How to Make a Poured Concrete Wall Look Like Brick

LESLIE: Rich in Illinois is on the line and working on a concrete project. How can we help you today?

RICH: Well, I’ll tell you what, we’ve had a new house built for us and because it was in a flood zone, we decided to have the house built on 9-foot poured concrete walls. Now, originally what we thought was going to happen is they were going to be concrete-slab walls and we were going to wrap a nice façade river rock around the whole bottom.

TOM: OK.

RICH: This is out in the country, in a forest setting on a lake and it’s got nice cedar siding. And when they poured the concrete, they poured it in forms, rather than being a slab, that looked like bricks.

TOM: OK.

RICH: And we ended up looking at it and thinking, “You know, we kind of like the look of this – these forms left.” Instead of spending a lot of money to wrap it in river rock, we were thinking about leaving it. And then somebody came by and said there’s a technique that you can use to paint this brick-like concrete so it actually looks a lot like brick. And I’d never heard of that. And they said they had seen it but they didn’t know how it was done. I was wondering if you guys knew anything about that.

TOM: So, Rich, this is a poured concrete wall that has a brick pattern but of course, it looks like gray concrete, so we’re not fooling anybody into thinking it’s real brick, correct?

RICH: Right.

TOM: So, there is a way to add color.

I would suggest acid staining, right, Leslie?

LESLIE: Mm-hmm. And there’s several manufacturers that do make an acid-staining product. And it’s – it really is a chemical reaction done onto the surface of the concrete that causes the concrete to truly change its color; it’s not something that’s applied to it. There’s an etching process and then the coloration process.

QUIKRETE makes them. If you look up online, you’ll find a ton of different manufacturers that do also make them. And if you get a little creative, you can mix and match and give it the depth and texture of an aged brick. I would recommend working on an area behind a bush or somewhere in the back side of the house until you get comfortable with your technique and the coloration, so you know what you’re going to get.

RICH: Right. OK. Fantastic. Thank you.

TOM: You’re welcome. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.