White washing, Slurry Coating, and full on painting brick has becoming more and more popular in the past couple of years. Full on painting brick is more self explanatory, unlike the process of white washing or slurry coating.

There are several different ways to attempt white washing or slurry coating a brick. The two are very different processes used in very different situations. If it is existing brick you are most likely looking at white washing. If it is a new project or a new home you have an additional option, rather than white washing and that is to slurry coat. This is where they use a watered down mixture of the brick mortar to give it that white wash look, which takes place during the application process. With white washing there are a few known ways to go about it.

One, is to use a latex stain, which you would want to paint on and then wipe off. However, with this process there is no real guarantee how your brick will absorb the stain and how it will turn out looking.

The second option is to try a “pickling” mixture you can try, which I’ve used a lot in the past. To make 1 gallon, combine 2 quarts of satin white enamel oil-based paint, 2 quarts of gum turpentine, and 1/16 of an ounce of yellow oxide pigment. Shake well, then paint it on your brick, let it soak for several minutes, and wipe it off.

The third option is the easiest way and it’s fairly sure-fire and that is 1/2 and 1/2 water and paint mixture.

The photos below show the stages of this third option. They used Sherwin Williams Natural Choice White Paint and mixed it 1/2 and 1/2 with water.

Now, on to slurry coating.

A watered down mixture of this Ash grove Pro Mix Masonry Cement Type S Trinity White, Antique White, or Natural Gray Mortar with get you this slurried look like on this 2014 Parade Home pictured below.