The sunroom in our house is a converted porch. It used to be a porch, but many years ago, one of the owners decided to enclose it. We love this space and are so glad those owners decided to that. Because that space is an old porch, several of the walls are the exterior brick. And some of those walls have exterior windows.
I love the exposed brick, but I don’t love the exposed windows. It makes the space look old and outdated. I was determined to find a way to fix that, so I decided that I was going to shiplap one of the walls where there was an old interior window. This is the wall I am talking about. It needs some life doesn’t it?
I love the look of shiplap, but here is the problem that I ran into - I needed to figure out a way to attach the shiplap to the brick. Normally, when I am installing shiplap over drywall, I just attach the shiplap to the studs, but I didn’t have studs, so I needed to make them. Attaching wood to brick can be a little tricky, but here is how we did it with no issues.
How to Attach Wood to Brick
Supplies:
Hammer Drill (Preferred)
Impact Driver (If you don’t have a hammer drill, this will work, but it is harder and takes more time)
2x4s
Directions:
Plan out your wall to determine how many 2x4s you need. Place them every 16in or 24in. We did ours every 16in, so we needed about 7 studs.
The concrete anchors should come with a drill bit needed to drill into the masonry. Attach that drill bit to the hammer drill.
Place the stud in the accurate location and drill a hole in the wood and the brick. Do this every 12in-16in down the stud.
Remove the drill bit and drill the concrete anchor into the stud and the wall using the hammer drill. Make sure this is secure. Depending on the integrity of the brick or the grout, this could be tricky.
Repeat this across the wall as necessary. This is what our wall looked like when all our wood studs were attached.
Helpful tips:
If your brick is in good condition, you can drill directly into the brick. If it is not, the mortar is a better option for you.
Drilling into brick can be tough, so bring your muscles!
Use a level to make sure each of your studs are straight up and down.
This project took us longer than expected, but it was worth it. This allowed us to create a beautiful shiplap wall.
That we were able to turn into an awesome media wall!
Hope this helps with your next brick project!
Caroline
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