Painting vs staining brick?

Question

so my fiance and i just bought our first house. its a small rancher style, only 1500ish sqft, so not that big. thing is, it used to be 1/3 of that size, and had two additions put on, and the original brick is a different color than the brick on the additions. we thought we would just paint the brick, but then when i was looking up painting brick i came across staining brick... never heard of it.

i wanted to know if anyone here had ever done either and how their results came out. its a darker brick with pretty white/grey mortar (even darker on the older brick) so i dont know if staining this is even possible since its dark

Answer 1

SOURCE,  I have been a painter 4 30 years.  There are some solid color stains that might work however application process is same and same amount of work, GO with the paint , better adhesion and longevity (exterior). Brick should be lightly pressure washed,  just easy with the pressure, you do not want to inject water into the mortar, then wait three days days before putting on paint, don't forget to back roll to get paint into the little nooks and crannies. Jerry, you may contact me via yahoo if you have further questions..