I apologize for the length of this post....but, for the benefit of anyone still reading this above discussion about permeability of various brick coatings, I would like to add my experience dealing with leaking substrate to help others, I would hope, and conclude with products I've found to work somewhat. And I realize this isn't my original post, but I end my statement with a question for those with opinions on how we all go about letting brick breathe that is also letting water in! In my opinion, the two gentlemen discussing waterproofing brick vs. letting it breathe are both correct. So, it just depends, and it's almost a catch -22. I'm remodeling a large, modern home. My brick and mortar are very porous. I know Rilem Tube testing can be inconsistent and tricky, but the water placed in the tube soaks right into my brick and mortar very quickly. We did the Rilem Tube test on each - - mortar and brick. I've had large commercial waterproofers look at my situation, as well as a smaller waterproofing company with many years of experience in residential. I've had roofers and brick masons investigate. We have an area gutted in the garage where we can see the back side of the brick. The plywood sheeting was rotten on the studs when we gutted this area. Keep in mind this is a modern home designed and owned by an architect. He decided it would be a good idea to have a brick upper porch by his front door. This upper porch also extends around the side of this house OVER the first bay of the garage - -which is where we have gutted from the interior. Wow..bad idea on the architect's part. By the way, we're "peeling layers" in various areas of the house to fix many things including this porous mortar/brick. There is no Tyvek on the house (about a 25 year old home). Just felt paper sheeting over the plywood. Water testing with power washers and water hose have been done on the roof, at windows, etc. We've gutted other interior areas of the home and haven't discovered any damage to the interior walls. We've never had water coming into the house - -even at the basement level. However, in another area of the garage (not under a sidewalk!), I have seen water on the floor after days of hard rain. The brick/mortar is simply leaking when there is a wind driven rain or if it pours rain for consecutive days. I've done extensive research on permeability (WVT etc). I've always believed we should let brick breathe. I've heard so many nightmare stories where brick wasn't prepped or painted correctly, or perhaps a leak was coming from the roof or a window and getting behind painted brick. I've also researched Romabio mineral paint and love the product; however, I have to stop this water penetration. So, I've proceeded with products from Foxfire Enterprises Inc. (based in San Antonio). They have brick/concrete cleaning, as well as waterproofing products. The cleaners are amazing by the way. Their products are environmentally friendly and apparently you can even drink the cleaning products (wouldn't try that, but the company owner has!). This company was hired to waterproof the Playboy Mansion and went up against other waterproofing products in a test before they were the ones selected to do such a huge and historically significant job. Furthermore, every Walt Disney World building is now "spec'd" with Foxfire. Meaning their builders are required to apply Foxfire products to their buildings. The product I've used penetrates the mortar up to inches and hardens like glass. We've had to come back with two coats on that area below the sidewalk (which is above the garage door). So far it is stopping most of the rain penetration but not all. The penetrating sealer needs a certain amount of mortar in the vertical joints between bricks to really take hold. Some of mine don't have that. Furthermore, the brick itself is porous and this product doesn't leave a coating on the brick. Some of it penetrates, but not much. So, apparently I've sealed up the mortar but not the brick, at this point. We are probably going to apply a third coat of the penetrating sealer around this problem area and see if third time's the charm. We've looked for cracks, but maybe we're missing something. The penetrating sealer does span small hairline cracks, but again, we may be missing something. I'm also going to do a test in a more simple (just vertical brick) area on the other side of the garage to see if I can get water to penetrate and show up on the floor. So what about the actual surface of the brick? If you use a Foxfire penetrating sealer, you need to top coat it with their "surface sealer" (which needs to be reapplied probably every 5 years). Then you've actually waterproofed the brick, in addition to the mortar (which really needed that first step of applying the penetrating sealer). Instead of doing step 2 and applying the "surface sealer", the other option is to prime/paint it after you've done the penetrating sealer. This is where I'm at. I know the penetrating sealer isn't stopping every drop of water. I'm going to call the company and see how permeable the surface sealer is. I know the perms of the various primers/paints. And you're right, they aren't very "breathable", but I'm not sure I have a choice. I bet if I use Loxon primer or Loxon Block Surfacer primer and then Sherwin Williams Duration exterior latex, I'd stop the water penetration. I also know my brick/mortar won't breathe very well if I do that. If water somehow gets behind the brick in the future (roof leak; window leak etc), I'm in trouble. I also don't know if Romabio would work over the Foxfire penetrating sealer. Apparently the Foxfire penetrating sealer doesn't leave a coating on the surface, but Romabio also needs to penetrate into the mortar from what I've read. I would like to see these two Texas companies work together and test their products' compatibility. I'm not planning on using any metallic wallpaper, but I was going to use some wallpaper in bathrooms, for example. Now I'm reconsidering that because I'm not sure if any wallpaper breathes (metallic or not). We are tuck pointing a few areas. And yes, we are also using NP1 caulk in a few areas. This caulk is pretty darned solid. I'm confident it will last a long time, but by using it, you're creating future maintenance. If this caulk fails, I know...water will go in and now the brick is sealed up and not breathing that well! So, let me pose this question....what if you water proof your brick as David Jensen suggests above, but you place a large number of weep holes around the perimeter of your house and above the window lintels to at least allow for some "breathability"? Anyone want to chime in on that method? It's been a long process off and on for two years for me to come to this conclusion. If anyone has experience who can help others, I'd love to hear. Thanks.

I actually don't mind painting brick, though I strongly prefer staining brick but so long as you use the correct product I actually like the look of painted brick. You must use a vapor permeable paint, and painting increases the maintenance required for brick considerably, but if the look is completely outdated or inappropriate to begin with then sometimes painting brick can really update the look. Having said that I live in the land of red brick houses and they bricked everything even craftsman influenced houses where brick is not appropriate at all. However, I think painting the brick is the least of your problems. If I owned your home I would start by planting a nice tall cypress (or anything tall and thin) along the left edge that distract from that wide brick border on that side. I would then cover up the lower brick border with some sort of hedge or bushes that break up that line between the brick and the siding. If I had the budget for it, I would remove the vinyl siding and either go with a darker grey (or a blending color) wide board hardie type siding or staining the brick into something softer. Before you take my advice, this isn't something that I excel at personally so other posters might be giving you better advice than I am. The other and probably best option is to remove some of the brick, add brick in other areas and then paint or stain the whole thing to update the look, however, that is a significant expense to accomplish what a great landscaper can do for 1/5th of the price.

Love the house. A definite yes to the squared up columns. There is so much garage door expanse (three car garage--fantastic!!) that I would maybe consider painting them or changing out to blend more with house. Landscaping refresh. Front door really does look fine, but if it's not in great condition and you're looking for a change, I would switch to one center door with sidelites. Congrats on your new home!

I like brick and seldom suggest staining or painting it, but if you want a really different look you could change the small amount of brick that you have. The negative is that unpainted brick requires no maintenance and so you might have to touch up the paint in a few years, but the amount is so small that it's not a big deal for you. Because it's protected by the overhang it's unlikely to get much wear from the weather. Be sure to get paint or stain made for that purpose. Romabio is often recommended by people on this site. I have never used it. I assume the roof will not be replaced, so choose a colour that looks good with both the roof and the siding.