Mortar wash on red brick

annieb1981

Morning everyone,
We have 70s red brick area at front of our house which I don't like but after extending our bungalow money is a bit tight so I am looking at other options to replastering over it. I have come across mortar wash which I am loving and wonder if anyone has done this? It really is my taste when I see photos but is it too good to be true 🤔

stuart45

If you are talking about German Smear, I've seen it done, but never done it myself. It's quite popular in the USA, but not so much here. 
First time I saw it I thought the brickies had been on the moonshine. You need to sure of the exact you are looking for (heavy, medium or light).
Another option could be to go for the reclaimed look. This was really popular in the 80's, where you had a mixture of old bricks. Some had black paint or soot, some white or cream paint, some with a bit of lime on the face, others quite clean. When laid the walls did look quite good. 
Problem was that a lot of them came from internal walls and fell apart in the winter. They then starting making new face bricks with paint and mortar on them to meet the demand for them. 
You can paint a few, cover a few with lime mortar or limewash etc to get this effect.
I used some old ones to put a rustic arch in our kitchen.

annieb1981

I love the reclaimed brick stuart45, we have some Belfast brick in our hall which is a lovely mixture of pinky yellow tones as well as the odd blackened ones but the front is 70s brick and pure uniform red orange. We have a chimney breast outside in the same brick so I might experiment with the far side of that first. I know it's popular in America and it is called German smear which covers a lot of the brick in the white morter mix. I might keep mines quite watered down and add in some natural tones that appear in our reclaimed brick if I can. Total experiment but I feel very excited about it. 

stuart45

They were not really reclaimed, but new bricks made to look old. They were called Tudors, and are quite a bit smaller than the standard bricks. Small bricks were just what I needed for everything to fit together for what my wife wanted. I thought I was going to have to cut some down, but I saw a pallet load of these in the Merchants. They had been there over a year, left over from a big order. 
Went into the office, got a good price for them as nobody wanted them, paid for them and got them delivered with the sand. 
Day of delivery they ring up and ask me if I still want the sand as some one had come in and bought the bricks, and they didn't realise they were already sold. 
Had to go in and complain to the manager and eventually he rang around the country and found another batch for me.
You can see how tight for space it was to get a brick wall, fridge, Belfast sink and freezer into a space that is 73 inches from wall to far edge of new brickwork.

annieb1981

Stuart45 you kitchen is almost the same as my folks kitchen before they changed it there in January. I just look a photo. Below is our new reclaimed wall and the outside wall I want to look reclaimed. 

stuart45

Really nice wall in your folks house. 
On your house the advantage of having drag faced bricks is that the mortar will stick to them better than a smooth faced brick
Don't forget to stick a photo up when you are finished.

Jeepers_Creepers

I'd love to see this when it's done.

Stuart, do you think the texture of these bricks will lend themselves to 'Germaning'?

stuart45

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Stuart, do you think the texture of these bricks will lend themselves to 'Germaning'?

I would think it will provide a key for the mortar to attach to more so than a smooth faced brick. Engineering bricks are much easier to clean.
Not that I am an expert in German smear, more guesswork.

Apodemus

Yes, I was wondering that, too.  I guess there is a risk that the wash emphasises the existing pattern on the bricks and that might not be a good look!  I would suggest that the OP does a test area first in a hidden corner (if such exists)...and has the brick acid handy to remove it all if need be!

stuart45

That's a good point from you and JP. Textured bricks are really hard to clean properly, even with acid, so a small area would be a good idea.. It could be a bit like tester pots with emulsion though. I stick a few on the wall, my wife picks one and then when it's finished says it does not look right and I should of known to start with.

annieb1981

Apodemus said:

Yes, I was wondering that, too.  I guess there is a risk that the wash emphasises the existing pattern on the bricks and that might not be a good look!  I would suggest that the OP does a test area first in a hidden corner (if such exists)...and has the brick acid handy to remove it all if need be!

Definitely will be doing a test area. There's an external Chimney in the same brick that's ground to roof level. Will do the far back corner facing back garden first and hope for the best 🙏