Can I put siding over painted brick? – GreenBuildingAdvisor

Hello all,

Long time lurker first time poster haha.

I have a best practice question.

Context:

Feel free to skip this if you just want the question below.

One of my friends lives in an old house that had brick and plaster wall assemblies. Before they bought it someone did an “upgrade” so now the assembly varies throughout with exposed brick in some place, furred out walls with drywall in others and I think even drywall laminated over plaster on the ground floor. The brick was also completely painted from the outside in a dark color.

The issue he is having is that the paint is failing on the exterior due to trapped moisture and because of this the brick has also become extremely brittle. I can poke holes into the brick with my finger in some places and there’s spaulding all over. This problem has also been exacerbated by poor flashing details at the top of the assembly that have dumped even more water into the brick. 

I am trying to advise him on the best steps from here and have two options. Please correct any wrong assumptions or propose alternate methods if there is something more cost effective.

1. In order to properly correct the issue without compromising the homes appearance I think he needs to scrape or blast the paint of the brick, have a mason tuckpoint and repair all defects and then apply a vapor open water repellent. My biggest concerns with this approach are cost and the condition of the brick. I think if the brick were sandblasted he would likely have to make even more repairs to the point of practically touching the entire wall because so many faces will likely come off in the process. He could attempt to scrape the paint of gently but I think that is going to be cost prohibitive and might not solve the issue.

2. This goes against everything I stand for haha but the alternative would be to cover the brick with siding. I think he is likely going to save more money on this option because there are more qualified contractors in our area that can do this work. I would assume he still needs to get the paint off but could afterwards only repair the structurally unsound areas as opposed to also repairing all the aesthetic defects. My questions around this approach are how would the brick need to be treated before covering it? Can we use a peel and stick WRB that’s vapor open? Can he just leave the raw brick? Would a dimple mat alone suffice under the siding? Please enlighten me as this is the one portion of the assembly I am unsure of. I think allowing it to dry to the outside is important given the various conditions on the interior.

Question:

Can I install siding over painted brick? My assumption is not, so if that’s true how do I need to treat the brick masonry prior to covering it up.

Thanks for all your help!