How to make plaster of brick walls with your own hands

How to arrange decorative masonry in the interior

It happens that due to the lack of walls suitable for such a decor in the room, brickwork has to be imitated with various materials. For this purpose, wallpaper, special tiles, artificial stone, plastic panels and airbrush coatings are used.

Wallpaper with a pattern

Wallpaper imitating the texture of brickwork can be made "for painting" or have a full-fledged printer print

Of course, this option for decorating a room is unlikely to have the effect that can be expected from natural brickwork, but it will certainly attract attention and become an interior accent. Competently selecting other details for it, you can create a single style of the space of the room.

Brick tile

To install it, you need a special glue, sold as a dry mix. After adding water to it, a ready-made solution is obtained, which is applied to the back of the tile and the wall with a notched trowel in an even layer. Seams between tiles should be no more than 12 mm wide. They are filled with special colored grout or ordinary mortar for joining. The edges of the cladding are decorated with decorative corners.

Fake diamond

It goes well with wood and plastic, has low thermal conductivity, high strength and durability. The decorative stone is non-toxic and resistant to temperature fluctuations. You can buy it or mold it yourself in the form of tiles from a putty mixture or gypsum, and then glue it on the wall.

Plastic panels

Installation of plastic panels does not require careful preparation of walls, special equipment and special professional skills. The products are easily installed using special glue or fastening clamps.

Airbrushing

This effect can be obtained using airbrushing. In this way, any drawing is created, starting with the image of a brick wall entwined with grapes, and ending with a picture of the entire facade with a balcony, doors and windows.

The drawings look quite realistic and can be applied to walls made of various materials. To obtain additional effects, fluorescent and luminescent paints are often used, which provide a play of the image depending on the lighting and time of day. For example, a good solution would be to add night reflections of lanterns or glowing windows to the brickwork pattern.

Brick tile

Clay of a special grade - shale - is used as the main material in the production. When looking at such a decorative facing brick, no one will believe that it is of unnatural origin, which is why the material is sometimes called artificial stone. This material has only 2 drawbacks: significant cost and high weight.

On the right side of the picture is the installation of tiles. It's not difficult but painstaking.

This is a modern analogue of brick, which allows you to design a wall like a brick. She is very similar in properties and shape. Sophisticated design and other production technology made this material a leader in sales.

Advantages:

• frost-resistant;
• has a reasonable price;
• does not fade under the influence of ultraviolet rays;
• does not need care;
• moisture absorption rate does not exceed 2%;
• perfectly tolerates the effects of microorganisms.

Clinker tiles for facade decoration

It is used to provide good sound insulation and reduce maintenance time. It is an excellent material for wall insulation that does not allow dirt, moisture and wind to pass through.

The tile is very easy to clean and is not afraid of detergent chemicals.Using clinker tiles when designing a house, you can build a Gothic mansion, a tower or a medieval castle. Your possibilities are not limited due to the variety of colors and textures.

Finishing of decorative cladding

When the artificial material is strong on the wall surface, the outer sides can be decorated. For this, a sponge or sandpaper is used, and the upper part of the artificial image is slightly smoothed. This procedure can be skipped if desired. Finishing an artificial wall consists in removing unnecessary parts, the remainder of the plaster, which spoils the overall picture.

The work carried out depends on the materials used. If the wall made of artificial material turned out to be white and without color, then it is necessary to paint it. They always try to recreate the real stone material, although it can be painted in any color, which will complement the interior design.

Dye application

To create an unusual effect, backlighting is not needed, while painting an artificial wall, you need to apply a dye to the material, after a couple of minutes use a different color. Some faux stones can be individually painted to make the stacking stand out and make the home feel cozy and comfortable, adding style.

Based on the style in the house, namely the lighting, the color scheme of the floor, ceiling and other parts, the impression of a wall made of artificial masonry will not be separate, but cumulative. If the furniture, a niche in the wall, wallpaper, or the backsplash of the slab does not match the color or material, then the artificial masonry will not complement the design of the house. It is recommended to use artificial masonry in the Gothic or loft style, this will be the best option. Some, after the artificial masonry of the wall, can paint a picture on the surface or make a bas-relief to give effect.

