White Wash for Brick Buildings

[mrazz]

Can anyone tell me a good recipe for mixing a decent white wash color to use as brick mortar? I'm new to weathering, looking for some basic advice.

Thanks, Mark

[MisterBeasley]

Well, I don't do white wash, but I have a technique I like:

First, paint the brick color.  I use a variety of colors to avoid uniformity, but one of my favorites is cheap rust-colored primer in a spray can from the hardware store.  (As a side note, I also spray the insides of my buildings flat black, to reduce glow-through from interior lighting.  I do that first, before the outside, because there will be some excess spray around the windows.)  I do all of this before I put the building together, by the way.

Next, lay the wall down flat, and rub dry Hydrocal powder into the mortar lines.  It doesn't take much.  Hydrocal is a casting plaster.  I suppose other plasters might work, too, but I have Hydrocal around and it works for me.  Once you've got all the walls done, take a spray bottle and hold it about a foot or two above the wall pieces.  Spray horizontally, not directly at the walls, and let the spray rain down on the walls.  Get them pretty wet.

Wait a couple of hours, maybe more if it's very humid out.  Expect to be horrified at this point.  It's way too white, and it's all over the place, not just in the mortar grooves.  Take a dry paper towel and rub the excess Hydrocal off.  If it's tough, you can use a little water on the towel.  If you find you missed some big spots, you can repeat the mortaring treatment.  The Hydrocal that's already there will not re-soften.

But, it's still too white.  Get about a quarter-cup of water and add a few drops of black India Ink.  Use this stuff (it's called a wash) to paint over the Hydrocal.  The plaster will absorb most of the wash and will turn gray.  At this point, I usually tilt the walls so that the excess runs to what will be the bottom edge.  Give this a few hours to dry and the job is done.

[0atman]

 Sounds very interesting, thanks for the tip, I will have to give it a try. 

 

Jim

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I use gray chalk in the mortar lines and fix it in place with a spraying of Matte-Finish.

[mikelhh]

 I use chalk in the mortar lines too and spray with artists fixative.

 For whitewashing an entire wall I'd suggest artists gesso. Depending on the brand it'll probably need thinning with some water so that it doesn't clog the details.  Mix in any acrylic colours such as grey, black or brown to kill the white a bit, and brush it on.

 

 Mike 

[NSlover92]

Well, I paint my walls with what ever paint of your desire, let them dry good then i take Polly Scale Concrete and brush it over the whole wall, let it dry halfway, then I take a large medium soft eraser, and rub off the extra, works great I think. Mike

[snowey]

what I do is: paint the wall the brick color (dirt, sand, or aged concrete for tan, beige, or cream-colored brick, boxcar red, oxide red, or rail brown for red or brown brick) mix together paint in whatevercolor you want the mortar, with water if the paint's acrylic, if it's solvent-based, mix with the appropriate thinner), brush it on the surface, wipe it off and let it dry.

But, there's a LOT of other ways; that's just one method.

[rolleiman]

http://www.rolleiman.com/trains/clinic1.html

 

Have fun with it.. Worse that can happen is you have to repaint..