experience with painted brick exteriors?

[Anonymous]

Regular paint does not work well with brick because it does not let water pass. Bricks soak up rain water and then release it as steam when the bricks get hot in the sun. So, the paint will just pop off if not properly applied. There are paints designed for masonry, but your results will really depend on the condition of your bricks and mortar. If the bricks/mortar are chipping, your paint won't stick. So you may need to repair the mortar (repoint) if the brick is in bad shape, which can be expensive.

FYI - the stain works really well, but is expensive (3 time more in the estimates I received) and a lot of painters have no idea how to do it.