Repair, as they say, can be compared to a fire. Of course, it serves good purposes, but takes a lot of time and effort. And therefore, our resourceful fellow citizens are constantly trying to find ways to do without expensive finishing materials and technologies, using spectacular and convincing looking substitutes for them.
These visual effects include brick imitation . It's no secret that in the hallway or bathroom, this solution looks very stylish. But there are a few problems.
Firstly, the cost of a brick has long been able to turn a simple repair into an event that will strike a blow on your budget that is comparable to the effects of a mid-sized hurricane. Secondly, imagine the amount of work that will have to be done when transporting the required amount of brick to the upper floors of a multi-storey building! Inevitably, you will begin to look for a way to get around all these obstacles.
Simple and effective method
A closer look at the repairs that our compatriots make in their houses and apartments reveals an extremely curious fact: it happens that imitation of brickwork is almost more expensive than a wall made of natural brick! How is this possible? A riddle explained only by the mystery of the Russian soul. But back from the lyrics to the case. The imitation is called so as to suggest its most economical and quick production.
Therefore, we present to you the most simple and cheap finishing method that perfectly imitates brickwork. Of course, you can choose a ceramic tile with a similar pattern, but only the masters in laying it may not be within reach. If we talk about the complete "cheap stuff", then a wallpaper with an imitation of brickwork is far from the best solution when it comes to normal repair. However, we will cover this method in more detail.
How to paste wallpaper with "bricks"
First of all, you need to buy the "right" wallpaper. Do not choose simple paper varieties of them, since such a “masonry” will look frankly cheap and off. You should purchase heavy vinyl wallpapers that can create a certain volume effect, giving the whole composition completeness.
Accordingly, glue for them needs to be chosen one that could withstand their considerable weight. Keep in mind that real brickwork is never unnaturally even, and therefore you should not especially carefully prepare the wall before gluing. Naturally, large potholes and cracks need to be repaired, but fanatical surface leveling is not required.
Among other things, do not repeat the blunders of many new designers. If there is any ledge on the wall, never wallpaper their bends with imitation bricks! It looks just awful. In general, in this case it is better to leave all corners free, painting over the vacant space in tone with the wallpaper.
And further. Remember how during the repair you cut out holes for sockets in the wallpaper? Alas, this cannot be done in this case. It is better to limit the zone with the outlet to empty space, doing the same as with the corners.
Become the owners of the "factory"
First you have to think about making great shapes in which our simulated texture will be made. We suggest you make them from high-quality dense cardboard about three millimeters thick. We think that if in your school there were labor lessons in the distant days, then it will be very easy for you to cope with this work. Do not forget about the jumpers: imitation looks most effective when their thickness is within 10 mm.
Worst of all, with the choice of material from which our imitation of brickwork will be made. The ideal option is an inexpensive acrylic putty, which has excellent performance. If you like precision in everything, then you can even add paint of the corresponding shade to the composition so that the “masonry” is indistinguishable from the real one.
However, if you still doubt your abilities, leave the native white color: later it can be easily repainted as your sense of beauty requires.
Correctly preparing the base
The visual attractiveness of the finished design will largely depend on this stage, so we do not recommend hacking. If the walls do not differ in perfect evenness, it is advisable to correct this misunderstanding before starting work. We close up all the notches and potholes with putty, we remove as much as possible all the areas that can chip or crumble.
Finally, you can get to work! In order to have the most even imitation of brickwork, it is better to install supports in advance with your own hands (the bars are quite suitable). Immediately determine all the most problematic places, for example, zones near outlets and others, in advance by disconnecting the supply of voltage to them. If it comes to the bathroom, it is better to check in advance the quality of all taps and pipes. After that, make sure that the putty has already acquired the necessary consistency.
We install the shape we love made on the wall, fixing it with supports if necessary. It is very desirable to pick up a spatula even before this, the dimensions of which will fully correspond to the internal measurements (bricks). After this, you can begin to fill the internal cavities with putty.
Trying to do it perfectly is not recommended: such an imitation of brickwork looks very unusual. With your own hands it is better to make it more natural, deliberately leaving roughness and potholes on the surface that will successfully imitate the natural structure of the material.
Keep working
For several minutes we maintain the form on the surface of the material, and then carefully disconnect it, using a spatula if necessary. We put it close to the finished block, after which we repeat the whole procedure again. It is best to move from bottom to top, as in this case the top row will rest on the “masonry” located below. If you want the appearance of complete naturalness, it is very advisable not to forget about the brick dressings, which in this masonry will be.
In a word, in order to have a high-quality imitation of masonry, panels should be especially carefully positioned in the corners. If you do everything right, it will turn out to be a surface that is virtually ideally correlated with the real texture, which from afar will not be easy to distinguish from real brickwork.
If you can boast of a particularly refined artistic taste, you can tint each “brick” individually. The result will be such a wall that even a professional bricklayer will not immediately suspect a fake in it! To make it even more naturalistic, you can even paint the rows between the "bricks", imitating the real color of the cement mortar.
As a rule, the cardboard form described by us lasts for one and a half hundred of these “bricks”, so often it will not be necessary to change it.
other methods
If you do not want to bother with making molds, you can go the simpler way. In the first case, we will need the same acrylic putty, which must be applied to the wall with a sufficiently thick layer. Of course, before starting work, the surface must be prepared as qualitatively as possible, covering all the potholes and crevices, otherwise you will waste a lot of material for nothing.
Keep in mind that acrylic dries quite quickly, so you should not cover several square meters at once in one pass. Having studied how to make an imitation of brickwork in this way, it is better to calculate your need for putty in advance and accurately, otherwise the excess will have to be thrown out in the form of large petrified blocks.
After application and leveling, a “masonry” drawing is applied to the surface of the putty (with a spatula or even with a stick). Of course, in this case, the ideal lines will not work, but this method can be used if necessary to create something more avant-garde.
Paint
If you do not want to deal with the capricious and quick-drying acrylic putty, in principle, it is quite possible to do just one paint of the appropriate shade. It is best to apply it with a roller: this way you will not only achieve optimal savings, but also create a natural rough structure on the surface. In this case, imitation of brickwork will not differ much from natural brickwork.
Plaster
But nevertheless, it is much more reliable to use materials that are tried and tested by time. Paint is an inexpensive and practical solution, but it’s just impossible to get from it a completely natural look of “masonry”.
And therefore, imitation of stucco masonry is a much better solution. How to carry out the work of applying the material? In general, this is not unusual. The surface is carefully prepared, carefully closing all its potholes and irregularities.
How to apply?
Plaster is applied with a spatula. The rows between the "bricks" are marked with the same, and the spaces between them are filled with the color that most successfully imitates the color of a standard mortar. The bricks themselves are painted in the same way as the gaps between them. The advantage of this method is that nothing will limit your imagination.
Such an imitation of brickwork in the interior will make your home completely different from others. Among other things, you can perform a "substitution" not only in relation to brick, but even natural stone. Of course, drawing it is a little more difficult, but all efforts will pay off many times!