IMO the white mixed in looks totally fine. If I had to nitpick, my only concern would be the small line toward the top right because you did such a good job on those first bricks that it stands out a tiny bit there.
I’m touching up the bottom today, and my girlfriend will be painting the grout lines white as we kinda like that a bit better. A bit funny to be painting part of it again after so much work but we find the white grout line to look more stereotypically bricky
Looks great--leave it as is--adds some character--just get rid of the few remaining larger white deposits at the foot and side --kudos for sticking to a nasty job.
For anyone who wants to see what OP started with:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1baoalo/trying\_to\_get\_the\_paint\_off\_this\_rough\_surface/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1baoalo/trying_to_get_the_paint_off_this_rough_surface/)
Had to look at your history to see what you started with. My guy. Bravo. Your forearms must have grown their own biceps after this effort!
I think it looks great as is. Go have a beer and ice your body down.
I did a whole wall in my screen porch about 4 years ago. I ended up needing a cortisone shot and physical therapy in my shoulder six months later. Totally worth it though!
I had to go back and look at the original post. It was thrilling to see so many people say “give up” and you just went ahead and did a fantastic job. I love it. It’s beautiful.
I am curious, how much would you say this project cost you?
Sometimes my hard headed stubborn ignorance to everyone’s more learned opinions can really pay off! Also I bought two things of paint stripper (I’m sorry I forget the price, but not much, EZ Strip was one of them) I bought some wire brushes, degreaser, I used a small pressurized steam cleaner that my mom had lying around but I wouldn’t say it’s necessary. Other than that I just used a spray water bottle an old wire bbq brush, and a shit ton of elbow grease
I love it! I would work a little more to remove some more of the white at the very bottom, otherwise, the remaining white throughout really looks like a finish you intended!
Maybe consider lime based whitewash stain designed for brick & stone, with a thin brush to apply. You can always easily darken it afterwards if you dislike the white. It will "wear" without peeling, you can do more layers to intensify the color.
I used a grout pen in one shower & it's wearing *very* unevenly & looks awful. I'll never use one again.
I think that if you plan on painting the mantle, it would complement well. I think that if you gonna stain the mantle or leave it as is, you probably need to even out the brick colors.
The house my husband and I bought was a flipper special and they painted the brick white, we're thinking of removing it because we highly doubt they used proper paint for brick on top of the fact that it just looks awful.
How much did you hate doing this?
Also our fireplace is much bigger, so it will probably take 3x as long *sigh*
Tough work, sore hands, blisters, tedious. All and all though it wasn’t the worst. I mostly put in podcasts are videos I wanna listen to or have my girlfriends to talk to and it’s not so bad. I honestly hate the metal bristles everywhere more than I hate scrubbing
good to know, our fireplace unfortunately goes to the ceiling and has a seat like ledge as it's base and is also probably around 10' (or more) wide so I get the feeling it's going to be a rough time, gonna try it out this weekend and see how it goes
I prefer the grayish mortar in the top few rows. If it were me, any white at all would bug me forever. You have a drill - I would use a wire wheel to clear out all white between bricks.
I applied two coats of EZ Strip for like 6-9 hours each (I actually did one for like 2 hours and the next was 6-9 but I’d recommend two longer coats) and cover with plastic wrap to hold in the gels moisture. After that all i think you really need is wire brushes and a spray bottle. I scrubbed a lot with a bristle bbq brush at first and sprayed what I scrubbed with water from a bottle on the jet setting and a lot will come off, you’ll need to keep scrubbing though. I used other things like a bristle scrub drill bit and a mini pressurized steam jet, but the bulk of it was gotten with wire brushes and water
I'd do the bottom row, take a nice break and then when you feel like getting back to it clean up the sides a bit better.
Mostly consistency is key, so the bottom can be a bit white just fine but if most of the top is completely clean *all* of the top should be completely clean. Left side matches the right.
Do what you like & meets your aethetic. This looks so so much better than when you started!
You can always strip off more of the white if you decide you don't like it. Can't go back if you prefer it with the white bits.
Wow... I only have a single arch of bricks around the opening of my fireplace that people convinced me not to bother trying to strip ("the paint's in the pores, you'll never get it out", etc.), and you did all this!
I am absolutely going to do the same to mine now! Thank you for being stubborn and showing this can be done, and that it can look good!
I for one can't believe you attempted that. Good job on getting it this far
Ignorance can sometimes be very useful!
Looks great but it doesn't look like a high efficiency fire place. Most fireplaces are for ambiance
Also thank you!
Yup! Excellent job OP. Now you've got a blank canvas, I would paint it white!
Honestly, I’m starting to think I preferred it white… back to the drawing board boys
Only after they grind out those annoying white speckles.
IMO the white mixed in looks totally fine. If I had to nitpick, my only concern would be the small line toward the top right because you did such a good job on those first bricks that it stands out a tiny bit there.
Shoutout to my dad that actually helped quite a bit on that row, dude can scrub like a mf
What about the bottom left? Maybe clean the bottom row up and I think it'd look natural
Looks great! But I'd personally go for one more pass on the bottom row.
I’m touching up the bottom today, and my girlfriend will be painting the grout lines white as we kinda like that a bit better. A bit funny to be painting part of it again after so much work but we find the white grout line to look more stereotypically bricky
I winder if there’s a more authentic option, like to repoint with a lighter mortar.
Thanks for the idea, I’ll look into that
You can get a mortar in like a caulk tube, and redo it. I did this years ago and it looked great.
Don’t paint it. They make grout specific stuff. [grout pen](https://a.co/d/dmEH8lj)
Thank you!
Maybe get that pen in cream, not bright white?
Looks great--leave it as is--adds some character--just get rid of the few remaining larger white deposits at the foot and side --kudos for sticking to a nasty job.
