Brick Replacement and Brick Accent Painting
Front Patio Wall
September 16 - 28, 2016 |
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This year I wanted to accent the
brick wall that encloses our front entrance patio. I
wanted to give this section, at the front of the
house, a little more street appeal.
The plan is to apply a darker colored paint to the
top row of bricks and the bricks on the wall window
sills. Above the windows on the wall, I plan to place a
simple piece of decorative moulding painted the same
color as the bricks. |
Brick wall in front
of entrance patio facing the street |
I wanted the painted brick to look as if a darker
colored brick was used to build the wall. NOT
like the bricks were painted. This will be
done by painting only the bricks and not the mortar.
A darker brown will be painted on the bricks first.
Lighter colors that match the existing bricks will be
dabbed on the darker color to give the darker color
a more realistic brick look. |
Since we moved into our house in 1998, there have
been two bricks missing from the front patio brick
wall. For the most part, these missing
bricks were not really noticeable. See photo
above.
This is now
the perfect time to replace these bricks.
Since I am going to paint these areas, what I use to
replace the brick does not matter, because it will be
painted anyways.
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Broken brick on far left window sill |
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I thought of replacing the brick
with brick. Hey, what a concept! Then I though of trying to
mortar these bricks that basically have no
support underneath them.
Notice how they both hang in mid-air.
How do you get something heavy to stick
properly and stay there without any support
underneath?
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Missing brick on top of corner |
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I then came up with the idea of
using something other than brick to replace the
missing and broken bricks. Since both of these
bricks are not supporting the wall I could use a
much lighter material and make fake bricks to fill
the areas. When painted, you would not be able
to notice that they were repaired. |
I used
packing material. The type of cushiony
foam that is used to pack computers and
other electronics in boxes. Unlike
styrofoam, this material does not crumble
apart.
Believe it or not, I save this packing foam
when I get it. It works as a raised
painting surface, as insulation, as padding,
etc.
To cut it easily, use a serrated kitchen
knife.
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Packing foam used to make faux bricks |
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I needed to cut several pieces and then glue
them together to get the size I needed for
my "bricks". I dry fitted
the faux bricks in place and cut out areas on the
backside to fit around the existing mortar. I
then used construction adhesive to glue them in
place.
After the glue had set, I smeared some elastomeric
caulk on them to smooth them out like the existing
bricks. Then they were painted the dark brown
color of the painted bricks. |
Broken brick replaced with packing foam |
Missing brick replaced with packing foam |
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Bricks
painted first color on sill |
Bricks
painted first color on front of wall |
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Both the top row of bricks were
painted on both sides of the patio. The top of
the bricks were also painted, even though you can
not see them from ground level. |
Top row
of bricks and window sills painted first color of
paint.
Some caulking done between some cracks with missing
mortar. Will be painted darker gray later. |
September 28, 2016 -- I
needed to buy some moulding and paint it, so over a
week has passed. There was no hurry to finish
this project.
I went over the dark brown paint, that I had painted
onto the top row of bricks and the window sills,
with some orange paint that matches the dark color
of the bricks. I dabbed and smeared it on
randomly with a sea sponge. The darker bricks
now have a more weathered natural look to them.
See photos below.
I wanted to place some kind of moulding over the
windows on the front patio brick wall. I
originally thought of placing a single piece of trim
over each window.... but I looked more closely at
the wall.
What I noticed was some mortar failure along the row
of bricks right above the windows. There is
metal along this row of bricks providing support.
I decided instead to place one long piece of
moulding along the top of the windows to cover this
loose mortar area. However, I removed loose
mortar and the previous visible patching in this
area and repaired, before placing the
moulding on. |
Missing
mortar and old patching above windows. (Side of wall
inside patio) |
I was not sure what type of
moulding to use. I first thought of some
lightweight polystyrene moulding but I thought it
might snap and break placing it over the uneven
surface. I saw some decking material that
would be durable but it was too heavy. I
settled on some pine decorative moulding with a
basket weave pattern.
The wood moulding was first painted on both sides
with an exterior primer. I then painted both
sides with the dark orange color of the bricks.
I then placed a light coat of the same dark brown I
used on the bricks. While the moulding looks
brown as seen below, there are some orange
undertones.
The moulding was placed on the brick using Tapcon
concrete screws after drilling holes in the brick
with my hammer drill. The screws were screwed in
manually.
I placed a rubber washer between the head of the
screw and moulding. The rubber washer was used
to 1) provide some cushioning, 2) prevent the screw
head from digging it's way into the moulding over
time, and 3) to keep water out of the screw hole.
The screw heads and washers were then painted brown.
Along the top edge of the moulding, I placed clear
caulk. This way when it rains, very little
water will seep in behind the moulding. No
caulk was placed on the bottom edge of the moulding.
This will allow for drainage in case water
does get behind the moulding. |
Close-up
showing moulding attached with Tapcon screw with a
rubber washer |
Another item that needed
attention were the two cement pavers that
are used under planters. We used to
have two large wood planters that rotted
away. White hard water residue stained
the top of the cement.
The fastest way to fix this, was to paint
the cement. This took me a quick 15
minutes to do. |
Two
cement pavers used as planter bases stained with
hard water residue
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Pavers
painted a light coat of orange paint |
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The end result of this project is
subtle. Chances are my neighbors cannot even
tell I did anything. To me, the darker paint
on the brick wall gives the wall more depth.
The wall before I painted it, looked flat....ho hum.
You hardly noticed that the top row of bricks and
the window sill had overhanging bricks. Now
the wall has more depth and is a little more
interesting. |
Showing
outer sides of front patio wall after painting
bricks and placing moulding over windows |
After
photo showing painted brick, moulding above windows,
and touch-ups. |
Before photo
again....so you don't have to scroll to the top
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Front
patio wall after adding two potted plants |
Inside
front patio |
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