Did you ever what to change the look of your red brick? Many people choose to paint their brick, but there is another option — Limewash. What is Limewash you may ask? It originated in Europe and been in existence for thousands of years. We used Romabio on our project, which is similar to a stain and is absorbed by the brick. Paint, on the other hand, adheres to the top of the brick. The result is a beautiful antique look.
We spoke with our customer, Jon Ritting about why he chose this technique, “we decided to lime wash our house for two reasons. First, a friend and brick mason suggested the technique because lime washed brick can still ‘breath’ as opposed to paint which can trap moisture between the paint/brick and interior walls. Furthermore, painted brick requires maintenance and upkeep after several years, whereas lime wash just looks better over time.
“The second reason was about the final aesthetic lime wash offers a house like ours,” Jon continued. “In our opinion, the lime wash on our house accentuates the architecture and style of the house and makes it stand out in the neighborhood.” Jon’s wife, Patti, echoed his sentiments, “the lime wash technique updated our home while keeping the aged look at the same time. It’s the perfect fit for the style of our home, the neighborhood we live in, and the Richmond metropolitan area.”
Applying the limewash is not easy task (the timelapse to the left makes it look easy!). It takes patience and time. We needed to take into consideration the sun – for that makes the product dry faster. The Ritting’s home had both original brick and newer brick. The limewash on the original brick dried slowly the but the mortar dried quickly. However the opposite occurred when it was applied to the newer brick. The newer brick did not absorb the limewash as well, so it simply beaded up and rolled off! The limewash dried very quickly on the newer mortar, though. We had to adjust the way we applied the product so the limewash matched throughout the exterior. We manipulated the thickness of the product by adding water, but had to carefully protect the surroundings because it can fly all over the place.
Below are some pictures of the home: