 This morning I tackled my awful exterior brick! Before you judge that I covered up something naturally beautiful, I'll just say I added to its beauty. No this isn't a paint/ water mixture. There is no amount of money someone could pay me to paint exterior masonry. I am all about low maintenance and paint is just the opposite! So, before I jumped into this, I did MONTHS of research, hundreds of google searches and many visits to the hardware store. There isn't much out there when it comes to finding Limewashing recipes. Some were super complicated, more so than I knew it had to be. So I finally stumbled upon a post and stuck with the recipe, but tweeked it just a bit to get the consistency I wanted. Oh and the best part... this only took 3 hours to complete all by myself! Here's what it took to do the front exterior of my home. Enjoy!  20 cups of hydrated lime  2 cups of table salt    I used a 10:1 ratio of lime and salt. Then I added equal parts water, so about 20 cups of water. I mixed two batches so I wasn't carrying around a super heavy bucket. I used a paint stirrer to mix the mixture in a 5 gallon bucket. I had the brilliant idea of using a natural bristle broom for application of large areas and it couldn't have been more genius ( if I do say so myself)! The key here is natural bristle. A plastic or synthetic bristle isn't going to hold onto the mixture long enough for you to apply it. I used a smaller paint brush for nooks and crannies. Here are a few before and afters!   You can see how dingy the brick is in this close up.  Here is a during photo     You can see it's in the curing stage because the bricks are becoming more prominent and varying again verses uniform and white like they were immediately after application.  Next, I tackle that chimney back there :) 
15 Comments
Kristin
1/15/2016 12:42:21 pm
This looks great. I'm planning on doing my exterior this spring. How many coats did you apply?
Beth
1/15/2016 12:53:27 pm
Kristin- I only applied one coat of lime wash. As time goes on it will fade and look distressed, which was my intentions. If you want a more stark white finish, you could do more than one coat for sure. Good luck!
Bri
4/8/2017 11:01:53 am
Wondering if you had to do anything to protect your concrete slab/porch area??
Arianna
5/16/2016 02:17:19 pm
This looks amazing! And I'm happy to see in your newer posts that it holds up well! Do you have any other tips for applying? I've read you should wet the brick before applying the limewash and that it needs to dry for 48 hours in 70ish degree weather? Thank you so much for writing this, it's convinced my husband we can tackle this on our own and that it'll look great! :)
petra howard
11/2/2016 06:41:18 pm
Will it wash off eventual with rain?
Beth
11/2/2016 06:47:36 pm
The whitewash on the brick? No, I used lime. So eventually it will look a little more distressed as the house ages but its a more natural approach than paint because brick needs to "breath". The lime simply adds an additional layer to the brick as lime becomes a solid when dry. Hope this helps!
Beth
11/2/2016 06:50:56 pm
Arianna, the lime wash is still holding up well! I've recently posted a few posts with the limewash in the background if you'd like to see how its holding up! So far I'm super pleased!
Leah
5/13/2018 08:15:21 pm
Did you rinse the lime wash afterwards? I am looking for a uniform coverage like yours so I’m wondering if I even need to bother rinsing it after applying the lime wash. Thanks!
Beth @ Blush and Batting Blog
7/8/2018 11:13:54 am
No need to rinse the lime off afterwards. The lime wash actually immediately absorbs because the bricks are so porous. If you want a uniform coverage, don’t be afraid to put it on heavily. You’ll achieve a more “painted” look that way! Best of luck!
Shannon Rousey
3/16/2019 11:18:46 am
Did you limewash the fireplace brick as well or did you paint that?
Shannon Rousey
3/16/2019 11:22:16 am
Nevermind I found my answer! :)
Helen Nelson
7/27/2020 11:28:14 pm
Hi!
Beth @ Blush and Batting Blog
7/28/2020 12:02:33 am
Six years later and it’s still holding up wonderfully! You won’t regret it!
Gayle
8/15/2020 11:17:52 pm
The house looks great! the wash looks a bit om the gray side--did you tint the mix at all, or did this happen naturally? I am looking to do a gray color because we have white siding and I want a bit of contrast. From photos it looks like you acheieved that.
Beth @Blush and Batting
8/16/2020 05:59:10 am
Hello! I did not add any color pigment into the limewash mixture and it appears more of a gray tone because it hadn’t fully dried yet. By itself, the wash leaves a pretty stark white color but you can buy concrete pigment to tint it to many colors. You’ll just want to test the different mixture ratios on a hidden area of brick to make sure you like the final dry outcome. Because lime is a natural mineral, when the brick becomes wet after raining etc, limewashed brick will always have this appearance until the brick dries again after a few hours. Hope this helps. Leave a Reply. |
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