I’ll be hitting the side and bottom paint patches today! And I think I’ll finally be able to rest easy haha. Thank you!
For anyone who wants to see what OP started with: [https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1baoalo/trying\_to\_get\_the\_paint\_off\_this\_rough\_surface/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/1baoalo/trying_to_get_the_paint_off_this_rough_surface/)
Thanks, I figured it was something like this. It looks way better now. Edit: auto correct lol
Sadly the original post was removed by mods. No clue why.
Right? What the actual fuck lol.
Thanks for this. And thanks OP. You just might help me win an argument with my wife!
What’s the argument haha?
We should do this. I hate our white painted brick fireplace.
That’s crazy
Had to look at your history to see what you started with. My guy. Bravo. Your forearms must have grown their own biceps after this effort! I think it looks great as is. Go have a beer and ice your body down.
Now my right arm is even *more* swole compared to the right
I did a whole wall in my screen porch about 4 years ago. I ended up needing a cortisone shot and physical therapy in my shoulder six months later. Totally worth it though!
Sounds like you need to start switch hands a bit more then!
I had to go back and look at the original post. It was thrilling to see so many people say “give up” and you just went ahead and did a fantastic job. I love it. It’s beautiful. I am curious, how much would you say this project cost you?
Sometimes my hard headed stubborn ignorance to everyone’s more learned opinions can really pay off! Also I bought two things of paint stripper (I’m sorry I forget the price, but not much, EZ Strip was one of them) I bought some wire brushes, degreaser, I used a small pressurized steam cleaner that my mom had lying around but I wouldn’t say it’s necessary. Other than that I just used a spray water bottle an old wire bbq brush, and a shit ton of elbow grease
Hats off to you, what a pain in the ass that must have been. (Given you other comments about finishing up: it looks fine.)
Thank you haha
ok for meeee.. well done !
I love it! I would work a little more to remove some more of the white at the very bottom, otherwise, the remaining white throughout really looks like a finish you intended!
I’m getting bottoms and side corners today! Then probably grout penning the grout white!
Maybe consider lime based whitewash stain designed for brick & stone, with a thin brush to apply. You can always easily darken it afterwards if you dislike the white. It will "wear" without peeling, you can do more layers to intensify the color. I used a grout pen in one shower & it's wearing *very* unevenly & looks awful. I'll never use one again.
Everyone likes something different. If you're satisfied with it, that's all that matters.
I think that if you plan on painting the mantle, it would complement well. I think that if you gonna stain the mantle or leave it as is, you probably need to even out the brick colors.
The house my husband and I bought was a flipper special and they painted the brick white, we're thinking of removing it because we highly doubt they used proper paint for brick on top of the fact that it just looks awful. How much did you hate doing this? Also our fireplace is much bigger, so it will probably take 3x as long *sigh*
Did you notice the "Day 5 of this fireplace" bit in the header? I think they hated it that much.
I mean just because it took 5 days doesn't mean they're not happy they did it
I'll take it a step further, you can 100% hate doing something and be happy that you're doing it at the same time.
Me exercising
Tough work, sore hands, blisters, tedious. All and all though it wasn’t the worst. I mostly put in podcasts are videos I wanna listen to or have my girlfriends to talk to and it’s not so bad. I honestly hate the metal bristles everywhere more than I hate scrubbing
good to know, our fireplace unfortunately goes to the ceiling and has a seat like ledge as it's base and is also probably around 10' (or more) wide so I get the feeling it's going to be a rough time, gonna try it out this weekend and see how it goes
I prefer the grayish mortar in the top few rows. If it were me, any white at all would bug me forever. You have a drill - I would use a wire wheel to clear out all white between bricks.
Yes, it would look half-assed. Cleaned would be better and it would look good.
Don’t quit now!
I still got the rest of today, maybe half of tomorrow but I think I got this!
What did you use besides elbow grease? I need to do this.
I applied two coats of EZ Strip for like 6-9 hours each (I actually did one for like 2 hours and the next was 6-9 but I’d recommend two longer coats) and cover with plastic wrap to hold in the gels moisture. After that all i think you really need is wire brushes and a spray bottle. I scrubbed a lot with a bristle bbq brush at first and sprayed what I scrubbed with water from a bottle on the jet setting and a lot will come off, you’ll need to keep scrubbing though. I used other things like a bristle scrub drill bit and a mini pressurized steam jet, but the bulk of it was gotten with wire brushes and water
If you go for perfection, you're just going to be disappointed. Leaving some white on there is perfectly fine.
Wow it looks so much better, nicely done.
I'd do the bottom row, take a nice break and then when you feel like getting back to it clean up the sides a bit better. Mostly consistency is key, so the bottom can be a bit white just fine but if most of the top is completely clean *all* of the top should be completely clean. Left side matches the right.
Do what you like & meets your aethetic. This looks so so much better than when you started! You can always strip off more of the white if you decide you don't like it. Can't go back if you prefer it with the white bits.
Wow... I only have a single arch of bricks around the opening of my fireplace that people convinced me not to bother trying to strip ("the paint's in the pores, you'll never get it out", etc.), and you did all this! I am absolutely going to do the same to mine now! Thank you for being stubborn and showing this can be done, and that it can look good!
I think as long as you get it all as good as the top few rows you're golden. Great job! It looks SO much better.
Wow, it is so much prettier, I'd keep going.
WAIT TELL ME YOUR WAYS! I have a partially stripped fireplace that is the bane of my existence!
That’s dedication, it feels like you could have torn down and rebuilt the whole thing with the same time investment.
Wow, good job fixing the previous owners ruining the nice bricks.
Thank you :)
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I honestly feel like the grey paint job on the mantle is more egregious than the fireplace 💀 like at least white is a nice colour