The front of my Victorian terrace house is a mix of brick and decorative stone, all of which has been painted sometime ago, the paintwork is badly cracked and split all over, the brickwork and stone looks to be in fairly good condition underneath but all the paintwork looks unsighly and tired, the house is southfacing with no protection from the element. I want to re-paint the house but I don't want the same problem to happen.. any suggestion?

grubscrew, November 2009

Do not paint brick/stone at this time of the year it's to damp, best to wait for early spring.
Scape off all the flaking and peeling paint carefully so as not to damage the brick/stone. Depening on how thick the paint film is you will have to feather off all the hard edges otherwise when you repaint you will see the edges of the old paint show thro'. Use good quality external emulsion such as Dulux Weathershield. Paint a first coat of stabilising fluid to all the bare brick/stone followed by two or three coats of Weathershield. If done well it will not need doing for at least 6 years or more.

BarryF, December 2009