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've painted my house twice now with satin. I am sure it wears better than paint with less sheen that I had on another home. Repels dirt better too, rinses off with hose better, repels water better so should last longer. With white I think the sheen would be less noticeable. I went with a darker color and different (from gray to medium grayish beige) in satin on the second painting and reflecting light makes it look a lighter color, kind of. It's only more noticeable, kind of, where there is no shade from any trees and get full direct sun, it was also the area that started losing the sheen of the first painting. Anyone that has noticed that I used satin really likes it and say they would probably use satin next time they paint. If there are any imperfections from the hail you are probably the only one who will notice it. No one else is going to scrutinize it like you will. Regarding light colors and imperfections. A friend who used to restore old cars said light colors hide imperfections better than dark colors.

I have seen satin finish in a baby's room and it is very disconcerting. It's too shiny and draws attention to itself. Eggshell is the way to go. Nurseries don't get the use that a kitchen would where satin might be more practical because you can wipe off splashes. I would also recommend that you restrict lighting to less than more. When you'll need that light will be to change a diaper at night or feed the baby. You will find a small table light will low wattage will be more useful because you can leave it on while baby sleeps and/or in the middle of the night when baby needs you. There's a lot of cute little lamps especially for the nursery for that reason. Good luck!

I prefer satin for almost every surface because I like the little bit of sheen. It should help distract the eye from the vertical lines if you aren't going to fill them in (a lot of trouble for not much in results, IMO.)