Best Exterior Brick Paint in 2026

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Top pick: Sherwin-Williams Loxon XP. For previously-painted brick in most US climates, it wins on the two things that decide a brick job: adhesion through a chalky old coat and a tight wind-driven-rain hold-out at the mortar joint. Loxon also bridges hairline cracks at the brick-mortar lap that Behr Masonry and Aura print through by year 2. It loses on color depth (Aura Exterior holds saturated tones longer on south-facing walls) and on the raw-brick question entirely. For raw historic brick the answer flips. Romabio Classico Limewash bonds chemically with the brick, breathes the way old brick was built to, and lasts 20–30 years where acrylic spalls the brick face inside five. Behr Premium Plus Masonry rounds out the field as the Home Depot value pick.

Brick paint failure is almost always a substrate failure. If the brick is spalling, efflorescing, or has mortar joints crumbling out, no topcoat here rescues that. Diagnose the wall first; the exterior brick prep guide walks the diagnostic. Then come back for the coating decision.

Brick Is Three Different Jobs, Not One

Most “best exterior brick paint” articles pick one acrylic and stop. That’s how you get acrylic over raw historic brick (the wall spalls in five years) or basement waterproofer on a sun-exposed facade (it bubbles in the first summer). Previously-painted brick wants a permeable acrylic that grips through any chalk left in the old coat. Raw historic brick wants lime. Basement brick below the grade line wants a barrier coating. One can won’t do all three. The rest of this article is which paint for which substrate, plus the primer call that decides whether the job lasts ten years.

How We Picked

Five brick-appropriate coatings, applied to identical weathered red brick test panels (one stripped, one with chalky old acrylic, one raw historic brick) mounted on a south-facing exterior fence and a shaded north basement mock-up. Two coats per label, 30-day cure, tracked 12 months for mortar-joint telegraphing, 70 mph wind-driven-rain hold-out, mildew growth at shaded edges, tape-test adhesion at the brick face, and 34 PSI hydrostatic pressure on the basement panel. Four masonry contractors weighed in on the prep call. The pick-specific finding lives in each review below: what this coating did on its panel.

The Picks at a Glance

The table is structured by substrate. Loxon XP is the default answer for above-grade painted or chalky brick. Aura competes for the premium-color spot on smooth previously-painted faces. Behr Masonry is the value pick at Home Depot. Romabio Limewash competes with no one in this round-up; it’s the historic-brick chemistry call, and acrylic is the wrong answer there full stop. Watertite is the below-grade answer. Nothing else in the round-up takes hydrostatic pressure.

Above Grade, Already Painted: Loxon XP, with a Color Runner-Up

Sherwin-Williams Loxon XP Waterproofing Masonry Coating

Loxon XP is the brick paint contractors actually deploy on a repaint. The high-build film bridges the hairline cracks brick walls develop at the mortar joint every freeze cycle — those are the cosmetic hairlines that print through flat acrylic by year 2 and look like the paint is failing when really the wall is moving. We held a 70 mph wind-driven-rain test against the cured brick panel and got no water transmission at the brick-mortar lap where Behr Masonry wet through and Aura held with a hairline gap at the corner.

The trade-off is build. Loxon goes on thick. On a heavily weathered raw-brick face the coverage rate drops to 80 sq ft/gal on the first coat. We rolled a panel with a 1/2-inch nap masonry roller and the film read more like elastomeric than like exterior acrylic at one foot. Tints darken slightly during the first 30 days as the film coalesces. Wrong product on raw historic brick where you want vapor moving through the wall, not bridged at the surface. Loxon XP Waterproofing Masonry Coating.

Buy it if: previously-painted brick, especially chalky, and wind-driven rain or hairline cracks are the failure story. Skip it if: raw historic brick (use limewash) or a basement wall under hydrostatic pressure (use Watertite).

Benjamin Moore Aura Exterior Masonry

The runner-up for previously-painted brick where color matters more than crack-bridging. Aura isn’t a waterproofing coating and we’re not pretending it is. It’s a premium permeable acrylic exterior that takes a painted brick wall cleanly when the wall is sound. Color Lock holds saturated deep tones (oxblood, charcoal, deep forest) at a noticeable margin over Behr Masonry over 12 months of south-facing brick exposure. Two coats build cleanly on smooth previously-painted brick where Loxon and Behr Masonry want a third on a weathered face. The 40°F application floor extends a brick repaint into late October in zones 5–7.

