Painting large rough surfaces like masonry walls, rendered walls or brick walls can be a nightmare if you use the wrong tools and technique. In this guide we show you what tools you need to get this task done quickly and what techniques you can use for best results.
Our first step when it comes to painting a masonry is always to protect the area and prepare the surface. Now if you’re painting a masonry wall indoors you might want to take a look at video guide on How to prepare a room for painting. But for this How to guide we’ll assume you’re painting and exterior wall. If you are painting indoors all the other techniques and tools we use will be the same!
Our starting point when painting outside is usually to clean the surface of the wall. This might seem unnecessary until you start. You will be amazed how much dirt, bird poo, moss and mould you will find on your wall. All of this must go. Start with our Seriously Good Wire Brush and give the wall a good brush down. When you are done you can use a microfibre cloth to remove the rest of the dirt.
Once you have removed all the dirt from the walls we can prepare the area for painting. We start by laying a tarpaulin to catch any drips of paint. If you are not worried about the surface you are painting over you could skip this step, but we like to keep things neat and tidy so we can get the best results.
With your tarpaulin down grab a roll of Seriously Good 28mm Masking Tape and start to tape up and detailed areas you don’t want the paint to go. This is more important when working indoors but taping up window frames and gate posts is also important and will help you work faster when you come to the painting in the next step.
With the wall clean of dirt and all the detail areas tapped up you can start the fun bit, the painting! First open the paint tin and give it a good stir. Masonry paint can be quite thick but you want it to run as smoothly as possible. When you are done poor a little into a paint tray or Handy Hold and use one of our 2-inch Masonry brushes to start painting around these detail areas.
Our masonry brushes have been designed with special filaments which help them perform better with thick masonry paints on rough surfaces like brisk walls. In very little time you will be able to paint around the edges of any detailed areas, window frames or connecting fence panels and walls.
Finally, we can switch to filling in the wall. For this task we are looking for speed and we have 2 great solutions for you. The first is our Masonry Swan Neck brush. Our Swan Neck brushes look a little odd, but they have been designed with ergonomics, practicality and speed in mind. The unique brush shape puts less pressure on your hand a wrist so you can paint mush aster and for longer than if you had used a standard block brush for the same task.
The second tool to try is our Masonry Roller. This 9-inch roller uses a specialised synthetic fabric to hold onto and apply masonry paints quickly so you can roll a brick wall in much the same way you would roll a smooth interior wall. For more tips on using a roller head over to our guide on how to paint a wall.
We have one final tip to help you speed up your masonry painting, use and extension pole. Extension poles really are the unsung heroes many decorators rely on to paint large areas quickly and with minimal effort. If you are using our Seriously Good Masonry Roller pair it with a Seriously Good Extension Pole and you will be able to paint hard to reach areas with easy and importantly speed. On the other hand if you are using our Ultimate Swan Neck Masonry Brush pair it with our Ultimate Extension Pole which uses a secure click fit attachment for fast, secure painting of hard to reach areas.
Once you have finished you can step back and marvel at the transformation. Take a look at our before and after shots. Remember you can find all the tools used in the guide at the bottom of the page.
