Brick house painting in Fort Wayne

Paint, limewash, stain or mineral paint

Brick takes in water and lets it back out. A coating on brick has to let that vapor through. The Brick Industry Association says paint for exterior brick should be porous enough for the wall to breathe, and it does not recommend oil-based or alkyd paint for exterior masonry at all. These are the four coatings a Fort Wayne painter is likely to offer:

Coating	How it works	Goes on	What to know
Acrylic masonry paint	Forms a film on the surface that still passes vapor	Bare or painted brick	The industry group's figure is repainting every three to five years
Mineral (silicate) paint	Bonds chemically with the brick, so there is no film to peel	Bare brick. Painted brick needs a bonding primer first.	Flat, solid color. Costs more per gallon.
Limewash	Slaked lime that soaks in and can be partly washed off for a worn look	Bare, unsealed brick only	Applied between 50 and 90°F
Masonry stain	Soaks into the pores and colors the brick itself	Bare brick	Changes the color and keeps the brick's texture

If the brick already has acrylic or oil paint on it, limewash and stain are off the table unless the old paint comes off. That leaves repainting, and repainting sound painted brick is a normal maintenance job.

Why Fort Wayne's winters matter for painted brick

Fort Wayne averages about 124 days a year with a low at or below freezing and about 40 days that never get above it. That leaves roughly 84 days when the temperature crosses the freezing point. Water that gets behind a paint film through a cracked mortar joint or a missing chimney cap freezes and expands on each of those days. The Brick Industry Association's guidance is blunt: blistering paint on brick is caused by water inside the wall, and the fix is finding the water.

So the work before the coating counts for more than the coating:

• White, powdery salt deposits, mildew or moss on brick all mean water is moving through the wall. They need a cause and a fix before any paint.
• Failed mortar joints are repointed. On older soft brick, the new mortar should be softer than the brick, because hard modern mortar can crack the faces off old bricks.
• Flashing, caps and caulk get checked, because these are where the water usually gets in.
• The wall is cleaned gently, with low-pressure water and a brush. Sandblasting strips the hard fired face off brick and makes it weather faster.

How much does it cost to paint a brick house in Fort Wayne?

Most brick houses cost about $3,500 to $10,500 to paint, with a typical job near $7,000. That is a national range. A one-story ranch with sound mortar lands at the low end. A two-story house that needs repointing and a lift lands at the top.

What changes the price	Why
Height	Second stories and chimneys mean ladders, a lift or scaffold
Mortar repairs	Tuckpointing is mason's work and is priced on top of the painting
Bare or already painted	Bare brick drinks more product. Peeling old paint has to come off first.
Coating	Mineral paint and limewash cost more for materials than acrylic

Brick in Fort Wayne's historic districts

In a Fort Wayne local historic district, the city's preservation guidelines call it not appropriate to paint brick, stone or concrete block that was historically unpainted. Their reason is the one above: paint hides the masonry and starts a cycle of repainting. The same guidelines encourage repainting brick that was painted originally, and they rule out sandblasting and high-pressure washing to remove old paint. Any color change in a local district needs a no-fee Certificate of Appropriateness first. Details are in the guide to paint rules in Fort Wayne's historic districts.

Outside the local districts, brick ranches and colonials across the city and suburbs have no such rule. Check your subdivision's covenants for color approval before you sign a contract.

Brick painting questions