I Call This... Suburban Camouflage

Bricking Staining

I am so happy to say that I am finally done with staining the brick on the front of the house and I am very pleased with the results. When I told people my plan for staining the brick, I got a lot of crazy looks and comments about how tedious of a job it would be. Well, it was indeed very, VERY tedious and with confidence I can say: brick staining is NOT for the faint of heart.

My story begins with some ugly yellow brick that comes with the late 40's house package. Needless to say, I was not feeling it and wanted to do something about it while maintaining the integrity and texture of the brick style (meaning: no painting).

Here are a couple photos of the yellow brick:

What most people don't know is that brick, like any stone, is really porous, so it absorbs masonry stain really well. You may have heard of dying cement or staining concrete floors and stone. This is no different.

After doing some research I decided to go with Dyebrick out of the U.K. I was impressed with the look of their product and decided to order a few samples to test it out. I ordered two sample pots: Mocha and Tudor Brown. The shipping was really fast and only took about a week to get to my house.

The thing about Dyebrick that makes it really easy to test out is if you do NOT add the Fixing Agent to the dye, you can paint it on your brick and power wash it right off afterwards. This makes it ideal for testing not only different colors but also different shades (the product uses water and can be diluted for a lighter saturation).

When my sample pots came, I tried two colors, Mocha and Tudor Brown, added several coats, tried painting the mortar to see if I liked that treatment, and last, diluted the pots to try out a lighter saturation. After the front of my house looked like a paint swatch I decided to go with Mocha.

Dyebrick was true to their word: the power washer made the sample stain disappear with no problems.

Two kits covered the front of my house so after looking at photos, perhaps try and decide what you will need for your space.

Before you get started staining, I recommend doing the following:

1. Remove shutters, house numbers, mailboxes, plants and anything else that will uncover all of your brick and provide a clean surface for staining. Don't be lazy and try and stain around objects!
2. Power wash your brick to remove all dirt and residue. This is crucial in getting your brick to absorb and retain the stain to the best of its ability.  
3. Buy a decent brush. I went with a Polyester/Nylon blend about 1.5 inches with stiff bristles. 
4. Wear clothes that can get dirty and cover important areas to prevent stain from splattering.
5. Buckle up and be patient because this is going to be a long ride. 

If you have never worked with stain before, please keep in mind that it is very watery and easy to splatter. It is not thick like paint and because the pigment settles at the bottom, it needs to be stirred frequently. 

The Dyebrick kit comes with a really nice container that allows you to shake up your mixture and store it for later use. Remember that you will be using a FIXER this time so the brick stain will be permanent. 

There is definitely a technique best used for applying the stain and I have outlined it below:

1. Poor a small portion of stain (after you have shaken and mixed it well) into a plastic cup or a plastic trim paint pale (the kind with handles and disposable liners). 
2. Mix the stain BEFORE EACH application. This is very important as the pigment will settle at the bottom and your color won't be consistent as you go.
3. Wring out the brush as much as possible on the inside wall of the cup or paint pale to remove as much excess stain as possible before you apply. A LITTLE BIT OF STAIN GOES A LONG WAY. If you don't wring out your brush enough before you apply, the stain will drip into the mortar or down onto other bricks. 
4. If you do end up splattering some stain or it drips into the mortar, take a wet paper towel or rag to it quickly and wipe the stain away. 
5. Apply the stain across the brick in long strokes so that you are not getting paint lines. 

As you can see, bricks are very porous and you will need to be patient as you go back and saturate the areas that are indented. Don't worry about being too perfect, stone is not flawless and varies in color. Some variation in your stain actually makes the final product look more natural. 

If you don't want to paint the mortar between the bricks like I did, you will need to paint each brick one at a time. I ended up doing two coats on each brick. Do one coat on your entire surface and then come back with your second coat. Because some of my bricks were extra yellow, I applied a third coat on a few which helped to cover the yellow and added to the natural variations of brick colors. At the end of the day, this isn't rocket science: apply as many coats to however many bricks as you think looks best. 

Here are a few more shots during the process:

Most people think that I was crazy to attempt this but it was so worth the time and effort. Check out the finished product!

Can you even tell that it is the same house? 

Personally I think that stone work is great and most of the time should not be replaced or painted. Try staining it next time! Unlike painting, the brick still appears really natural and maintains its texture. It honestly looks like the house was built with brown bricks to begin with. 

I transitioned the shutters from black to blue and replaced the light fixture above the door. We still have some landscaping and trim work to do on the front of the house next spring but I am really glad that I am ringing in this winter with my transformed little "Santorini" house. 

Hope you feel inspired to do some work on your own stone and feel free to reach out with questions!

Cheers,

There is a hole in my house

Hey everyone! Long time no blog. Sorry, things have been crazy as we have been trying to chip away at home repair and the million projects that we have either started or want to start.

The biggest thing we have changed since I last posted was to rip out our kitchen window and add a big patio door! It took one very long day and some very impressive saw work but we have a patio door. Here was the process:

It has been so nice to be able to see the sun shine through the kitchen and be able to see our cute backyard. It had taken away some table space but the yet to be completed deck will be worth it.

Now that we have the patio door in... we started on the St. Louis Park building permit process for the deck and let me tell you, it has been quite the ride. I now completely understand why people do NOT get the city involved but we were trying to do the right thing. After numerous inspections, plan drawings, and bumps in the road we are in the midst of building the deck now and can't wait to have it behind us.

Here is what we have so far:

Don't worry, as soon as we have it at an operational level we will have a BBQ including yard games. After all the extra beams and footings the city is having us add.... the deck will be able to hold a military tank so we are not worried about it holding a crowd of friends and family!

It has been so much fun seeing my design for the deck come to life and I cannot wait to see it finished and be able to enjoy it (though maybe not for long since Winter is Coming). I just bought a Patagonia coat though, so my little butt will be out there until there is a foot of snow on the ground.

I will post the photos of the final product when we are done!