Features of plastering external walls

The difference between performing outdoor work is the same in that:

• the entire surface must be reinforced with a metal mesh;
• when plastering external facades, it is recommended to use a cement-sand mixture;
• corners of the building, slopes are fixed with special perforated plastic corners (their kind of reinforcement is performed);
• total permissible thickness of the applied plaster layer ≤ 15 mm;
• before covering, the previous layer is primed twice.

For the rest of the positions, the technology for carrying out work from the outside and from the inside is the same.

The better to plaster external facades

Exterior finishing is performed only with DSP or cement-lime mixtures. In places of efflorescence, sanitizing mixtures are used. Fine finishing can involve the use of decorative plaster, both universal and purely facade. Plinths are only plastered with DSP.

What is required to create a simulation

Among the materials that will need to be purchased to successfully complete the decoration, there are:

• primer;
• masking tape;
• paint;
• plaster;
• putty;
• varnish.

In addition to materials, you need to buy a tool. Among the devices that will definitely be required during the repair, there are:

• putty knife;
• paint roller;
• tape measure and pencil;
• a bucket for mixing the solution;
• container for paint;
• stationery knife.

What materials and tools will be needed depends on the method of imitation of brick decor. If additional devices are required during the repair, they can always be purchased. It is recommended that you provide yourself with the essentials first.

Template for imitation of brickwork

Anything can serve as a template for imitating brickwork. But, in general, these items can be divided into two classes:

• In the first case, masking tape is widely used. It is advisable to purchase a skein of a width that matches the seam dimensions of a typical brickwork.The veneering mortar is applied over the tape, and then the template is withdrawn before it has solidified. It turns out an imitation of a brick wall.
• The second type of template is solid material molds. Most often it is wood or plastic. The mortar is applied between the guides of the template.

Pattern for wall decor

In practice, there are also hybrid variations using one and the other type of template. In this case, the outer frame is made of wood. Imitation of brickwork dressing is performed with masking tape stretched inside. Obviously, such a template cannot be too large. Otherwise, it will not only be difficult for builders to move it from place to place, but also great difficulties arise when passing through the cut sections of the wall. Builders get out of the situation as follows:

1. The horizontal strips of the frame are made of thin wooden slats according to the dimensions of the brick seam. At the end of the verticals, slots are made according to the shape of the ligation of the masonry and the height of the bricks.

2. The height and width of the frame are multiples of the corresponding sides of the bricks. The teeth of the vertical rails are cut through one row to simulate a dressing. Before making an imitation of a brick wall, you will have to move the template many times, and this measure allows you to accurately perform the joints.

3. The masking tape is designed to fit snugly against the wall. To do this, it is attached to the protruding teeth of the vertical guides. For this reason, the slots have a shorter length. This is due to the fact that the protrusions include themselves and the seams, that is, each of them is equal to the height of the brick plus two widths of the seam. The vertical sections of the masking tape mimic dressing. It can also be visually butted edges.

The builder walk with such a frame and, one by one, row by row, they process the entire surface of the wall until an imitation of a brick wall made of plaster is obtained. The advantage of this solution is that it is allowed to work, including with fast-setting solutions, like gypsum plaster. During the time that the builder covers a quarter of a square meter of the wall with the mixture, it will not have time to dry. Due to this, the master has great flexibility in the choice of material. At the same time, one serious drawback is noticeable. The fact is that when applying the solution on top of the masking tape, you have to literally rip out the frame from under the plaster. This is fraught with damage. Someone may find that the wavy sections of the edges imitate clinker well, other craftsmen will not like this effect.

Imitation masonry wall

This is why it is advisable to assemble the entire template from thin strips. Its shape will exactly repeat the already considered construction with one exception. The masking tape will also be replaced with wooden strips. In this case, the slightest gaps between the planks can cause some defects in the masonry.

