said anything about it before installing the insert. After a few fires, I know the brick face doesn't get very hot so I'm not worried about it burning. We do consider it kinda ugly, though, and want to put stone or something over it for a facelift.

Thanks for the reply and the photo, FGZ.

I think you're quite right about the surface temperatures on this. But I don't have the luxury of running my old stove right now. Some chimney problems are driving the bus on this whole project. In the end, things will be much nicer, I think.

Cheers,

John

 

[Renovation]

Hi John,

Thanks for bringing that to my attention--it looks promising.

I nosed around the site, and here are a couple of thoughts.

Firstly, it looks basically opaque, rather than a stain, with its advantage over paint being variations in color and texture. Looks great to me.

Second, the fact that it's intended for fireplaces, and that they also offer firebox paint, implies some sort of heat-tolerance. But I found no specific specifications or assurances on that. I'd contact them and ask.

The photos do look good, and if it performs as advertised I think it would do the job you want--lighten things up without looking like paint. Could you keep us informed?

PS Along the same lines, you might consider staining and sealing your concrete, if that's what your hearth is. I've seen some really good looking results.

PPS You might consider an actual stain or colored-wash for your brick, since it does have color variation. I'm afraid I know nothing about products or heat tolerance.

 

[nola mike]

I have the brick-anew on my hearth (came like that with the house).
a) It's paint. Looks like paint. I don't really see a difference.
b) It's light. Light paint + dark ash = a pain.
c) It does look pretty good though. I'd still stick with natural brick if it was up to me. If you search for my insert install post, I think I have some pics of the hearth. I have "twilight taupe".

 

[burleymike]

I tiled over the old smoke stained brick. If I had to do it over again I would use the cultured river rock.

 

[Hogwildz]

I tiled over the old smoke stained brick. If I had to do it over again I would use the cultured river rock.

X1, Bingo
Tear that brick the hell off and put some beautiful cultured stone on there.
That is exactly what I will be doing to the brick around my fireplace insert when I get to it.
You have a prefect wall for some ledgestone there. I'll be using that on mine.
They have many different colors, dark to light and all in between.

 

[JV_Thimble]

I tiled over the old smoke stained brick. If I had to do it over again I would use the cultured river rock.

X1, Bingo
Tear that brick the hell off and put some beautiful cultured stone on there.
That is exactly what I will be doing to the brick around my fireplace insert when I get to it.
You have a prefect wall for some ledgestone there. I'll be using that on mine.
They have many different colors, dark to light and all in between.

Interesting idea, but looks like a lot of work. I suppose I could do it or hire a mason. I'd need to tear out the brick wall, and put in the stone wall - probably with some kind of stone mantel. And my 8" tall concrete hearth pad (with upright brick edging and surrounded by carpet) would still have brick around the edge. Not sure how that would work out...

 

[burleymike]

You can put cultured stove over brick if the thickness is not a problem. If the brick is super crumbly or not very porous you should put metal lathe over the brick first. There is a product out there that is basically a cement plaster that can be tooled to look like stone or brick. Then it is colored to look like stone. It is not a DIY type product since the installation takes a lot of learned skill.

Slate tiles, flagstone, bluestone, or Oakley stone are all options as well. You might want to go to a masonry/stone supply house and look at different options.
Last time I went to one of those supply places I came home with a million dollars worth of ideas just not the million dollar budget to do all of them.