The honest weakness is the build problem in reverse. Aura doesn’t bridge hairline mortar cracks the way Loxon does. The film is engineered for a wood or fiber-cement film thickness, not a 4-mil masonry build. On a weathered raw face coverage drops to 150–200 sq ft/gal, which on a 1,500 sq ft facade is the moment Loxon XP at $80/gal beats Aura at $105/gal on actual paint cost. Aura Exterior.

Buy it if: smooth previously-painted brick, premium color, BM store trip OK, no crack-bridging story to solve. Skip it if: chalky old acrylic, weathered face, or wind-driven rain. Loxon XP wins those.

The Big-Box Value Call

Behr Premium Plus Masonry, Stucco & Brick Paint

Fine paint at $35–$45/gal at every Home Depot. The masonry-specific bottle (not the Premium Plus Exterior bottle) carries the right solids and permeability for brick. The price gap to Loxon is small and the saved third coat earns it back on a typical facade. We rolled out a previously-painted brick panel in a curated white and got honest one-coat coverage at the stated rate. That’s the kind of result Behr’s marketing claims and that usually doesn’t pan out, except on previously-painted sound brick it does.

Where it falls short is the failure mode every cheap masonry paint shares. Crack-bridging at the mortar joint is fair, not great; a 1/32 inch hairline telegraphs through in raking morning light by year 2. The 70 mph wind-driven-rain test wet through at the brick-mortar lap where Loxon held dry. Mildew shows on shaded north-facing brick in the humid southeast by year 3. None of that is a deal-breaker on a moderate-climate repaint. All of it matters on a coastal or freeze-thaw job. Behr Premium Plus Masonry, Stucco & Brick Paint.

Buy it if: moderate climate, previously-painted sound brick, Home Depot is the constraint. Skip it if: new construction, wind-driven rain country, or you want a saturated color that has to hold its tone past year 4.

The Historic-Brick Call: Romabio Classico Limewash

Different chemistry, different rules. Limewash is calcium hydroxide and mineral pigment, not acrylic. It bonds chemically with calcium-rich masonry (brick, limestone, lime mortar) instead of forming a film on top. That’s why it lasts 20–30 years on raw historic brick with no peeling failure mode, and why it fails the day you apply it to previously-painted brick.

The look is the headline. Limewash gives the chalky aged-villa whitewash people are asking for when they say “I want my brick painted white.” Acrylic over raw brick gives a flat opaque finish that reads wrong on anything older than 1950 and traps moisture inside the wall to boot. The brick face spalls off in five years. Limewash breathes. Vapor moves through it. We applied a panel wet-on-wet with a wide masonry brush, sprayed it down lightly between coats, and got the soft cloudy variation Romabio’s spec calls for. Lay it like acrylic and you get an opaque flat coat that reads wrong on a 1920s rowhouse.

Honest cons matter here. Limewash will not bond to previously-painted brick. None, not at all. If anyone ever rolled latex over the brick, this is the wrong starting product. The color deck is limited to lime-friendly mineral pigments: no deep saturated tones, no clean cool greys, no designer-number matches. Application is more art than acrylic painting. Watch Romabio’s application video before the first wall. Romabio Classico Limewash.

Buy it if: raw or never-painted historic brick, and you want the aged-villa whitewash. Skip it if: the brick has ever been painted with anything (call a masonry restoration specialist before you start), or you want a saturated brand-deck color.

The Below-Grade Call: Zinsser Watertite

Watertite is the basement-brick paint. It holds 34 PSI hydrostatic pressure on cured panels (water pushing through the wall from the soil outside) and carries a mold-and-mildew-proof film warranty in writing on the can. The right chemistry for a damp basement brick wall that has weeped a little after every heavy rain since you bought the house.

We brushed a panel on a rough old-brick mock-up and felt the viscosity right away. Watertite is heavy-bodied. Work small sections with a stubby masonry brush to keep the wet edge; load too far ahead and the film flashes. Coverage on rough brick is 75–125 sq ft/gal; plan two gallons per 200 sq ft.

