Internal brick wall - Painting over existing paint?

Hi all,

I have this big cupboard/porch type thing downstairs which houses my gas and electric meters and my pushbike (photos below).
It's a single skinned wall so gets very cold inside.

Anyway when I first moved into my home this cupboard had sunk slightly in the ground and cracked all the brickwork. I've had a builder repoint it all last year.

Now is the time to paint it (I wish I took a photo before to show you how bad it was).

The room was already painted white.

So far I have painted standard mat emulsion watered down into the new cement between the bricks.

Now I need to finish the job and paint the whole room.

My question is this... What type of paint I need to paint over all this and it actually stick?

The old paint doesn't look like emulsion to me. Doesn't have that powdery finish. But it isn't shiny either.

Also what type of roller do I need as it's not a flat surface?

Thankyou very much.

It's probably just a smooth masonry paint that was used initially. Whilst they are not really recommended for certain types of brick (e.g. fletton) a lot of bricks are fine when it is applied. The existing paint seems to be pretty sound so you can just paint directly over it with a decent brand masonry smooth or textured masonry paint - Sandtex, Dulux Weathershield, etc. However, the yellow staining will probably bleed through a water based masonry paint at some point, so you may wish to use a suitable stain blocking primer first to avoid such an issue.

As for the roller, you can just use a standard, medium pile roller (somewhere between ½-¾" pile) with a 2" brush for getting into awkward corners/dips. Personally, I'd use a thick stocked 4" masonry brush for the whole area, but that's just me.

Thanks for the reply! I agree the current old paint is stuck well. Not flaking anywhere at all.

I didn't expect to be recommended Dulux Weathershield type paint as I thought that was designed for external walls getting rained on etc?

The yellow staining you see in the photos is where I tried helping my building brother do the repointing of the brickwork and I got impatient and started proper throwing the cement into the cracks lol. So it's literally just thin sand stains over the top of the old paint. It's not something currently seeping through.

Yes, it may seem unusual to use masonry paint indoors but a brick wall is a form of masonry. If you are 100% certain that there is no seepage, you could probably just use a good quality emulsion. I would still prefer to use a masonry paint, but it's up to you. Just be aware that any staining can still bleed through any water-based paint, as the moisture in the paint reactivates the stain. Hopefully you'll be lucky and get away with it.

Hi again, so just to clarify, this sort of paint is best? Link...

http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-trade-masonry-paint-brilliant-white-10ltr/13039

And I can just paint it straight over the existing paint?
What I was worried about was the prep - I had it in my head I would have to sand down the whole room!

Any more advice would be much appreciated please painting experts.

I'm starting to wonder if I've posted on the wrong forum or something lol!

Muchly thanks.