How to Do 3D Faux Brick on a Wall

Faux brick is useful when the expense, weight or permanence of the real thing is not desirable. You can add three-dimensional faux brick onto walls in your home, or on a theatrical stage or haunted house set. The faux brick will be carved into sheets of insulation foam, which is available at most hardware stores and tends to be 1-inch thick. Once the foam is in place, you will texture and paint it to look like the real thing.

Insulation foam sheets
Saw
Construction adhesive
Tarp
Laser level
Pencil
Sandpaper
Wire brush
Rotary tool with grinding bit
Paint and brushes
Nails or screws (optional)

Instructions

- 1
  Glue sheets of foam insulation board onto your wall with construction adhesive. These sheets come in 4-by-8-foot sizes. Cut them with a saw as needed to cover the entire wall.
- 2
  Allow the construction adhesive to dry.
- 3
  Lay a tarp on the floor to keep it clean.
- 4
  Draw a brick pattern onto the foam with a pencil, using a laser level to ensure that the lines are perfectly straight and level.
- 5
  Scour the foam surface with 60-grit sandpaper and a stiff wire brush to provide a brick texture.
- 6
  Carve mortar lines into the foam with a rotary tool and drum-shaped grinding bit, following your pencil lines. These carved lines should be 1/4-inch deep.
- 7
  Paint the mortar lines with ivory-colored latex paint. Allow this paint to dry.
- 8
  Paint the raised bricks with dark red paint. Allow it to dry.
- 9
  Apply a lighter red paint onto the raised bricks with a coarse sea sponge. This paint will be somewhat irregular, allowing the darker paint to show through. Allow this paint to dry.
- 10
  Nail or screw the foam sheets to the wall for temporary, removable faux brick.

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