Bradford House

[AP]

This board has been pretty widely anti-brick painting for quite some time. In most cases, it's the worst thing that could happen to the brick. Very hard to reverse that decision after the fact.

[baralheia]

Wow that seems to be painting with a broad-bush

Honestly, I agree with Teo9969. Especially on a historic property like this, you just don't paint the brick. Once you paint brick, there's no going back. Even when meticulously maintained, moisture will get trapped in the brick, which greatly accelerates it's deterioration. Brick and mortar are designed to breathe and allow moisture to escape, and paint totally blocks that process. Painted brick requires much more maintenance due to this fact, as the paint will begin to flake off as the bricks and the mortar deteriorate. Worse, attempting to remove the paint from the brick later very often results in further damage to the brick - usually by eroding the fire skin layer and exposing the softer, more porous inner layers. It's just bad news all the way around, except in a very few, limited cases (usually poor quality brick, or brick that has become soft and overly porous).

http://www.masonryofdenver.com/2014/...t-paint-brick/

[Lazio85]

Honestly, I agree with Teo9969. Especially on a historic property like this, you just don't paint the brick. Once you paint brick, there's no going back. Even when meticulously maintained, moisture will get trapped in the brick, which greatly accelerates it's deterioration. Brick and mortar are designed to breathe and allow moisture to escape, and paint totally blocks that process. Painted brick requires much more maintenance due to this fact, as the paint will begin to flake off as the bricks and the mortar deteriorate. Worse, attempting to remove the paint from the brick later very often results in further damage to the brick - usually by eroding the fire skin layer and exposing the softer, more porous inner layers. It's just bad news all the way around, except in a very few, limited cases (usually poor quality brick, or brick that has become soft and overly porous).

http://www.masonryofdenver.com/2014/...t-paint-brick/

There are mineral paints that will solve this problem.

https://romabio.com/why-our-brick-paint-is-the-best/
https://romabio.com/masonry/

[Teo9969]

Painting old brick is tantamount to mixing in new wine with an old one simply because it has a specific off-putting flavor.

By no means did I think that the brick on this one was the best of its era...but still...surely there was a better solution.

That being said, it's still a great project. As a homeowner in the area, I hope they have great success. I'm not going to like every decision developers make, but if the worst thing they do is paint brick on a building 3 miles from the core, then I'll take the minor loss and be happy they're repurposing an old building.

[Pete]

[Timtoomany]

OKCTalk is full of contrarian views so I'm just going to go ahead and say this: I think painted brick looks great.

[Pete]

[urbanCOWBOY]

Yeah. It looks amazing. Outside of an opinion, can someone clarify why brick should "never" be painted?

If you think this project is ugly, you're living under a rock. It looks much better than it did before x100. If you're spending your time arguing about painting brick, you may want to find something more useful to argue over with all the design standard issues we have in OKC today.

I prefer fighting for parking standards, lot size, density, and road widths as this affects the architecture of our city dramatically more than painting brick.

I am so happy that this project is happening as it promotes hotel and sales tax increase and it will be financially much more effective to the OKC economy than any home in this neighborhood. We need more projects like this in OKC. Heritage Hills and Mesta Park would be an ideal location, but these neighborhoods have fought extremely hard against this happening.

[dcsooner]

Yeah. It looks amazing. Outside of an opinion, can someone clarify why brick should "never" be painted?

If you think this project is ugly, you're living under a rock. It looks much better than it did before x100. If you're spending your time arguing about painting brick, you may want to find something more useful to argue over with all the design standard issues we have in OKC today.

I prefer fighting for parking standards, lot size, density, and road widths as this affects the architecture of our city dramatically more than painting brick.

I am so happy that this project is happening as it promotes hotel and sales tax increase and it will be financially much more effective to the OKC economy than any home in this neighborhood. We need more projects like this in OKC. Heritage Hills and Mesta Park would be an ideal location, but these neighborhoods have fought extremely hard against this happening.

+1

[Pete]

It does look great and anxious to see the landscaping and finishing touches.

This is going to be a great addition to the area.

[TheTravellers]

Yeah. It looks amazing. Outside of an opinion, can someone clarify why brick should "never" be painted?

If you think this project is ugly, you're living under a rock. It looks much better than it did before x100. If you're spending your time arguing about painting brick, you may want to find something more useful to argue over with all the design standard issues we have in OKC today.

I prefer fighting for parking standards, lot size, density, and road widths as this affects the architecture of our city dramatically more than painting brick.

I am so happy that this project is happening as it promotes hotel and sales tax increase and it will be financially much more effective to the OKC economy than any home in this neighborhood. We need more projects like this in OKC. Heritage Hills and Mesta Park would be an ideal location, but these neighborhoods have fought extremely hard against this happening.

I believe the reason for not painting brick is here in this thread somewhere, but here's the science - brick's breathable, painting it stops that, moisture accumulates inside the brick, spalling (the face of the brick crumbling off) and other bad things happen. Our house was painted when we bought it, chimney sweep inspected the chimney, touched a brick, the face of it fell off, so I have actual personal experience with this. Google should tell you more.

[urbanCOWBOY]

Water is a never ending issue on every project. The painted brick will be fine.

Google can tell you whatever you want to hear. You can paint brick correctly and incorrectly.

Maintenance will be critical to any healthy building.

[TheTravellers]

Water is a never ending issue on every project. ...

Exactly, and if you don't paint the brick, you have one less big thing to worry about in the future (maintaining the paint or the brick being compromised).

[Rover]

Exactly, and if you don't paint the brick, you have one less big thing to worry about in the future (maintaining the paint or the brick being compromised).

