In fact, you can make a designer brick wall with your own hands, and the cost of time and materials will be significantly small. There are several ways to make a decorative brick wall at home, which even a non-specialist can handle. It is only important to have the necessary materials, patience and time. There are three ways to imitate a brick wall:
using plaster;
from foam plastic;
using tiles.
The imitation made with the help of plaster is carried out in several stages, the main of which are: marking, preparing the solution, finalizing the resulting form and further painting. This is one of the most budget options. Such work does not require special financial investments, is very environmentally friendly and extremely easy. To make a high-quality imitation you do not need special skills or tools.
Stages of work:
First of all, work must begin with preparing the workplace. You should completely prepare the wall by removing the old finish from it. If the walls are uneven, they must be leveled using special plaster and coated with a primer base.
Important! If the apartment in which the work will be carried out is located in a new building, you cannot decorate the room in the first year after the house is commissioned. During this time, the walls shrink, which will affect the decorative wall. Cracks or creases may simply appear on it, which will negatively affect the entire appearance of your work.
After the working surface is fully ready for work and thoroughly plastered, it is necessary to start marking the future brickwork.
Markup can be done in two ways:
using an already manufactured mesh mold, which is sold in construction supply stores;
apply independent markings made with your own hands. To do this, it is necessary to take into account the standard size of the brick, in which the seam is 15 mm, and the edges are 250 by 65 mm.
These indicators are not important, and otherwise you can use your own dimensions, which are most relevant in the future design of the entire room. Some experts advise using a blank the size of a brick, cut out of cardboard, and using it to draw a template for the future imitation. In another case, it is possible to use special masking tape 12 mm wide. Painting tape is applied at the seams between the bricks. In this case, the jumpers should be applied overlapping, so that after applying the plaster, it is easy to remove the tape. If at the time of surface preparation there was no primer treatment, it can be applied over the glued tape.
container for preparing putty;
two types of spatulas (100 and 250 mm long);
gloves;
oilcloth.
The most acceptable type of solution contains gypsum plaster and tile adhesive. You can stir the solution manually with a spatula or an electric tool with a mixer attachment. In this case, you should pay attention to the amount of the finished mixture. You should not prepare the entire mixture at once, as you may not have time to apply everything to the wall, and the solution will simply dry out. The plaster should be applied with a spatula. The masking tape must be removed immediately after completing the application of the solution to the surface. Otherwise, it will harden and it will no longer be possible to work with it.
The masonry will look perfect only if it is slightly adjusted after complete drying. This is very important if you did not treat the appearance of the plaster immediately after removing the masking tape. The best way to do this is to use sandpaper. All work on the finished surface, for example adding chips and cracks or completely rubbing them out, depends solely on the desires of the master.
Painting. Applying paint to plaster is no different from applying it to any other surface. First of all, it is necessary to thoroughly clean the wall of excess dust, not only on the stones, but in the spaces between them. Next, you should prime the surface of the wall again, and after it has completely dried, start painting. You can paint the entire surface: both bricks and the space between them. As an option, only the outer side of the brick is painted, and the seams are painted in a different shade. In this case, you should take a thinner brush, which will ensure accurate but slow work and paint in a shade different from the main color. It is advisable to pay attention to washable paint, which will simplify maintenance in the future. This is especially true for the kitchen, if the decoration takes place in this room.
The advantages of this method are the ease of cutting and processing foam, a small amount of dust when carrying out interior work. Polystyrene foam is cheaper than plaster and attaches well to the work surface. However, it also has its drawbacks - it has low impact resistance, which allows it to easily chip and deform upon impact. To avoid possible deformation, you can take dense, fine-grained foam. It is not so susceptible to kinks and does not crumble when cutting, which will ensure right angles for each brick.
The foam will be laid brick by brick; liquid nails can be used to secure them to the surface. If a single sheet will be glued to the wall at once, polyurethane foam will do. The process of working with polystyrene foam is quite simple. You can start from the classic brick size, the same 250 by 60 mm. A standard sheet of foam plastic has a width of 12 mm, which is very convenient for creating an imitation of brickwork. This material is easy to cut with a sharpened knife and at the same time has a special texture that conveys the appearance of brick well.
Installation of decorative bricks should be done from the corner, filling the entire room in the process, and finally door and window openings are laid.
Before painting, some experts coat the foam with putty, thereby giving it the texture of stone. Regardless of whether puttying was carried out or not, the material must be primed before painting. This achieves special adhesion between the surface and the paint, which will allow it to penetrate most deeply into the texture of the product and evenly cover the entire surface. It is important to pay attention to the paint and its composition, since those made with the addition of a solvent can damage the foam. In this case, it is best to buy emulsion or water-based paint, which is fixed with acrylic varnish.
Today, construction stores delight with a variety of products. Due to this, you can choose many options for tiles to imitate brickwork. You can choose either standard tiles made from gypsum or soft ones made from polyacrylamide. Polyacrylic is much easier to work with, it can fit on any surface and go around even the sharpest corners. You can cut it with either scissors or a knife. The tiles do not fade and can be installed in both dry rooms and wet areas. A significant disadvantage is that such tiles are much more expensive than foam or plaster. As in the first two cases, the surface must be fully prepared for work, leveled and primed before applying the material.
Among the variety of solid tiles, the following three types can be distinguished:
gypsum tiles. This is the cheapest analogue of this material. Of course, its main disadvantage is the fear of high humidity, so it cannot be used in an aggressive environment, for example in the kitchen or bathroom. Manufacturers, in order to eliminate this drawback, can cover the products with a special protective layer, which makes gypsum tiles resistant to high humidity, and they can also be simply painted;
cement. It is also significantly inexpensive, but has increased strength. It can be used for both internal and external work - it resists weather changes, is not afraid of humidity, wind and direct sunlight. It is noteworthy that such tiles can be made with your own hands, just by pouring cement into the prepared mold;
clinker tiles. It has the highest characteristics and service life, but because of this, its price is appropriate. Such tiles are rarely purchased for interior decoration.
For those who do not want to bother themselves with working with simple materials, construction stores can offer a ready-made imitation of artificial brick. They come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. In addition, manufacturers offer various shades of products, which allows you to choose the color that is most suitable for the entire interior. In any case, the finished imitation will look interesting. The main thing is to place the right accents on it so that the wall is in harmony with the interior and with all the objects in the room, not only in color, but also in the overall style.
