We have a two story house with a large rear expansion. The main
portion of the house is unpainted brick on 1st floor, white aluminum
siding on 2nd. The large, rear, two-floor expansion was recently
built and is covered with white vinyl siding.

We are looking to change the color of the entire house to a particular
shade of very light, cream yellow (windows and trim would be white).

Painting the brick should obviously be no problem. I believe aluminum
siding can be painted without much trouble. But the vinyl siding
concerns me. I understand that it swells significantly with sunlight
and that it used to be the case that you just couldn't paint it. I
see some reports that there are paints now that are superadhesive and
that as long as a light color is used, you can paint vinyl siding and
even get a warranty on the work.

How good an idea is it to paint go ahead and have the siding painted?
What is the cost of re-siding a house with proper-color vinyl siding
vs. painting? Am I correct that there should be no problem painting
the aluminum siding?

Any other thoughts in general? Thanks.




bp

"Blake Patterson" wrote in message

Painting the brick should obviously be no problem.

One reason people use brick is t he naturla good appearance and no
mainentance for a hundred years. hey don't want to paint stuff. It could
hurt the resale value.


But the vinyl siding
concerns me. I understand that it swells significantly with sunlight
and that it used to be the case that you just couldn't paint it. I
see some reports that there are paints now that are superadhesive and
that as long as a light color is used, you can paint vinyl siding and
even get a warranty on the work.

Talk to you paint dealer. Some paints are formulated for just your use.

Painting brick is usually a big mistake.


"Blake Patterson" wrote in message
om...
We have a two story house with a large rear expansion. The main
portion of the house is unpainted brick on 1st floor, white aluminum
siding on 2nd. The large, rear, two-floor expansion was recently
built and is covered with white vinyl siding.

We are looking to change the color of the entire house to a particular
shade of very light, cream yellow (windows and trim would be white).

Painting the brick should obviously be no problem. I believe aluminum
siding can be painted without much trouble. But the vinyl siding
concerns me. I understand that it swells significantly with sunlight
and that it used to be the case that you just couldn't paint it. I
see some reports that there are paints now that are superadhesive and
that as long as a light color is used, you can paint vinyl siding and
even get a warranty on the work.

How good an idea is it to paint go ahead and have the siding painted?
What is the cost of re-siding a house with proper-color vinyl siding
vs. painting? Am I correct that there should be no problem painting
the aluminum siding?

Any other thoughts in general? Thanks.




bp

Why did you buy a brick house.

Blake Patterson wrote:
We have a two story house with a large rear expansion. The main
portion of the house is unpainted brick on 1st floor, white aluminum
siding on 2nd.

Yeah, that was a particular "look" for a while.

We are looking to change the color of the entire house to a particular
shade of very light, cream yellow (windows and trim would be white).

Painting the brick should obviously be no problem.

Yeah, but why would ya do it? I would reconsider the color -- find
something that makes a more subtle contrast with the brick than white (I
wouldn't choose a 'light cream yellow', for my money -- a nice green
perhaps), and I'm sure you'll be very pleased. Pay attention to
landscaping and the different layer won't be as noticeable.

But yellow painted brick? Yech. Especially when it begins to come off,
you'll really notice that.

"Art" wrote in message thlink.net...
Painting brick is usually a big mistake.



In what way?




bp

(m Ransley) wrote in message ...
Why did you buy a brick house.


It was situated in one of the very nicest neighborhoods in all of
Alexandria, VA and it was one of two to go on sale during our length
search period. I like brick - but as brick goes, this is rather bland
brick. And 13 houses in eyeshot of ours are all, but one, brick
bottomed, white toped like ours. It seems tedious to see so many just
like this in color.



bp

(Blake Patterson) wrote in message om...
"Art" wrote in message thlink.net...
Painting brick is usually a big mistake.



In what way?


Once you paint brick, there's no going back. Sure you can always
sandblast it off, but it will damage the brick in the process.

All painted brick does is slowly flake off and degrade. Then your
house looks run-down and like crap, and you have the pleasure of
knowing that you'll need to re-paint it every X number of years to
keep it looking decent. I always shake my head whenever I see a nice
brick house that had its brick painted, and is now flaking off
un-evenly at random spots and looks like trash.

In terms of resale, I would think that it would scare off certain
potential buyers as well who will be turned off at the prospect of
buying a house that had painted brick (I know that I would probably
never buy a house that had painted brick, unless its price was
discounted to reflected this constant hassle).

In my opinion, if you are planning on staying in that house for a long
time, go ahead and paint the brick if that's what you want and you
truly hate its current color. But if you are thinking about selling
it in the next 5 years or so, I'd leave the brick as is and the next
owners can always paint it if they want to.