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35 Comments

  1. What was the name of the color paint you used?? Also the brand?

    1. Hi! All the info for paint colors and brand info is in the post, listed under tools & materials.

    2. Amazing. Thank you for being so detailed!

  2. Hi,
    Your house looks great!
    Did you ever have any problems with your Wagner paint sprayers tip clogging? We just bought one and after a while it just clogged up. My husband took it all apart and flushed everything out but it happened again so I’m trying to figure out if we are doing something wrong.

    1. Hi Deanna!

      When you’re working outside in the summer, you’re a lot more likely to run into some clogging issues. The paint particles are so tiny that the heat can dry them up on the nozzle of the gun if you stop for even a couple of minutes. I find that it’s really helpful to keep a baby wipe on hand and thoroughly wipe the tip of the nozzle every time I pause (or, anytime issues pop up). The nozzle is often the culprit when I run into issues!

  3. Hi Amanda,

    After years of putting it off, reading your detailed account of how completely transformed the look of your home, I’m motivated!

    Like you, I have both siding and brick. I have a 3000 PSI John Deere pressure washer with a “Tornado” tip from Lowes, that will dislodge sand from my patio while cleaning it each year. In other words, it cleans. Just don’t get close wood, it chews it up is seconds.

    I have a question regarding the pressure washing process. I just completed one entire wall and found the brick to be fairly easy to clean. The soffit, on the other hand, seems to have so much dust accumulation over the years on the attic side of the soffit materail, that it simply rained back down on the clean brick. So my question is, did you have to remove your soffit for cleaning?

    Also, you mentioned spraying on the paint before the brick dries completely. I had read an article on the subject of stain vs paint for brick as I was thinking stain to be the better option due to the lack of maintenance. Unfortunately, the color of brick I have is simply too dark for staining. But what I read in the article is that before painting, the brick needed to dry completely, otherwise it would tend to peel prematurely due to the trapped moisture.

    The article was written in a pro and con, stain vs paint, by the stain manufacturer, so I assumed it to be somewhat biased; just curious if you had any thoughts. The stain manufacturer’s claimed was that the stain would last 20 years, while paint required maintenance every three years; again i’m a little suspect on the claim.

    Thanks again for the great article and great job on the actual painting, very nice finish.

    1. Hi, Barry! We didn’t remove our soffit – I simply worked from top to bottom so that any dripping dirt would be cleaned afterwards.

      The wet vs. dry thing totally depends on the paint you’re using. The brand I used recommends painting on damp paint, but other brands might want dry paint! I recommend you read the directions on whatever brand you choose to go with and stick to that! Hope that helps!

      1. Anna Duncan says:

        Hi Amanda when you sprayed did It get on the roof/

  4. Looks great. Why not use large black house numbers on the garage? I think that would look better.

  5. I did a similar paint job on my 2 story red brick, stucco and siding house.
    We put on new siding but sprayed the stucco and I hand rolled and then painted the bricks individually so they were 3 shades of grey, light grey, medium and a charcoal!! Plus went back and hand painted the grout lines to look like the original beigey/grey grout–a bit ridiculous I know!!
    Talk about a lot of work!! But I did this 5 yrs ago and have not had to touch up a single brick and I live in an extreme climate province in Canada so it was worth it all. Wish I could attach a picture of my before and after but it is not working to do that.
    Anyway love how yours turned out and I imagine it will last a long time for you as well!

  6. Julie thomason says:

    My siding is vinyl. Can I paint it? I have red brick with white vinyl trim and around the roof. I would love to line wash the brick and paint vinyl. Do you think that’s do able?

    1. Hi! You’d probably need to do a bit of research – I believe vinyl siding can be painted but I don’t have any experience with it so I can’t give any tips.

      1. There is a paint by Sherwin Williams that is for vinyl siding so I would look into that-just saw a post about that today actually.

  7. Did you have to paint your soffits? We have BROWN soffits on our home and are wanting to paint our house next month. I believe our soffits are aluminum or vinyl – not sure. Was just curious how that process would work! Thank you!

  8. Oh my gosh! So many would never attempt this, you are one brave woman and the job you did looks fantastic! Congratulations! Plus August in Austin?! I live near Fort Worth and I know that hot August weather. Thanks for sharing and I’m looking forward to reading more of your blog entries.

  9. Eric Mendieta says:

    Great job! What a difference. What color brick paint is that from Behr? I’m thinking of going the same color from the pink brick I have now : (

    1. Hi! All of the info on the products I used is detailed in the post. I used RomaBio paint for the brick, and Behr Exterior Latex paint for the siding.

  10. This blog post and your Instagram show (?) portraying the actual process really inspired me. I have been desperately wanting to do this for years. A few things have held me back: 1. It’s an overwhelmingly big project. What if I start it and realize I’m in over my head? 2. We live in Central FL and it’s horrifically hot out. Would I even survive the project? 3. What if I naïvely do a poor job and it looks awful and then we have to pay for it to be re-done right away (strict HOA)?
    Your success gave me hope! But I do have a few questions: Prep… the sides and back of our house and currently painted (yellow-y) cinderblock. When I began pressure washing, some of the current paint peeled up to expose the block. Should I not pressure wash and do something else? Is this a glaring red light that a pro needs to tackle this? Our yard meets right up to the house- would I did it out/away a bit to paint? I own the Flexio 570… is that sufficient if I just do one side per day? I’m sorry I have so many questions… but I’d really *love* to think I could tackle this… but it’s definitely intimidating.
    (also to add- wanting to go from yucky mellow yellowy to a cleaner white color)
    Thanks!

    1. It is definitely a huge project! I certainly wouldn’t attempt it until the weather cools off a bit (do as I say, not as I do, haha), but I honestly thing it’s doable as long as you don’t have a ginormous house.

      As far as the prep work – I’m not a pro, but here are my thoughts: it’s not uncommon for paint to start flaking if you get too close to it or use too much pressure with the pressure washer. I would finish cleaning the house with a lower pressure, or simply standing further back from it. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a sign you need a pro, but if it continues to flake even after you reduce the pressure you might want to have someone at least look at it. Again, I’m not a professional but if I were in your shoes I would finish cleaning the house (making sure none of the paint flakes), and then sand down the parts where the paint did flake so that the edges are smooth. Then, I would go for it! Using the 570 is totally doable (I painted an outdoor building with a similar one before!), but it will take you a little longer since it doesn’t cover as quickly.

      hope that helps!

  11. It looks great! I love the color of the brick. Good luck with your buying/selling process.

  12. Wow what a difference! It looks amazing!

  13. That paint is AMAZING stuff! We have a brick ranch, two sides of the house are two-stories tall due to the slope of the yard, so I can’t imagine doing it myself (I would absolutely try it though). We have a green tin roof, so choosing a color will be tough! If we decide to tackle this project sometime over the next few years, I will be coming back to this tutorial.

    1. Looks awesome! Please tell me the “white” paint color used on your trim? Thanks,
      April

  14. How hard was it to use the sprayer, I’m planning on doing my exterior this fall, but was going to do it by hand because the sprayer intimidates me!

  15. It looks really nice. For the sake of the people that buy your house, I hope it lasts. The people we bought our house from painted right before selling and it was a flaking mess within 4 years. When we had the pros come in to repaint, the amount of care they took in the prep was amazing. Three guys pressure washed and scraped for a day and a half (and this is only a 1400 sq ft house). For some jobs, I think the professionals are well worth it.

    1. Prep work is absolutely vital!! Thankfully our paint job was in great shape (just not our style), so there was very little peeling paint.