Painting brick bathroom walls

[NotSure]

My bathroom needs completely redoing! But I am not a fan of tiles. When sorting our kitchen, in parts we stripped back to the bare brick, which is quite attractive (property is a little over 100 years old). We painted the bare brick in the kitchen for practical reasons, but around an old fireplace, for example, we've left it bare.

Is there any sensible coating we could use on bare brick in a bathroom for regions that may get splashed, or even soaked? A possible complication is that the render is lime, so likes to breath a little, and the outside of the house is covered in impermeable cement render to protect from the elements (so the only way out for moisture/breathing is into the bathroom).

I'm guessing that away from sink and shower, we could do as in the kitchen, but do any Fools know of a suitable paint that would not totally suffocate the lime render is used over a few square meters? Can be expensive - tiles don't come cheap, which seems the main alternative.

I guess we could cover the vulnerable brickwork with custom cut glass panels, but even then, would paint on brick be a silly idea behind the glass?

[88V8]

Is there any sensible coating we could use on bare brick in a bathroom for regions that may get splashed, or even soaked? A possible complication is that the render is lime, so likes to breath a little, and the outside of the house is covered in impermeable cement render to protect from the elements (so the only way out for moisture/breathing is into the bathroom).

Cement render on a period property is generally bad news, but your house is not that old and presumably has a damp-proof course so it should not need to 'breath' as such.

If you have lime plaster in your bathroom, a suitable paint might be Zinsser Grade 1 which is breathable, albeit only marginally so.
In this respect it does not compare to limewash or clay paint, either of which might suit your purpose in terms of general breathability but not in splash areas.
I would ask Zinsser Technical Dept directly whether Grade 1 is suitable in indoor high-splash areas as the technical data sheet is silent.

Tiles have been used in Period properties for many years and would certainly be my preference, but then I do not like indoor bare brick.

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[NotSure]

If you have lime plaster in your bathroom, a suitable paint might be Zinsser Grade 1 which is breathable, albeit only marginally so.
In this respect it does not compare to limewash or clay paint, either of which might suit your purpose in terms of general breathability but not in splash areas.
I would ask Zinsser Technical Dept directly whether Grade 1 is suitable in indoor high-splash areas as the technical data sheet is silent.

Tiles have been used in Period properties for many years and would certainly be my preference, but then I do not like indoor bare brick.

Thanks! We do have lime plaster in the bathroom - well, I think it was once lime. After 100 years it just looks like someone has smeared mud over the walls if you are unfortunate enough to dig into it. My worry though is the lime mortar between the exterior bricks. It's not much better! Without the cement render, our house would have washed away decade ago..... I don't wish to seal this between two impermeable layers if I can avoid it as I am aware it likes to breath. We do have a rudimentary damp cause (a layer of slate) and the walls are solid double-brick. We have no issues whatsoever with damp, mould or mildew, even in the bathroom.

The (painted) bare brick is quite nice in the part of the kitchen we have it, but of course tastes vary! A big attraction of going this way in the bathroom is cost. As I say, the original plaster is toast, so I'll need to remove it all, get it properly plastered and then tile. I don't trust my tiling ability, so it all adds up. Whereas, I can easily paint the brick that is revealed when the plaster falls off (which it will when we remove the existed, likely 1970s tiles). As such, wish paint, we can have a new bathroom this year, not next year or the one after that .

I will look into the Zinsser - I'm a big fan of their paints in general but had not heard of Grade 1. I accept my not so cunning plan is a long shot, but thought it worth an ask.

[88V8]

If you have lime plaster in your bathroom, a suitable paint might be Zinsser Grade 1 which is breathable, albeit only marginally so.
In this respect it does not compare to limewash or clay paint, either of which might suit your purpose in terms of general breathability but not in splash areas.
I would ask Zinsser Technical Dept directly whether Grade 1 is suitable in indoor high-splash areas as the technical data sheet is silent.

Thanks! We do have lime plaster in the bathroom - well, I think it was once lime. After 100 years it just looks like someone has smeared mud over the walls if you are unfortunate enough to dig into it. ...As I say, the original plaster is toast, so I'll need to remove it all, get it properly plastered and then tile.

Unless you have penetrating damp, that is water being driven through the walls as can happen in some exposed locations, I would not worry about maintaining lime plaster upstairs... I presume it is upstairs.
Lime plasterers are hard to find and expensive... and upstairs, gypsum should be fine.

Your slate dpc should be perfectly good, provided it has not been buried by raised ground levels, or compromised by external paving up against the house which can lead to rebound splash.

This was the bathroom I had built in our previous house, I did the tiling. House, 1921, slate dpc, gypsum.
Yes, the tiles were not cheap, about £3 a pop iirc in 1991, but unlike paint they will never need redoing.



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