But, as we will see later, this is not so important. The main thing is to firmly fix the planks relative to each other so that the template does not walk

Finally, when working only with masking tape, without wood planks, the template is created directly on the wall. To do this, an arbitrary section is painted with the desired pattern. And immediately we see the first plus of this decision. The dressing does not have to be regular. We can create both bonded and longitudinal masonry patterns. Moreover, it becomes possible to simulate rough stones with sufficient accuracy. Previous, pre-created templates did not allow you to do anything like this. Imitation brick is more natural.

Ready template for the wall

At the same time, masking tape has a couple of significant drawbacks. If the object is large, then it will take a long time to paste the wall, and a large amount of scotch tape will be spent. This is completely unacceptable in a professional planned development. But for some amateurs, apartment owners, this particular technique may seem simpler.Because it requires a minimum of preparatory work, the process of applying the mixture itself is not very complicated. The second disadvantage is that the solution should not harden too quickly. Otherwise, it will be simply impossible to tear out the masking tape from under it without damaging the brickwork pattern.

Making a mold for casting brick tiles from gypsum

Another imitation of brick for interior decoration in an apartment or house can be cast: you can make gypsum tiles yourself in the form of bricks. To do this, an impression is removed from interesting specimens of bricks (a mold is made to form an artificial finishing stone), then plaster mortar is poured into it. The resulting tile is used for wall decoration. This technology is good in that it allows you to prepare several shapes in which you can make bricks of different colors for different rooms.

We find bricks that are interesting in shape and a few that are almost ordinary, but with various minor defects. We will use them for casting the mold. It is desirable that there are at least a dozen of them, and better - more. More varied will be "artificial brickwork".

The result can be very similar to real masonry

On the side to be "multiplied", we apply grease or heated wax mixed with kerosene. This is necessary to prevent the silicone from sticking to the surface. When everything is dry, apply a layer of silicone sealant to the treated side. The layer thickness is 1-1.5 cm. We leave until the silicone is completely polymerized (the time depends on the type, it is written on the package).

You can also make the following forms: imitation of bricks with marine motives

When the silicone has hardened, we take the polyurethane foam and coat the mold without removing it from the brick. After the foam hardens, remove the brick, level the bottom of the mold so that it stands level. Can be used by filling with plaster mortar. It quickly sets, if you have a dozen forms in 2-3 days, you can make a tile for a couple of squares imitating a brick wall. By the way, gypsum solution can be painted in bulk. Then new cracks and chips do not matter - like a brick.

How to prepare the surface

After the tools and materials are prepared in the required quantity, they proceed to the next stage - the preparation of the working surface. It is worth treating it with the utmost seriousness, because the durability of the repair will depend on the result.

The algorithm of actions is as follows:

• remove the old coating if necessary;
• we align the walls and eliminate the defects existing on them;
• we process the surface with a primer.

Removing the old coating

When removing the old covering from the walls, people act in two ways:

• remove all old coating;
• remove only those areas that do not adhere well to the wall.

The second option is quite common, as it allows you to cope with repairs faster, with less effort. The plaster on such a wall holds well, but there are also unfortunate cases when the repair will soon have to be redone again.

If you do not want to take risks, use the first option. Yes, it is more laborious, but at the end you will get a high-quality plastered wall that will not fall apart in a couple of months.

Leveling and sealing of defects

It is not enough to simply remove the old wall covering and apply plaster to it. Walls must be carefully examined for defects that could affect the integrity of the plaster layer. These include:

• damage to masonry seams;
• chips;
• cracks.

A solution for their elimination can be made independently or you can buy a ready-made mixture, which can be found in any hardware store. A solution made with your own hands will cost less than a purchased one. In addition, in terms of quality, it is in no way inferior to the store counterpart. Which option to choose is up to you.

Padding

Priming the working surface allows:

• to strengthen the edges of microcracks in the wall, thereby preventing their further destruction;
• increase the adhesion strength of the plaster to the wall, which will have a positive effect on the final result.

As a primer, use "cement milk" or store mixes. There is no difference between them in terms of quality, and cement milk will cost several times cheaper. It is prepared by mixing water and cement in a 1 to 1 ratio.

