A newbie with an 18th c Georgian in the U.S.

[messengerjs]

Hi there,

I'm a newbie about to close on a Georgian brick house built around 1795. It's located in the U.S. in the state of Maryland. My first of what will likely be many questions is about painted brick in that era. The exterior of the house is Flemish bond and about 100 years ago someone painted the brick. I'm not sure if that is a shame or not, but I think it might be a shame. Was brick ever painted in that era? Am I right that it will be nearly impossible to strip the paint off this brick? Or at least cost prohibitive? If it remains painted are there any suggestions for colors? It's an off-white now. I have attached a photo of the exterior the way it looks now and a photo from 1915 before it was painted. Any advice or thoughts welcome!

Jane

 

[malcolm]

The house looks lovely. Are the windows original? They've lasted well.

Paint stripping can be risky. Blasting, abrasive or water jet methods will damage the protective skin of the brick making them prone to weathering. Paint stripping using chemicals is possible, and if used without high pressure jets shouldn't damage the brick, but it is expensive. I would guess over $20,000.

Brick wasn't originally painted on Georgian houses in the UK. It was very common for earlier timber framed houses around at the time to be lime rendered and lime washed in white.

 

[plasticpigeon]

I do like exposed brick, but the house looks splendid either way in my opinion!

 

[Ebenezer]

Love those windows! What's the interior like? Any original features?

Do you have any historical buildings protection scheme in the US? Like the british listed building status?

 

[Feltwell]

Beautiful house - I prefer it without the paint on, but it still looks very nice painted. Do you know why it was painted? It may have been to hide repairs or alterations that were done in a brick that doesn't match, be warned.

If you do a search on "stripping brickwork" on here then you'll find lots of old posts. I suspect one of the most relevant to you will from a poster called PFord75 - he had good results using a chemical strip and a hot water pressure washer, I remember him particularly saying that the hot water washer was much better than cold.

http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11529&hilit=stripping+brickwork&start=15

This is a UK based site, so the supplier references may not be terribly helpful for you. The main paint stripping firm people seem to refer to on here is "Strippers of Sudbury" - if you Google them, no doubt you'll get some "interesting " results as well as references to the company concerned! No idea if they export or not, but I would have thought there must be an equivalent in the US.

Whatever you do - especially if you get contractors in - get them to demonstrate their technique somewhere inconspicuous first, many claim to do no damage to brickwork but not all achieve that. Have you a garden or outbuilding wall they could show you on first? Whilst you might be upset if the back of your outhouse was damaged, it would be much better than the front of your house!

Speaking of PFord - anyone heard from him lately?

 

[Flyfisher]

Welcome to the forum. Whereabouts (roughly) are you in Maryland? I once worked (in the UK) for an American company headquartered in Gaithersburg and later Germantown MD and had many visits over the years.

The house is splendid! I entirely agree with Feltwell about testing the removal of paint in a smallish inconspicuous area first. Unless it can be totally removed without damaging the brickwork it could be an expensive exercise that doesn't quite return the house to the state in that photograph.

 

[paulb33]

Welcome to the forum. Whereabouts (roughly) are you in Maryland? I once worked (in the UK) for an American company headquartered in Gaithersburg and later Germantown MD and had many visits over the years.

The house is splendid! I entirely agree with Feltwell about testing the removal of paint in a smallish inconspicuous area first. Unless it can be totally removed without damaging the brickwork it could be an expensive exercise that doesn't quite return the house to the state in that photograph.

You're fortunate to have a photo from 1915. I know Bethesda MD well and lived in Georgetown, Washington DC from 2008-2010. There are a number of companies that can remove paint in this area. It was quite commonplace to see it being done to the old colonial row-houses in Georgetown. So shouldnt be too difficult if done with care. Costly though.

Lovely house.

 

[messengerjs]

Thank you all for your feedback. Flyfisher, the house is in Princess Anne, MD -- across the Chesapeake Bay from the Baltimore/Washington area on what is referred to as Maryland's "Eastern Shore." It's about 30-40 minutes from the Atlantic ocean. Ebenezer, they've just taken the listing down or I'd link you to it because there were 33 photos of the interior. Many windows are original and the interior has many wonderful flourishes. The farmer who built this in 1795 owned 3500 acres and was showing off.

The Maryland Historic Trust has an easement on the house and grounds (the grounds are an archeological site because of the number of outbuildings that decayed and fell down over the years (no sign of them now). As an owner, therefore, I have agreed to abide by their rules and not alter anything of historic value. Thank you Feltwell for the link to previous posts. You're right that the supplier references may not be useful, but I'm most interested in hearing opinions from other people who care about historic houses as I do. Given the expense associated with renovating this house, I will probably save the exterior work for later -- and although I prefer the original brick, I'll probably stick with the painted brick because your posts confirm that it's probably too risky and expensive to try to strip it.

I notice that in the 1915 photo the house has shutters -- I like them and wonder why they were removed.

As I begin this project I will be back many times for your advice. In the meantime, here are pictures of the main hall - currently (with the seller's things), in 1967 and in 1915. It looks like some of the woodwork around the front is missing. I wonder if it was removed because it was not original -- the previous owner (who just died at age 92) was a restoration buff and I doubt seriously she would have removed something original ( and the easement wouldn't have allowed it anyway). Any thoughts would be welcome. Sorry if I'm clogging your system with too many files. You all have been wonderful.

Jane