Internal walls of a bare brick shed - paint?

[Michael Kilpatrick]

Hello all,

I am in the middle of clearing out the brick outhouse which is about

2.3m x 3.2m internal.

I want to turn it into a useful workshop space by installing some of the old kitchen units later this year when we are renewing the kitchen.

What is the best thing to do with the bare brick interior which has collected dust, spiders, mouse poo and what-have-you over the decades?

If I want to paint it - I don't particularly want to line the walls and thus make the shed smaller inside - what should I do to prepare the brick surface? After a thorough cleaning, do you have to seal the surface up with something before applying paint?

Michael

[Andrew]

Have you considered drylining with some insulation ?. Even 25 mm of 'Celotex' overlaid with OSB3 makes a lot of difference.

[Michael Kilpatrick]

I'll think about it but I would like to maximise the space if possible. There's insulation in the roof space already (which I will probably renew with some leftover insulation I've got in the garage from the extension years ago).

Michael

[charles]

I used Sandtex

[John Rumm]

I will second the insulation suggestion.

My workshop has 2" celotex equivalent all over with a 1/2" ply lining. The "feel" of the space is just *so* much nicer than that of the adjoined but uninsulated garage of the same construction. Even if unheated at the time, walking from one bit through the door to the other bit is very noticeable.

[alan_m]

If the bricks are sound just paint it with a masonry paint after cleaning. Use a smooth masonry paint and not a textured paint.

If the brick face is dusty after cleaning then perhaps a dust seal product applied beforehand.

What condition is the pointing between the bricks? if very poor and crumbles when you run your finger over it maybe consider some re-pointing before painting

[Michael Kilpatrick]

[snip]

Is that a standard plywood boarding rather than any form of plasterboard? Would you recommend 1/2 inch as the necessary minimum to act as a load-bearing wall for attaching cupboards etc, rather than trying to rely on deep fixings through into the brickwork?

Thanks for all the comments, folks.

Michael

[Michael Kilpatrick]

Thanks, It may be that I end up insulating three out of four walls and painting the other, so I shall bookmark that link for later.

The pointing looks mostly to be in reasonable shape - it's just the filth, mouse poo and cobwebs that I need to get rid of and a lot surface dust.

Michael

[John Rumm]

Yup I used 1/2" shuttering ply, since it was cheap and I was going to paint it anyway.

With ply you have the option of doing both. So lighter weight stuff you can just screw straight to the ply - for most things this is adequate I find. I think 1/2" is probably the realistic minimum for hanging stuff on though. You could probably go 9mm or 3/8" if fixing to studs on 400mm centres, but was not using studs, just directly fixing the ply though the foam, so there are no thermal bridges (other than the screws).

For things like my timber rack, or the main set of tool shelves that carry heavy loads, I used 5" screws through the board and insulation and into the blockwork. (and made sure there was a reasonable length of upright so as to give a bit more mechanical advantage over the twisting moment of the load.

[John Rumm]

Broom, vacuum, and if its still flaky, then a big roller with some dilute SBR :-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

pressure wash: exteriors grade paint