Beautiful examples in the interior

• Imitation brickwork looks great in any living space. If you need to delimit zones, for example, to separate the dining room from the resting space, then a wall with imitation of brickwork will perfectly cope with this task.
• To depict the texture of a brick, you can use different materials - a natural sponge, a metal washcloth for washing dishes, a shoe brush and much more. When a natural sponge is printed on wet plaster, a very beautiful, natural texture pattern is obtained.
• To make the finish look natural, the imitation is painted brick brown, and the seams can be made lighter or darker. The brick finish looks harmoniously in the interiors of the modern urban loft style. It is almost impossible to distinguish a high-quality imitation from a real brick wall!

• Walls finished with brick-like plaster can be whitewashed - light and air will immediately be added to the room. This design goes well with modern furniture, with metal details, and the addition of bright textile elements (pillows, bedspreads, curtains) to the interior will make the room boring.
• Plaster has always been popular as a finishing material, but today it is especially widely used in residential interiors of both apartments and private houses.
• With a chisel, a spatula and even an ordinary tablespoon, you can shape the bricks. There is no need to try to do it perfectly evenly, let there be roughnesses and inaccuracies. And the bricks themselves do not have to be the same; imagination and a sense of style will help here.

• Brick-like finishes work well with other types, such as a simple painted wall or a variety of paneling.
• It is not easy to make a loggia or balcony beautiful, as this place often turns into a warehouse of unnecessary things. The effective design of the wall will not allow you to clutter up the loggia with unnecessary items. The main thing is to use a plaster suitable for external decoration, that is, resistant to cold and moisture.
• Working with a large space at once is quite difficult. It is not necessary to draw the entire wall at once - you can apply the relief gradually, moving from the upper left corner.

A master class on applying plaster to simulate brickwork, see below.

Finishing plaster

The final finishing is started only after the plaster has completely dried, otherwise its layer may be damaged. With the help of sandpaper with different grain sizes, they remove sagging, drips, frozen splashes and other defects that violate the beauty of the picture. Then dust off the coating with a soft brush or cloth.

As the processing is completed, they begin to prime the plaster. The primer is applied with a strong brush, since untreated areas will remain from the roller. First, the coating is primed with a large brush, then with a narrow one to process the seams. After the primer has dried, they start painting the masonry, which is also done with two brushes. Staining can be monochromatic, or with a contrasting color highlighting the seams. The top layer is usually a varnish coating, without which the paint will quickly fade and darken. After applying the moisture-resistant varnish, the imitation masonry can be washed without restrictions.

Priming decorative plaster

Painting plaster under a brick - what to use

The shade for the brick surface is selected taking into account the general style of the room, the colors and combinations used.For example, in Provence, they practice painting walls in white tones, as well as in other light, pastel shades. Brickwork can be as close to natural as possible: then it is painted with a red-brick, terracotta color. Also gray, orange, brown, chocolate tones are well suited for coloring. Latex and acrylic water-based paints are used for work, and alkyd enamels for outdoor work. Matte acrylic varnish should be used as a topcoat.

How to paint brickwork on a wall

If "wet" or "dusty" work is not your strong point, but you can draw at least a little, you can draw a brick wall. You will need acrylic paints, brushes, a pair of natural sponges, masking tape, thick paper plates for mixing paints. When diluting paints, remember that acrylic paints darken as they dry. And one more thing: they dry quickly, but freshly applied ones can be removed with a clean cloth soaked in water.

The whole process in step by step photos

First, we prepare the workplace: cover the plinth and the adjacent floor with polyethylene or old wallpaper (it is better to fix it on tape). We outline the borders with masking tape - at the top, on the sides. At the bottom, the limiter is a plinth, although in order not to get dirty, it can be removed.

How to draw bricks on the wall

Further step-by-step actions:

1. We paint the wall with white semi-matt acrylic paint. We leave to dry.

2. Preparing the background paint. In one of the paper plates, mix 1/6 of the umber, 1/6 of the black paint and 4/6 of the titanium white. We immediately prepare a little paint, apply it to the wall with a sponge, simply by applying the surface soaked in paint to the wall. You should not try to make a solid background - it should be torn, textured. In some places we put the paint denser, passing twice, somewhere with a more transparent layer.

