How to Paint a Brick Fireplace

We’ve been planning to paint our brick fireplace since we moved in almost two years ago. It’s not the first time we’ve painted brick so I’ve been putting it off, knowing the hand cramps that come with painting brick by hand. This time around, we tried out the FLEXiO 3000 and I will never again paint brick by hand. Here’s how to paint a brick fireplace for excellent coverage with ease.

Supplies:

• Wagner FLEXiO 3000 Sprayer
• Paint: Masonry primer if unpainted brick, any interior paint if previously painted
• Plastic drop cloths
• Staple gun
• Double sided painters tape
• Painters tape
• Thick kraft paper (flooring protector)
• Safety glasses and mask recommended
• Bucket, rag + TSP
• Vacuum
• Chip brush

CLEAN AND PREPARE BRICK FOR PAINTING

We were painting the brick as part of an entire fireplace makeover, so we started by removing all parts of the fireplace that we were replacing. We removed our mantel, vinyl tile on the hearth and we removed our gas fireplace insert.

Then it’s time to give it a good clean. I found vacuuming the brick first picked up most of the small particles making cleaning easier. Use a rag with a TSP solution to wash the brick. This will increase the adhesion of the paint to make for a longer lasting paint job. Wash it down with just water next. Vacuum again if this has knocked any more particles loose.

MASK OFF YOUR FIREPLACE

Masking is the most time consuming part of painting with a paint sprayer indoors. But it’s easy and allows you to paint so quickly and perfectly with ease. We used thick kraft paper from the painting section of the hardware store on the floor and hearth. We taped this down with painters tape, taking care to tape right up to the trim we were painting with the fireplace. We also masked off the inside of the fireplace with this paper. If you were painting inside your fireplace opening, you would want to use a high heat rated paint.

We fashioned a sort of spray shelter using plastic drop cloths around the fireplace. We used a staple gun to attach it to our ceiling (our ceiling is textured so these small holes are not noticeable). We used doublesided painters tape to attach the plastic drop cloth to the wall without any gaps for paint overspray to get through. We overlapped the panels of plastic and taped the bottom of the panels down to the kraft paper. Since a paint sprayer has so much air pressure, the lightweight plastic tends to blow if you skip this step.

PAINT THE BRICK FIREPLACE

Now you’re ready to paint! If there was any damage to your brick like there was to ours, paint that first with a chip brush so you’re starting with an even base. Let that dry while you prepare your paint sprayer. If your brick hasn’t previously been painted, you’ll need to use a Masonry Primer. This is available from most hardware stores. This is meant for brick and will seal it to make painting further coats easy. This will soak in and look terrible. This is not meant to be a one coat job.

After your brick has been painted with a proper primer, you can switch to any indoor paint. We used our wall paint for a seamless look. Take care to adjust your paint spray pattern before spraying the brick. The kraft paper in the fireplace opening was a great place to do this. Adjust until you are happy with your spray pattern, then spray the entire fireplace slowly for even coverage.

When you are happy with the coverage (for me, that was two coats), you can remove your masking and admire your work!

This sponsored post was created by Lemon Thistle. You can see our whole fireplace makeover with more information on the project right HERE.