Grouting Brick Veneer
This is the 2nd post of a 2 part series! If you want info about installing brick inside your home, you’ll want to check out this post!
One of the perks of having friends that do this stuff is that they were able to come over and help me learn the right way to do it, instead of fumbling my way through for the first little while. It was sort of refreshing!
Once all our brick was installed, it was time to grout.
When you are grouting brick, your best friend is a brick grout bag and a chip brush (you know the kind that you get at Home Depot for $1.50?)
(Another really important tip is to make sure that you are using sanded grout. We’ll get into it more in a second but its kind of a big deal.) The grout that we used was Polyblend Sanded Grout in Antique White. You can find this at Home Depot for around $15 a bag. We used 13 bags for the entire living room.
When you are mixing 13 bags of grout, you will most likely want to invest in a grout mixer. Its basically a giant beater that you attach to the end of a drill. I cant even imagine how much arm muscle it would take to hand mix that much grout.
The key to this entire party is the consistency of the grout. If you mix it too thick you wont be able to squeeze it out of the bag. If you mix it too thin it is a huge waste because you lose most of it out of the bag when you are tightening it.
The right consistency is somewhere between a Frosty and that gross frosting at Costco they put inside their cakes.
Then you just go to town.
I feel like it worked best for me to work in medium sized sections and fill the horizontal spaces first, then go back and fill all of the verticals.
That totally looks like a Frosty right?!
After about 15 minutes check your grout. You’ll know its time to shape it when it barely yields to pressure under your fingertip but is still wet. Depending on the temperature and humidity of your house this can take anywhere from 15-45 minutes. Just keep a close eye on it and you will be golden.
Don’t use your fingertips to smooth it (unless you are wearing gloves!) the combo of the tough texture lime will make your hands hurt for days.
The best tool for the job is an inexpensive chip brush. (As you are using it, the handle will wear down to the perfect shape.)
Ok so your grout is ready, all you do is hold your chip brush at an angle and swipe it over the grout.
This is where your inner artist comes out. You’ll totally develop a technique depending on the look that you are going for. I wanted ours to be messy and full, but still have a slight indent. If you want it to be full and flush with the brick, you’ll hold the brush vertically and swipe it with the side of the handle.
This is what it should look like after the swipe.
See all of the rough edges? THAT is why you want to use sanded grout. Flip your brush over and brush all along the grout. Because of the sand, it will crumble away, unsanded grout will just smear.
If you are doing this and you can see lines in your grout from the brush it is still too wet and you need to let it dry a little bit more.
There is a pretty good sized window of time between when you are actually applying the grout and when it is ready to shape. If you work consistently you can work in a circle of applying the grout and shaping.
It took me about 6 hours to get 1/2 of the large wall done by myself.
Once Court was home, he grouted and I shaped and it took the rest of the day to finish all but 1 section close to the ceiling. (You can see it in this picture)
Once you have everything grouted step back about 4 feet from the wall and look to see where you eye spots a problem. If you are looking at it up close under a microscope you will see a million things. But if you step back, you’ll see the things that really need to be addressed.
Mark those spots with painters tape so that you can fix them all at the same time.
Most of the spots that were marked in the above picture needed more grout along the edge of the brick. If you happen to have a spot that needs less grout, using a wire brush attachment on a dremel or polisher is a fast and easy way to fix it.
The original plan was to whitewash it (that’s why the brick is so many different colors, I used an assortment of leftovers that Quickstone had on hand to keep the price down) but I’m torn now because I LOVE the natural color. But it is seriously dark. I need to see how it looks with the couch (yes, I made a decision! stay tuned!) and what happens when the room starts coming together.
So what are your thoughts? Light or Dark?
