So, in this flat, the crappy plaster was removed from this wall exposing the brick.
What would you do to this wall :
-Sand blast it and leave it exposed?
-Try to clean it with masonry cleaner and leave it exposed?
-Put up drywall and never speak of it again?
The room is basically a long skinny rectangle. dining room / family room.
What else would you do to it. I think tin ceiling tiles would look nice with the exposed brick, but the ceilings are only 10 ft high so it might look a little strange.
Replace the current ducts with the nice looking circular kind and leave them exposed?
I love the look of brick. If I had that room, I’d leave them exposed. I’d start by scrubbing them with the cleaner, and letting it dry well before deciding if more work is needed. (The weathered look is kind of cool.)
As for ceilings, there are a lot of things that could look nice. Wood panelling (not that cheap thin stuff–real wood boards) might look good, and so could your idea of tin tiles. If I were you, I’d go out and buy a section of each. Put it up and see how you like it.
I’d clean it up and leave it exposed. It’s kind of a trendy look right now, but unlike trendy wallpapers and paneling, it’s not going to be a PITA to ‘undo’ when you or the next owner is tired of it.
I did the same thing in a bedroom. I used a wire brush attachment on my drill and used that to clean off the extra bits of plaster from the brick. From there I used some water to remove the dust and let it dry.
Once that was done, I used some drylock masonry sealer and applied two coats.
I’m wondering whether exposed ducts would work in your place.
Judging from the other wall that I see in the picture, your place was built at least 70 years ago, correct? What does the rest of the place look like? If the rest of the house is Arts and Crafts, exposed ducts might be a bit much.
Tin Ceiling tiles might look good. One of my neighbor put them in her kitchen with the exposed brick and it is a pretty nice combination.
I think tin is too “finished” to work well with brick and belongs with painted plaster walls. Exposed brick looks great and would pair well with wood panels. If this is an outside wall, you’ve probably lost a bit of heat retention with the removal of the plaster.
Yup. Over a hundred. That seperator wall is probably newer. It’s gonna go if its not load bearing, and I don’t think it is.
The rest of the place is very… plain. Can pretty much do whatever to it, limited by disposable funds.
The floor has pine boards underneath that could be refinished. The opposite wall will almost certainly get wall board put up, next to which the duct runs.
Having worked in many places like yours, and damn that’s why my back hurts: Leave it. Actually, seal it and enjoy. It always makes the space look bigger and hurts nobody.
You could also clean the bricks up and do a very light whitewash/colored wash over the bricks, so they are exposed but a more neutral color depending on what your furniture for that room is like. I have seen it done so that it just muted the colors of the bricks, but you could still see the variations in shading on them. It would be fairly easy to undo too, just clean the bricks off again.
Ah, the wonders of an old home. My house is roughly the same age. Are the pine boards the subfloor? I’ve seen mine and they generally aren’t all that pretty. I don’t know that I would expose the ducts, but that is just my taste for old homes. It might work.
I’m pretty sure they are. We refinished the floors on the flat above and they look great. It’s surprising what refinishing can do to a wood floor that at first glance looks un-saveable.
I’ve got some that look pretty heinous. Someone tried to refinish them but the problem is that since they were subfloor, they have gaps and placed where parts were cut up and removed. Right now I have them covered by rugs and carpet but I plan to put some new hardwood on top of them.
What color is the brick? The kind I exposed is reddish yours looks brown, but that might be the the photograph. What kind of look are you going for in the apartment. What kind of furniture do you plan on using.
Simply for resale value, leave the exposed brick. It would cost a fortune to put that in, and it gives a “solid” feel to a home. Plus, any potential buyer could always put plaster board over it, but also mention it is under there as a selling point in the future.
However, in your case the question is what kind of feel do you want to have for the room? I have very modern taste and would have to work around the wall, so it wouldn’t be an easy decision for me, although having seen it, it is almost a shame to cover it back up.
If you have more traditional taste, it would be easy to buy furniture and flooring and window treatments to accentuate the wall.
Quite simply, do you like it?
If you do decide to keep it, make sure you seal it correctly so you don’t damage the natural look and feel of the wall, but ensure there is no seepage in rainy seasons.