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Should You Paint Your Rental Property’s Fireplace?
As much as I love rental investing and house hacking, I am not a fan of outdated styles.
If you follow my investing journey on Instagram or have read through the story of my first rental property, you will have seen photos of the fireplace that my husband redid prior to renting the property.
In this article, I will go through an 8-step tutorial, with before and after photos to show how to paint and whitewash your rental property’s fireplace, and the difference between whitewash and paint!
The Difference Between Brick Paint and Whitewash
Before diving into the step-by-step tutorial of how to update your rental property’s fireplace, it is important to review the difference between brick paint and whitewash:
Brick Paint:
Painting brick will result in a consistent, permanent color. It will be very difficult to remove and may need touch-ups every few years, depending on the wear and the product itself. Brick paint comes in many colors and won’t remove nearly as easy as whitewash.
Whitewash:
Whitewash differs from brick paint in how the final product looks. It is a thinner paint, is easier to remove, and has a weathered, vintage look. It is water-based and although it can last many years, it can be rubbed off with water and a rag.
Which fireplace paint is best for rental properties?
Rental properties need durability and quality, but they do not need the most expensive products to last decades!
As you can see in the below photos, we chose to use a brick paint, due to it’s longevity. The original brick was ruined from smoke and years of wear and the brick paint added new life to the brick! It is a modern staple to our property that was dated from the 70’s.
When choosing if you should paint fireplace brick or use whitewash, consider how many years you plan to own the property and consider the amount of damage and wear the paint will endure! A simple paint job can be a cheap way to update a rental property, and one that you can do on your own!
Are you new to investing? Be sure to learn the truth about getting a real estate license to be a rental investor!
8 Steps to Painting Your Rental Property’s Fireplace
1. Set Your Schedule
Painting or whitewashing your rental property’s fireplace can take an entire morning or day, but be sure to include additional time for optimal drying! For example, primer may take up to a day to dry.
Although it will only take about a 1-2 hours to paint a fireplace, be sure to allot time for preparing your space, taping off edges, and cleaning.
2. Purchase Your Supplies
We used the following equipment and supplies to paint our rental property’s fireplace. You can check out the specific ones off Amazon below:
- Paint brush
- Brick Paint
*Deciding to whitewash instead? Check this one out! - Painters tape
- Floor covers/Canvas drop cloth
- Painters bucket
- Wire brush
- Large sponge
3. Set Up Your Space
Using drop cloth, plastic, or another covering, it is important to keep the floors clean of paint. Make sure the room is well ventilated and that you have gloves and a mask if necessary.
Gloves are recommended if you are using whitewash, in order to prevent any skin irritation when you are rubbing off the whitewash paint to create the distressed look.
4. Prep the Bricks
This step cannot be skipped! To prep the fireplace bricks means to clean them so you have a surface without dust, stains, or dirt.
To do this, you can take a brush like the one above to scrub off any debris from the bricks. You can even run your vaccum’s hose across the fireplace after scrubbing, to ensure you got all the debris picked up.
Secondly, you need to wash the bricks. Take a large sponge and use water to wash off the bricks to finish the prepping.
5. Tape the Edges
This is a quick but critical step! Never paint without taping the edges first. If you are using brick paint instead of whitewash, you do not want to mess this part up!
6. Prime the Bricks
Priming is important to ensure the longevity of your rental property’s newly updated fireplace! A good masonry or brick primer like the one I listed above will do!
Be sure to check the drying time of the primer that you purchase! You may need to let it dry overnight.
7. Apply the Paint
When painting the fireplace, you can use either a paint roller or a paint brush! We used a brush to get the cracks and edges.
When you whitewash, you will mix water with the whitewash paint. When you use normal paint, you will not need to mix it to anything.
Whitewash provides a muted, unfinished look. Reason being, as you paint it on, you will also use a rag to wipe some off. This provides the distressed look that whitewashing provides.
8. Fix the Small Mistakes and Let it Dry!
Before the paint fully dries, make any touchups as desired. Be sure to thoroughly clean your tools and supplies after you are finished.
Then, remove all the painter’s tape as the paint is drying.
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