Painting advice required.

[JDog]

Last week I took some Ivy off a wall in the corner of the walled garden. It looks a mess.

My wife would like to paint it. I realise that the wall will have to dry and the old lime wash scraped off first if it is to be painted but what do I use as a base coat/primer, and what type of paint will be good enough for a top coat.

The wall is very old and faces North.

[henry d]

I'm not an expert but Sandtex has never let me down it bonds and seals loose mortar well and doesn't discolour

[JKD]

I can't offer advice regarding paint options, but I can say that that wall will never "dry". It's one of those conundrums,,,, someone builds a nice boundary wall,,,, many years later someone else [mistakenly] paints it, and ruins it by doing so, as can be seen in the picture 😣 Then the paint inevitably peels off, although not all of it.

So,,,, clean off and repaint, or clean off and leave to moss up etc,,,, which can look great 🙂

Sorry if that doesn't really help 🙏

[Scully]

If it was my wall I’d leave it as it is, as it looks fabulous! I love distressed red brick. 
If you’re going to paint it then give it a thorough going over with a good bacterial scrub such as diluted Jeyes fluid or a trade application, followed by a coat of stabilising solution and then a couple of coats of whatever you want, as long as it’s exterior based. 
Remember, once you paint something it’s always to repaint. 🙂
Edited to add....the stabilising solution is your primer/undercoat and will accept both solvent and water based paints. 

Edited February 5, 2021 by Scully

[bruno22rf]

Wire brush attatchment on an angle grinder followed by a couple of coats of water seal but mid summer would be best. Or you could buy a portable sand blaster, under £100.

Edited February 5, 2021 by bruno22rf

[ditchman]

cement slurry and roller it on...couple of coats maybe

[ditchman]

1 hour ago, bruno22rf said:

Wire brush attatchment on an angle grinder followed by a couple of coats of water seal but mid summer would be best. Or you could buy a portable sand blaster, under £100.

i rekon a power washer with the swirl pulse nozzle might take most of that off ....what do you rekon ?

[chrisjpainter]

1 hour ago, Scully said:

If it was my wall I’d leave it as it is, as it looks fabulous! I love distressed red brick. 
If you’re going to paint it then give it a thorough going over with a good bacterial scrub such as diluted Jeyes fluid or a trade application, followed by a coat of stabilising solution and then a couple of coats of whatever you want, as long as it’s exterior based. 
Remember, once you paint something it’s always to repaint. 🙂
Edited to add....the stabilising solution is your primer/undercoat and will accept both solvent and water based paints. 

Yup, this'd be my move, although I'd be tempted to strip all the paint off of it. the ecologist in me would also tell you that exposed brick would be great for invertebrates too.

But as others have said, getting that wall to be dry before getting any paint on is going to be a problem. You'd get much more long lasting results if you could wait until it's had a summer's drying out. 

If you take the all paint off now and leave it a few months, you might decide you like it  

Is the plant staying there?

[Walker570]

I just love old brick and blanch at the thought of painting it but if she who must be obey insists then as said Sandtex has a good reputaion. Get the rubbish paint off the brickwork carefully then see what she thinks.    Whack that ivy with some concentrate Glypho to make sure it doesn't come back or some special bramble killer which normally does the job.      Nice spot for a wisteria but they do need managing so something simple like a noce clematis in the corner would work well.

[millrace]

Keim......

[Rewulf]

Id try a power wash and see what happens , if that old paint and lime comes off nice , its best sealed and left..
But ! If you start blowing the mortar out too, that could end up a structural problem.

[kenholland]

masonry paint , springs to mind.

[Scully]

26 minutes ago, millrace said:

Keim......

Yeah, Kiem mineral paint would do it. Great paint. 

[powler]

Maybe like others said get it cleaned and review how it looks, may look very nice in natural brick.

[Clodhopper]

Don’t bother, go pigeon shooting instead.

[GingerCat]

6 minutes ago, Clodhopper said:

Don’t bother, go pigeon shooting instead.

Is the correct answer.

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, I am with Scully liking original brick work ( working on many old properties )but that has quiet a bit of paint on in different areas , my thoughts are to hire a small sandblaster to take off the loose and flaky paint, even up the painted areas leaving a better looking old wall, then seal it for weather proofing, but if painting is required then after sandblasting a good weather proof brick paint with a color your wife chooses, of course when the weather permits , let us know how you get on Jd, 

[figgy]

A good jet wash and when clean and dry apply a silicon solution to soak into the bricks. It will dry well into the surface making cleaning easier.

Sealing the top of the wall is the key ax water will just soak it's way in.

I personally wouldn't paint it, I would take back to brick as paint will always peel off unless you don't mind repainting it regularly.

Rendering over some expanded mesh fixed to the wall will give a surface to paint.

[JKD]

To add to my previous reply, and other's ideas....

I'd personally leave it as it is, as it has character and rustic charm, IMO. At the end of the day it's a garden wall, not the side of your house. Instead of spending your hard-earned on the wall [which you'll have to continue annually/bi-annually, probably], spend it on some nice plants, including some climbers like roses and clematis etc.

 

[JDog]

Thank you to all who have replied with sensible ideas and options. That obviously excludes Clodhopper and Ginger Cat.

The photo below shows part of the rest of the wall. This was sandblasted soon after we bought the property are we are delighted with the way it looks. Doing similar to the newly revealed wall is not an option as the garden is well established and very adjacent.

 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Have you painted that with Thompsons to stabilise it?

[JKD]

That's actually a very nice wall, built using mostly 'seconds' [imperfect bricks] in an English Garden Wall bond, the odd bit of Flemish bond, with bits n bobs to fill the odd gaps. IMO that section seems too clean, but I'm sure it'll 'weather' over time 😉 Good planting is the key, which will take the eye off the wall 👍

[JDog]

Well I was instructed to paint it which I did having scraped as much detritus off as I could. 

The paint is Little Green Paint Co. 'Garden green'.

[marsh man]

Certainly freshen it up a bit Mr JDog , not sure if I would have painted the wall in a walled garden as the old brickwork seem to retain the character of the surroundings , trouble with masonry paint is , it's a lot harder to get off than it is to put it on , mind you , nice neat job and if you are both happy then that's all what count .

[Dave-G]

Ouch - lets hope she can live with that lol. The unpainted part looks better than the rest in my opinion.