Home Update: German Smear On Our Brick

German Smear

I am notorious for believing everything I see on TV is doable (ie the shiplap fireplace). After I saw JoJo german smear this house, I knew that it was the answer to my wish of wanting to make our house look different than others in the neighborhood.

What I did not know was how HARD it would be.

My in-laws and I decided to take this project on 2 Fridays ago. They are so kind to help me make my DIY dreams a reality. They are also wise people because they anticipated the project to be strenuous and called in some professionals to help us.

German Smear

That morning, I awoke to an 18 wheeler trailer of sorts parked out front of our house with sand, mortar, and a big machine to mix it all.

After watching this Youtube though, I was still convinced we could do it on our own. But the men when ahead and mixed the mortar for us and showed us the ropes.

German Smear

In retrospect, I thank GOD for those men mixing the mortar for us because it produced wheelbarrows of smear rather than just a bucket like the man in the video. I can’t to begin to imagine how many times he must have refilled that bucket if it took us 2 wheelbarrows full for just one side of the house!

As you can see, my (amazing) mother in law is using a trowel to spread the mortar from the bottom to the top. This is what you do on the ENTIRE wall. Leaving no space bare. Gutters must be detached from walls and don’t even think about missing the window sills!

German Smear

It took us about 3 hours to smear the first wall. After letting it dry for an hour (and scarfing down sandwiches) we went back out and exposed bricks using a wire brush. This part was kind of fun because there’s no way to mess  it up! You just do whatever your heart desires.

German Smear

We ended up doing 2 more of the back walls before calling it a day. 8 hours of labor and we were POOPED. My body has seriously never hurt like it did that night. And the next day. And the next.

The men that helped us in the beginning returned occasionally over the next few days to finish up the project. How they do that kind of thing everyday blows my mind!

All in all, if you want to German Smear your home, I would say it is possible but it will take multiple days and it is not easy. You also may want help mixing the stuff.

German Smear We still have a long way to go when it comes to the details like landscaping (and obvi the shutters need to go back on), but our little home is coming along 🙂 .

Thanks for your help on the german smear Mel and Dick! Y’all are troopers!

Tilley
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22 thoughts on “Home Update: German Smear On Our Brick

  1. Jordyn

    I love that you decided to take on this project-I amusually really overwhelmed by labor intensive home projects. I love the look of whitewashed (not the technical name I know) brick and have dreamed of an ivy covered white brick house so I might have to get over my fear one day!

    Reply
  2. Nicole

    Mel and Dick are the best- Ryan and Curtis are lucky dudes!! Y’all are blessed with this help because it was so worth it! Makes a huge difference in lightening and brightening your house, glad you made the move!

    Reply
  3. Jenny

    It turned out so good! I love reading about other people’s home DIYs because I want to do it myself someday as well haha.

    Reply
  4. Alex

    I absolutely love this look! They do it every so often on Fixer Upper and it makes the home look so adorable, just like yours!

    Reply
  5. Deb

    This looks beautiful Brittany! How nice to have such a great work crew that only required some sandwiches!

    Reply
  6. Kristina

    This definitely looks like a lot of manual labor but the before & after is pretty impressive!!

    xo, Kristina

    Reply
  7. Leslie Aiken

    I am so impressed with you! I wish you knew about our easy, one coat process with Classico Limewash paint. It gives you that antique whitewash look like the German Smear technique, but much easier to apply. If you ever want to paint or update brick again, check out our products – romabio.com/limewash.

    Reply
  8. Tony Lee

    Couple of Questions, How long will the mix last in the wheel barrel and what was your mix ratio, We are looking at doing this for a remodel. Any more details in steps would be awesome as well

    That looks amazing like the one on fixer upper to many others confuse German Smear with White washing. that does not look good to us

    Reply
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