Hi, we have a small area of exposed brick in an outbuilding which we are turning into a feature, the bricks don't match and so we want to paint them. We're going to buy some masonary paint to do this. I read on the instructions that apart from the usual clean the dust etc., off the surface the wall will need treating with stabilzer. The stabilizer is twice the price of a small tin of paint!! Does anyone know of a different method of stabilizing the wall prior to painting it? I'm not inclinded to paint the brick and have the paint flake off after a couple months. The wall isn't damp or old and crumbly, just for some reason it's been built using what ever brick the bricky could get his hands on.