3. On a dry background, by hand, not using a ruler, draw several rows of bricks. We focus on the standard for masonry: 25 * 6.5 cm, the thickness of the seam is 0.8-1.2 cm.When marking, keep in mind that using this technology it is easier to make the seam a little narrower by painting it than to try to expand it later.
4. To paint over "bricks" it is necessary to mix ocher and sienna in different proportions, getting different shades of "brick" colors - from yellowish-orange to brownish. We got some shade, painted several "bricks" in arbitrary places. We mixed a new batch, painted over other bricks. We apply the paint with a brush, without trying to get a uniform surface or a dense layer of paint - the background layer is translucent. The edges of the "bricks" should also not be straight.

5. For the traditional red-brown color, to sienna and red ocher, add a little light ocher, a little white. This color can be used to paint over several bricks in a row.

6. Another shade - add brown mars and some water to the above composition. Apply with a brush or sponge as desired.
7. If we add white and burnt sienna to ocher and sienna, we get another color.
8. In any order, paint over all the bricks with these shades.
9. We dilute white and a little ocher, add water. We apply the composition with a sponge, acting like a tampon.

10. Take an old toothbrush and burnt bone paint. We dip the bristles in the paint and spray on the wall, imitating the heterogeneity and texture of the clay brick.

11. We add volume to the bricks: dip a thin brush into a mixture of umber and white. We bring all the bricks from below and to the right or to the left. Everything on one side, depending on where the window is located (on the opposite side from the window). The thickness of the liner is different, since the masonry and the bricks themselves cannot be perfect.

It takes much longer to describe than to do it all. A beginner can draw about 30 squares of imitation brickwork in a day. For maximum likelihood, there are several secrets, which we will discuss below.

Final touches

To make the brickwork painted on the wall as similar as possible to natural, there are several small secrets:

• If the shadows near the bricks are too harsh, they can be shaded with a toothbrush (another) dipped in a mixture of white and natural sienna, strongly diluted with water.

• After applying paint to the brick, do not wait until it dries. Take whitewash, add a little bit of umber, dip a sponge and "break" the uniformity of the paint with it, imitating a rough surface. To do this, slightly touch the "brick" with a sponge.

• Squeeze out a few other colors on a plate next to the main batch. We change the color in the course of painting. The brick will not be monochromatic. It has a smooth and not very color gradient.

• The dimensions of bricks, their edges, seams - all this does not have to be perfect.

With some skill and diligence, it is possible to achieve that the painted brickwork looks like natural. The main rule is imperfection and heterogeneity.

How to paint brick plaster?

Do-it-yourself imitation of a brick wall can be painted with white or colored acrylic emulsion. This method is suitable for creating masonry in a country style room or loft. Having covered the wall with paint in 2 layers, you can consider the finish finished or add another layer of matte varnish.

If you want to imitate unpainted brick masonry, you will have to work harder:

1. Color the acrylic emulsion in terracotta color by mixing red, orange and brown dyes. Pour some of it into a separate container and add another color to your taste. Be sure to introduce very little black dye. Stir the prepared paint slightly to get stains of different shades.
2. Paint each brick individually with a brush, starting from its center. Paint streaks will give natural shades and burn marks. You need to use an emulsion from different containers, alternating in random order.
3. Thoroughly paint over the seams with white paint, then lightly treat the surfaces of the bricks with a semi-dry brush, imitating a coating of lime deposits. Shade with a damp sponge.
4. Prepare a liquid solution of a finishing putty and tint it gray. Using a brush, apply the mixture into the grooves of the seams without smearing it. In this case, you can create irregularities arbitrarily, giving the seams a natural look.
5. In conclusion, each brick should be individually varnished, slightly tinted with black color. This will give the elements a noble patina and accentuate the texture. The composition is applied with a brush, and then shaded with a sponge. After drying, the wall must be covered with a layer of clear, colorless varnish to protect it from moisture.

