Hep Pam. We have 120 yr old brick showing in our kitchen too . It is a chimney that was covered up until we started demo. It had a LOT of loose stuff coming off of it. My painter said to coat it with water based poly. He did a couple coats and it is great. That is what I would use. We aren't ever going to paint ours but this worked to prevent loose stuff from coming off. Hope this helps. c

I asked my floor guy (because I suggested poly) but he said no. He suggested a marble sealer. The paint store said no to the poly too - I think because of all the different paints. So much confusing info out there. I'm glad the poly worked for you. Do you know what brand?

Pam our walls in the back basement were coated with LastiSeal Concrete & Brick Sealer. It can be repainted later and will protect the brick where you still have some paint. The details on the product are here:

We didn't do this so I can't tell you how it smells etc. It looks pretty much like the rest of the brick (they ad an odor issue in the back room and tried this to help).

A marble sealer isn't a good idea. It penetrates the marble (or brick in this case) and given you have paint, it's not going to penetrate that area so you'll get a spotty application and I'm not thinking you could repaint over that either...but on that I can't be sure. I just know it wouldn't apply cleanly because when I seal our marble it does not stick to any of the painted trim next to the marble (I can wipe it off the next day if I've missed a spot) or the caulk so there's no way it's going to penetrate where you have your paint. When you miss a spot (on paint) it gets gummy....all over a wall? Yuck that could be a mess.

As to the water based poly. I'd try a test spot in a hidden or near the floor area and see if it works. IT's pretty easy to apply and I've found it to be a good solution for protecting walls as well. When it does not work you know right away because it gums up on stuff it does not like. I have used it over paint and dyes and never had a problem, even unstable ones. The trick on unstable paints or dyes is to brush over ONCE and move on!!! Don't keep brushing and it will seal things down where they are. Use a very good brush and take it slowly.

Here is a link that might be useful: LastiSeal

Thanks for the info - I will look into the LastiSeal. I went to another hardware/BM paint store and they suggested Thompson's water sealer. At least now I have a direction to investigate and not just flailing around. Used BM impervo satin paint for the windows and trim yesterday in the kitchen - hated it. It needs 2 coats and I didn't like the sheen. (I have over 80 6 or 6 windows to paint plus all the woodwork and would like something that has a chance to cover in one coat.) Trying Aura semi gloss today.

STOPPPPPPP Pam I had the WORST experience with the Aura paints in my victorian. They work really well over newer paints, but can react to paints beneeth them and the result is a disaster. In my china cabinet it gummed up something horrible...I couldn't even come close to a soft backbrush in paint I'd applied 3 seconds before (literally couldn't go over the stroke). It was horrible and I was finally told by BM that the Aura paint is sensative to some of the chemicals in older paints, and those can leach through unless you use a sealing primer.

And on a personal note...your old home needs shiny trim :oP Flat walls and shiny trim :)

This is good to know about Aura. I've used Aura on the new plaster kitchen walls, pantry and half bath (primed 1st). Absolutely beautiful. It does dry fast and a slow painting friend has some noticeable marks in the pantry (but shelves and food will hide it). Another friend painted our half bath off the kitchen Aura BM 2067-40 Blue Lapis - absolutely gorgeous! This is a dark blue/purple. No tinted primer (white primer) and then covered great in 2 coats. Love, love, love the color.

The kitchen is BM HC-4 Hawthorne Yellow with white dove trim. I bought a gallon of Aura semi gloss this morning (hated the impervo satin paint) but I have enough new trim in the kitchen, mudroom and half bath that it shouldn't be a problem and I can use a lot of the gallon. I may have to go back to the BM regal for the other rooms with old walls and 185 year old painted trim.

I figure any of my rejected white dove trim paint will go in the closets for the walls and interior trim. We have 4 new closets including a walk in.

I testing 4 reds in my dining room and rejected the 2 lavenders in the sitting room. I will use them in another room (loved the color BM 2070-50 Enchanted and 2070-60 Lavender Mist). I have 4 other colors to try in the sitting room (in the copper family to pick out colors in the marble fireplace). The fireplace surround threw the lavender off. I also have to figure out the office (hoping for a green). You can see directly into the kitchen, half bath (just a sliver), dining room, sitting room and office so I want saturated colors that play nice together. Still so much work ahead of me.