1930 house half pebbledash half brick

[Bouba]

Why do i see all these victorian era houses painted in red at the bottom.

Fair enough point that the bricks used were different types or cheap but why used bloody red paint on a brick when it could have been painted the same colour as on the pebbledash/ or left as a natural brick colour.

Am i the only one who has noticed this, or is it a norm around the country.Some people in my area have even painted the above pebbledash in cream and the bricks in black....Inputs please.

see this.
View media item 76669

 

[cajar]

Matter of taste tbh

 

[tony1851]

Exterior brickwork shouldn't be painted anyway.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Matter of taste tbh

For which there is no accounting.

http://www.fauxwoodbeams.com/

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Exterior brickwork shouldn't be painted anyway.

Is that for aesthetic, or practical, reasons?

 

[ree]

Both

 

[ree]

Bouba,

the house you illustrate is not a Victorian house, it may not even be an Edwardian or a pre-1914 house. Similar Semi's with cant double bays were still being built in the 1930's.

The red "paintwork" is detailed to contrast with the white.
The black plinth at the base is a further contrasting detail - although the black could be a bituminous "paint" that was thought to prevent penetrating damp. The plinth was and is an actual cause of the penetrating damp.

Of the above paintwork only the white painted dash or render would have been original.


With regional exceptions, the Victorians rarely painted bare masonry.

 

[Bouba]

Bouba,

the house you illustrate is not a Victorian house, it may not even be an Edwardian or a pre-1914 house. Similar Semi's with cant double bays were still being built in the 1930's.

The red "paintwork" is detailed to contrast with the white.
The black plinth at the base is a further contrasting detail - although the black could be a bituminous "paint" that was thought to prevent penetrating damp. The plinth was and is an actual cause of the penetrating damp.

Of the above paintwork only the white painted dash or render would have been original.

With regional exceptions, the Victorians rarely painted bare masonry.

You are right sir...Got my dates incorrect....Victorian era did indeed end in 1901 and edwardian in 1910

So possibly calling pre 2nd world war era..

 

[ree]

The working class traditionally, from Victorian times, lime washed (white washed) their backyards, and often the bare brick kitchens and outside toilets. This was essentially a health measure with a bit of house proudness.

About, perhaps i'm wrong with the date here, 1950, Red Cardinal was used on the front brickwork of terraced houses, in the north of England especially. Like donkey stoning steps and stone window cills, it was a mark of house proud respectability.

From the 1960's to probably the early 1990's Asian immigrants often painted their terraced houses in startling colors.
The consequences will be with us for some time - ghastly peeling, faded and badly maintained paintwork that instantly turns good housing into perceived slums.

FWIW: dont paint brick or stone, why, because it will come back to bite you for many years. It will bite you in the pocket and at house sale time.

 

[Bouba]

Ree: Near where I live(not where i live) these similar houses carry a premium regardless of the fact they are painted or not..... ..


What do you do if you inherit a house already painted.Would it be wise to bring it back to its formal glory or leave as it is...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Both

Mmm.

With the former you are immediately trying to stand on ground which is insufficiently solid with an insufficient number of legs.

 

[tony1851]

As ree, exterior brickwork should not be painted, for both aesthetic reasons (it generally looks awful and represents a continuing maintenance problem) and practical, in that most paints prevent the brickwork from breathing. This can cause a build-up of moisture, particularly near ground level, which leads to decay.
The exception was of course lime-washing, which was common from the 19th century, until after the War in many poorer areas. Lime-washing served two purposes - it increased light levels where houses were tightly packed - and it also discouraged vermin (particularly bugs) as they were killed off by the lime.

Where I used to live, the corporation used to give private tenants a yearly allowance of the cost of a bucket of limewash. This was for tenants in housing scheduled for future clearance, and was given out well into the 1950s.

 

[ree]

When the house is already painted then you have to get on with the endless cycle of keeping it respectable.

As mentioned above, paint might often be actually damaging the fabric or assisting with the penetration of damp.

But attempts to remove paint from masonry are usually frustrating, expensive, damaging and unsuccessful.

 

[tony1851]

But attempts to remove paint from masonry are usually frustrating, expensive, damaging and unsuccessful.

It can sometimes be done on the hard, smooth red engineering bricks common in the north, but it still sticks in the mortar joints, which then usually have to be raked out and repointed for the brickwork to look at all decent.

Bottom line is not to paint brickwork. Ever.