Brick Wall Resurfacing
Removed the water damaged plaster and allowed it to dry
Application of the base coat
Application of the smooth coat finish
Finished product
Finished product
Finished product
Finished product
Photo #1: This project is a great example of what can be done to change the looks of a room. The homeower wanted to change the brick wall to blend in with the existing living room walls. My plan of action was to roll latex bonder over the bricks and allow that to dry for about an hour. Then it was time for putting the base coat on over the brick, to start the resurfacing process.
Photo #2: I mixed up a bucket of base coat and started out at the top of the wall. There was a small gap between the brick wall and where it met the ceiling. So I filled in the gap with base coat, embedding fiberglass mesh in the angle. I then ran an angle trowel down the angle and feathered out the base coat that was applied on the ceiling. This made it easier to blend it in when applying the sand finish, which was going to be put on over the base coat once it set up. I used the rest of the base coat, bringing it down the wall until it ran out.
Photo #3 & #4: In these two photos, you can see that I have put a base coat over the entire wall. The next step was to double back, embedding heavy blue fiberglass mesh into the wet plaster. I embedded the mesh to help the base coat build up over the bricks. One thing to keep in mind is that when base coating over brick or block, if you put too 'thin' a layer, the outline of the bricks or blocks may show through. So I embedded the mesh, then put another coat of base over the mesh, so it was completely covered by plaster.
Photo #5: I now have the entire wall base coated, with the mesh completely covered. You'll notice in this photo why they call this 'brown coat' plaster. When it's first put on, it has a light gray or tan look. This photo shows the base coat is starting to chemically set up hard. As it does this, it begins to turn 'brown'. When it all goes brown, it's ready to apply the second coat. The walls around this brick wall are sand finish swirl texture, so that's what I did to this wall.
Photo #6: So now that the base coat is set up, I now applied the sand finish coat. This applied from the top of the wall and troweled on in a thin layer all the way down to the bottom of the wall. Here you see I have brought it down about half way down, and then finished it down to the floor.
Photo #7: This photo shows the completed project. After I applied the sand finish, the next step was to get the hot water ready with sponges and begin the sand swirling. This is done by rubbing the sand finish in a figure '8' pattern. A swirl is made, then another is added on to the edge of it. This is repeated, starting from the left top corner and moving down and to the right. From the start to finish it took about 7 hours to complete. It was allowed to dry for about a week and then painted. This plastering really made the room look bigger, and added a nice bright look as well. Another successful plastering project! Oh yeah!