painting rough brick surface?

Internal wall now, I would use a cheap masonry paint,& masonry brush,which will allow you to work the paint in,without to much mess, whereas a roller will struggle, plus a lot of splatter.

No need to seal brickwork.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/hamilton-performance-masonry-paintbrush-4/14712

 

Spraying walls, woodwork, not a problem, but I have no experince spraying bare brick walls, but spraying has so many disadvantages viscosity, overspray, masking off,etc, & you would still to do cutting in with a brush.

Long pile roller would be ok, but the spatter can be problem, so well sheet everthing.

 

A proper airless sprayer will do that in no time.

 

The sprayer will, it depends on the peep using it, had idiot at last place spraying walls,my fence was about 10mtrs away had cornish cream flecks everywhere, wasn't happy.

 

The one our head painter uses cost about £2000 so I would go for a hire. I'm not at work today but I will ask tomorrow.

 

HVLP sprayer like my Apollo will spray, emulsion or masonry depend on needle size, they can be hired around £50 a day.
A very easy to use, little mess compared to the old type sprayer.

Here we go: http://www.brandontoolhire.co.uk/en/decorating-tool-hire/147-hvlp-compact-spray.html

 

Sandtex exterior is microporous paint, so allows the wall to breathe, a lot other other masonry paints are micro porous.

Looking Sandtex Ultra Smooth they recommend using a brush.

 

I doubt emulsion paint will flake - it shouldn't. There is no reason why it should.

However, masonry will be more durable and is probably the best option here.

How to apply? I did my own garage insides - single block construction - and had a similar problem with getting the paint in to the deep texture. So I used a cheapo electric airless sprayer. This did work, but I had to dilute the paint a fair amount to get it to spray convincingly. This meant that, when the paint dried, it wasn't as thick as I'd hoped and the grey of the blocks still showed through. So I used a roller to apply a neat coat over it which was ok - the deep bits were white enough...

If you can spray on a thick enough coat, then it will - by far - be the easiest method. Expect to have to apply two coats min, tho'. I suspect using either a brush or a deep-pile roller will be a bit of a 'mare. but you won't know until you try - it might be ok.

No harm in trying a 'manual' method first!

If using a roller, I'd slap it on thick, and then roll roll roll to spread it out.

 

If Sandtex would need to be seriously water down to spray it, brush is they recommend ,you can work the paint into all the crevices,etc, just sheet the floor, problems start when you overload the brush with paint, it splatters everywhere.

Just had a nosey at the Dulux Weathershield Smooth Masonry Paint & they don't recommend it for use on common or Fletton bricks.

https://www.dulux.co.uk/en/products/weathershield-smooth-masonry-paint

So, check Sandtex or any other paint is suitable.