It takes a long time to create. But the result of the work turns out to be excellent. When doing masonry, you should not finish the corners and surfaces too well - a real brick is rarely perfectly flat. A real master can make with his own hands the cracks and potholes that are missing, in his opinion, to imitate old masonry.

Natural brick masonry and materials imitating it, features of use in premises for various purposes.

How to make gypsum brickwork?

Before you start decorating the wall, you will have to align it. Any potholes and cracks found should be covered with a thick plaster mortar and dried within 24-48 hours. After that, apply a leveling layer of starter filler approx. 5 mm thick and dry the wall.

Before imitating a plaster brick wall, you need to mark the location of the stones. It is better to take the approximate dimensions of the sides of a real brick (25x6.5 cm) as a basis. Considering that there were and there are many varieties of facing materials, the sizes may be slightly different.

Wall markings

For marking for plaster bricks, you need to break the entire surface to be finished into rectangles 26-26.5 cm long and 7.5-8 cm wide.To mark the first lines, you need to use a plumb line and a level so that the brick wall turns out to be even. In the future, it will be possible to navigate along the ready-made straight lines, occasionally checking their correct location.

After the markings have been applied, all horizontal lines should be glued with a narrow masking tape, leaving extra ends of the tape about 7 cm long at the edges.Place the tape so that the line on the wall runs approximately in the center of the tape.

Glue the verticals through 1 in the initial row. Focusing on the location of these segments, then you need to stick the next row of adhesive tape strips in a checkerboard pattern in relation to them. This will create a characteristic brickwork pattern with bandaging of the seams.

Having looked closely at the different types of masonry on buildings, the master can make another drawing. Often the rows of the long sides of the brick are interspersed with the stacking of the end surfaces. The stones in the masonry can be displaced not by ½ the length, but by a third or a quarter. This makes it possible to perform an imitation with plaster in the way that will be more beautiful for a particular room, but it will require more complex marking.

Putty application and masonry finishing

Knead the mortar from the starting filler. Its consistency should be such that the gypsum does not slide off the spatula. The approximate ratio of water to dry mix can be 1: 3. Experienced craftsmen recommend adding another 100 g of PVA glue for every 3 kg of dry putty. This increases the plasticity of the mortar and serves to prevent cracking of the gypsum.

If do-it-yourself brick plaster means clinker, silicate or facing brick with a smooth surface, then it is better to take the finishing grades of putty mixtures. They have a finer filler fraction, so the surface will turn out to be more accurate, without noticeable potholes.

In any case, the solution must be prepared in small portions so that it does not have time to solidify. It should be applied to the wall in squares of 0.5-1 sq.m., and this can be done in different ways:

1. With a wide spatula, scatter the mortar and stretch it directly over the tape-taped marking. The layer should be made about 3-5 mm thick, without trying to level the surface. This method is suitable for simulating a regular red brick.
2. Clinker or sand-lime bricks are smoother. For a high-quality imitation, it is better to make a more liquid solution and apply it, carefully leveling the surface.
3. Antique brick with chipped edges and defects on the surface will have to be imitated by the piece. To do this, apply a very thick solution in the middle of the marked rectangle, stretch to the edges, slightly covering the tape. In the process of work, you need to arbitrarily form the plane of each element of the masonry. Instead of tape, you can use plastic templates, where squares and rectangles with rounded and torn corners are cut in advance.

Next, you need to pull the left ends of the tape without waiting for the putty to set. In this case, the soft mass of gypsum remains only where there were non-glued surfaces. Depressions will be obtained between the rectangles, resembling a masonry seam.

Decorative plaster and brickwork should dry within 1-2 hours. Then you can continue to work. To chamfer and give the bricks a neat look, the corner of the trowel should be placed in the seam and with strong pressure drawn along it, cutting off part of the gypsum. If necessary, you can additionally process the edges with an emery cloth. To make the brick smooth (clinker or facing), the master can use the ironing technique: carry out along the brick plane with a spatula, removing irregularities and polishing the surface.