# Forum Home Renovation Painting  painting over fresh mortar

## zongatron

hello all  ive just ground out and scraped clean all the mortar lines in my besserbrick loungeroom ( wont EVER be doing that again)  and am about to fill in the mortar lines so they are flush to the brickwork....  Read somewhere that you shouldnt paint over fresh mortar and to leave it for about a month to cure....sound right?  Question is --->  is there an accelerator to speed up this process so i can paint sooner?  thanks

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## seriph1

I am definitely missing something here!  :Biggrin:  :Biggrin:  
got rid of mortar in order to replace mortar and paint over it....?  :Biggrin:  
Did you want a single planar surface that is totally smooth? 
Anyway, I believe you should wait for a while before painting over the mortar, but have no idea how long ..... the maker of the mortar would be able to advise .... there is probably a 1-800 number on the bag.

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## zongatron

yeah, mortar lines were quite deep so with besserbrick it feels and looks like a shed or industrial garage.  I did another room and it comes up quite nice with the mortar flush to the bricks. Not as good as rendered but much smoother than before.   Also TIP - smearing cement in a circular motion over the brick face themselves brings up a far smoother finish also ( as the themselves are naturally quite porous and pockmarked ) which also helps to leave a smoother finish.  It also assists painting as the brick doesnt soak up as much paint.  Some bloke on here gave me the tip to polish up the fresh mortar with a rag after it has dried some. This works great - especially if you do a circular motion like a mini helicopter..... fills in and smooths all the iimperfections - just like on a slab

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## autogenous

You need to leave it until "all" the moisture has left the mortar.
This is at your discretion. 
With all the litigation on products and workmanship these days manufacturers and applicators are very reluctant to advise or specify which can often be over or beyond what seems sensible because of fear of litigation. 
The litigation has pushed up the price and specification of many things because when your in court and its cost you a motza the discretion of the court is merciless in what it deems practical. 
I have some tradie mates who have just spent $14000 to have a ruling thrown out of court.
They dont have the money for that kind of thing. One has left the industry. 
Because there is so many grey areas with employment, safety and product on items that may be for incidence deemed to be as safe as practical you will see a lot less recommendation and higher prices to cover risk and litigation. 
Its really just starting to accelerate in some states so expect little advice in some states. 
Yes I dribbled on but you can see why I said use your discretion. :Smilie:

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## Bloss

It's not problematic at all and there is in fact little trade litigation on any area and even less relating to paint finishes so that is an unlikely factor. In any case a search on paint manufacturer sites and concrete industry sites shows that clarity and consistency in the advice given with little variation: 
For acrylic paints a minimum of 28 days or four weeks should be allowed for the mortar/ concrete to properly cure - and that is as much to do with the chemical conversion of the mix as with moisture content. Plastic paints (PVA) are not recommended for masonry surfaces although are too often used because they are cheap. For oil based paints 8 weeks is recommended as they are more likely to suffer from poor adhesion due to high alkalinity. 
So wait a month at least (most painters I know say 6 weeks) and use a good quality acrylic paint.  :2thumbsup:

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