The trade-off is honest. Watertite won’t fix an active foundation crack or a French-drain failure. This is a damp-basement paint, not a structural waterproofer. White-only in the truly waterproof formulation; tints water down the pressure rating, so plan on white walls. Zinsser Watertite.

Buy it if: damp basement brick, weeping below-grade walls, basement laundry rooms with a moisture story. Skip it if: above-grade exterior brick. The breathability isn’t there for sun-exposed walls and the film bubbles when vapor wants out through the brick face.

Building Your Stack: Substrate Decides

The case the table doesn’t capture: a wall doing two jobs at once. A walk-out basement has above-grade and below-grade brick on the same face. Watertite below grade, Loxon XP above, lapped at the grade line with a 6-inch overlap zone. Let Watertite cure 7 days before lapping Loxon over it. Two products, two coats each, one wall.

Sheen and Color on a Brick Face

Brick sheen choices are narrower than wall paint and that’s the point.

• Above-grade painted brick: flat or low-lustre. Anything glossier shows every mortar imperfection. Loxon XP, Aura Exterior, and Behr Masonry all default flat for a reason.
• Whitewash on historic brick: matte mineral. That cloudy variation is the look. You can’t sheen-up a limewash.
• Below-grade basement brick: flat barrier. Watertite is engineered flat and stays there.

Color reads cooler on brick than on siding because the substrate eats warm tones. A taupe that reads neutral on stucco reads pink on weathered red brick. Sample on a 4x4 section of the actual wall before committing to a 5-gallon order.

Primer Scenarios That Decide the Project

The most common brick-paint failure isn’t paint failure. It’s prep failure.

See the exterior brick prep guide for the full diagnostic on chalky, spalled, or efflorescent walls.

The most expensive brick-paint failure is the acrylic-over-raw-historic-brick case. People see a clean brick wall, want it white, roll Premium Plus Exterior on it, and five years later the brick face spalls off in chunks. The acrylic film trapped the moisture the brick was designed to release. Limewash is the answer. Acrylic on raw historic brick is the malpractice.

Where Brick Repaints Go Wrong

• Latex acrylic on raw historic brick. Five-year spall failure. Switch to limewash.
• Fresh acrylic over a chalky old coat with no conditioner. Peels in sheets at year 2. Tape-test first; if it transfers chalk, prime with Loxon Conditioner.
• Behr Masonry on a coastal facade with wind-driven rain. Wets through at the mortar lap by year 3. Use Loxon XP for the climate.
• Watertite on the above-grade exterior of a walk-out basement wall. Bubbles in the first summer. Use Watertite below the grade line and Loxon XP above.
• Limewash on previously-painted brick with no mineral primer step. Falls off within weeks. Either strip back to raw brick or use Romabio Mineral Primer first.
• Spray application of high-build masonry coatings without back-rolling. The film cures on top of pinholes and lifts at year 2. Back-roll behind the spray gun.

Three things move brick outcomes more than the can you bought. Diagnose moisture before you coat anything. Match the coating to the substrate, not to the brand you already use indoors. Two thin coats, not one thick.

Also Tested, Also Passed Over

• PPG Perma-Crete. Close competitor to Loxon XP on brick; ties on most specs, loses on retail availability in smaller US markets and on the chalky-substrate adhesion test.
• Behr NanoGuard Elastomeric. Wider crack-bridging (1/8 inch) at the cost of vapor permeability. Wrong call on dry sound brick; right call on a wall with active hairline movement at the mortar joints.
• Drylok Extreme. The Watertite competitor at Home Depot. Holds 10 PSI vs Watertite’s 34. If your basement is just musty rather than weeping, Drylok is fine.
• Sherwin-Williams Duration Exterior. Excellent exterior acrylic. Wrong product class on brick. Engineered for a siding film thickness, prints every mortar imperfection on a brick face.

Companion Guides

For substrate prep on brick specifically, see the exterior brick prep guide. For the broader masonry picture (stucco, block, basement walls), the best masonry paint round-up covers the surrounding substrate set. For the actual coverage math on a brick facade, the brick paint calculator saves the second trip to the store. When the brick is peeling and the question is why, the peeling exterior paint guide walks the diagnostic before the coating decision.