Done right (and they seem to be doing so) the brick shouldn't be an issue at all. There's a difference in me going to Home Depot and buying any old outdoor paint and painting my brick and the kind of paint and application good professionals use. All this worry about painting the brick is silly. This is going to look amazingly better and be substantially better than it was for a very long time. This is a great project. I think people are just looking for reasons to be negative or to worry. They've saved a deteriorating building, improved its integrity and potential life immensely, added density to the area, added a needed business to the neighborhood, and did it all without public assistance. This is a winner.

[urbanCOWBOY]

This is ridiculous. Arguing if they should paint the brick or not is almost like asking "Why did they use a red metal panel instead of blue?"

The owner and architect essentially wanted the building to be a different color so they painted it properly. The painted brick will not be an issue as licensed professional painter was hired by the general contractor.

It's clear that some people like exposed brick v painted, but I can assure you that's essentially the way the world works. We all have our own personal preferences, and if you do not like it, you should purchase your own property and do it better yourself. It would definitely cast light on development for us all to gain perspective in the drivers seat versus being a spectator.

[TheTravellers]

This is ridiculous. Arguing if they should paint the brick or not is almost like asking "Why did they use a red metal panel instead of blue?"

The owner and architect essentially wanted the building to be a different color so they painted it properly. The painted brick will not be an issue as licensed professional painter was hired by the general contractor.

It's clear that some people like exposed brick v painted, but I can assure you that's essentially the way the world works. We all have our own personal preferences, and if you do not like it, you should purchase your own property and do it better yourself. It would definitely cast light on development for us all to gain perspective in the drivers seat versus being a spectator.

I did purchase my own property, and it was unfortunately already painted, and now I have to keep painting it for the rest of the time I live here, that's part of my point - don't paint it and you won't need to maintain the paint. Also, very hard to remove paint from brick without compromising the brick, that bell usually can't be unrung.

[Rover]

I did purchase my own property, and it was unfortunately already painted, and now I have to keep painting it for the rest of the time I live here, that's part of my point - don't paint it and you won't need to maintain the paint. Also, very hard to remove paint from brick without compromising the brick, that bell usually can't be unrung.

Dirty, wet brick, or brick that is deteriorating or generally in poor condition should not be painted. If in good shape, properly cleaned, completely dry, primed properly, and is painted with GOOD quality paint made for masonry surfaces, the painted surface should be pretty maintenance free... in fact, more so than plain brick. Brick is porous as is the mortar, so mold can build up and darken unevenly, and water damage can weaken the mortar over time. On the painted surface, because it ends up being a smooth surface, a power wash of dirty areas may be good for cosmetic purposes on lighter colors. But, actual repainting shouldn't be necessary unless the brick is water damaged, and then it is probably deteriorating, painted or not. I'm curious if you have to keep repainting because it wasn't done right, or with the right paint, or you just want to change the color?

You are right though, it is usually permanent. Removing paint is hard and usually damages the brick. On the other hand, painting a new color is pretty straight forward, so updating your curb appeal can be relatively cheap and quick.

[TheTravellers]

... I'm curious if you have to keep repainting because it wasn't done right, or with the right paint, or you just want to change the color?

...

Haven't had to repaint yet, bought the house 4 years ago and it had been painted about 12 years before that. The woman that owned it then just wanted to remodel it and rent it out, and judging by everything inside that got remodeled, she got the cheapest labor around, and I expect the same goes for the painters. It's wearing off, mainly next to the ground where the flowerbed dirt is, and in some other spots not next to the ground. Also, ours is combed brick, not flat, so there's that...

[Rover]

Haven't had to repaint yet, bought the house 4 years ago and it had been painted about 12 years before that. The woman that owned it then just wanted to remodel it and rent it out, and judging by everything inside that got remodeled, she got the cheapest labor around, and I expect the same goes for the painters. It's wearing off, mainly next to the ground where the flowerbed dirt is, and in some other spots not next to the ground. Also, ours is combed brick, not flat, so there's that...

If the problem is at the base of the house near the ground, the problem is most likely moisture. Probably would require maintenance on unpainted brick too. Make sure it’s thoroughly dry and primed before painting.

[TheTravellers]

If the problem is at the base of the house near the ground, the problem is most likely moisture. Probably would require maintenance on unpainted brick too. Make sure it’s thoroughly dry and primed before painting.

For now, plants hide it - much easier and cheaper because my wife's in charge of the plants (I handle the ground stuff, she handles the above-ground stuff).

[David]

Yeah. It looks amazing. Outside of an opinion, can someone clarify why brick should "never" be painted?

This is ridiculous. Arguing if they should paint the brick or not is almost like asking "Why did they use a red metal panel instead of blue?"

The owner and architect essentially wanted the building to be a different color so they painted it properly. The painted brick will not be an issue as licensed professional painter was hired by the general contractor.

It's clear that some people like exposed brick v painted, but I can assure you that's essentially the way the world works. We all have our own personal preferences, and if you do not like it, you should purchase your own property and do it better yourself. It would definitely cast light on development for us all to gain perspective in the drivers seat versus being a spectator.

If you were going to get this upset at the responses you asked for, why ask in the first place?

[Pete]

[Jeepnokc]

Not much room for any landscaping across the front. Hope they have some big potted plants to break it up

[OKC Guy]

Not much room for any landscaping across the front. Hope they have some big potted plants to break it up

It might sound crazy but too bad they couldn’t have used green dye in the cement to at least give the parking lot a greener feel.

[5alive]

Project has turned out nice imho ...but the wrap around new construction reminds me old fashioned motels like you would have seen at Branson in years past or maybe now