Brick & Masonry Staining in Nashville Permanent Color for Nashville Brick.
Mineral stain for Nashville brick, from East Nashville bungalows to new houses in Williamson County, applied by hand and warrantied for life. Three documented Tennessee projects.
Nashville homes, apartments, and offices, stained one brick at a time.
A Nashville house and a Nashville apartment block get the same mineral stain, the same crews, and the same lifetime warranty. What changes is the scale and who signs the work order.
Residential Staining
Color changes on older brick houses in the city, and new stairs, porches and additions matched to the house in the suburbs.
Explore Residential
Commercial & Architectural
Apartments, offices, churches and manufacturer color corrections across Davidson and Williamson Counties, with the documentation to back them.
Explore CommercialBrick staining in Nashville, proven on your own wall first.
Bramwell-McKay stains brick, block, stone, and precast in Nashville and the counties around it, from our office in Carmel, Indiana, about four and a half hours north by way of I-65. A Nashville project is planned as a trip: site visit, water test, a sample on your wall, then a written quote.
The stain is mineral, not paint. Inorganic pigments soak into the masonry and bond with the clay, so the color sits inside the wall instead of forming a film across it. The brick keeps breathing, the texture does not change, and nothing is left on the surface to peel.
Our documented work so far is concentrated in the Midwest, and we travel for whole-home and commercial projects. Three Tennessee projects are on file, each photographed the year it was stained and again years later: a house where a few off-color bricks by the front door were lightened in 1999, a four-story apartment block blended in 2004, and a new brick stair toned to match its house in 2015. Two of the three were paid for by the company that made the brick.
The work Nashville brick asks for
Middle Tennessee is building fast and building in brick, and the oldest parts of Nashville are brick too, so the calls split between brand-new walls and very old ones. Three of the four kinds below have a documented Tennessee project behind them.
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Brick that went up out of range
Some units came out of the kiln darker or lighter than the rest, and the wall reads blotchy. On new apartments and subdivisions, the brick maker or the mason often pays for the correction. See The Row apartments in Tennessee or the builders and contractors page.
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A new stair or addition against older brick
The new brick is the right size and the wrong shade, and it sits at the front door where everyone sees it. Selective staining tones the new units into the old ones, brick by brick. See the Tennessee stair addition, toned in 2015 and still in range in 2022.
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A few bad bricks you would rather not cut out
Cutting out off-color units and laying new ones is costly work. Staining just those units into the wall is the smaller job, and it stays put. See the Tennessee house where the bricks by the doorbell were lightened in 1999 and still matched in 2020.
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An older house in a color that has aged out
In Germantown, East Nashville and the mid-century streets of Green Hills, the brick is sound and the color belongs to another decade. A whole-home color change moves it for good, with no film for a humid summer to blister. See the buff-to-grey colonial or full-home color changes.
If your Nashville masonry soaks up water, we can stain it
The core of what we do. Any absorbent brick, from a Victorian in Germantown to a new build in Nolensville.
The joints between the brick, stained on their own or along with the wall.
Concrete block on a garage, a foundation, or an addition takes stain and keeps its texture.
Limestone, sandstone, and fieldstone can be toned, matched, or evened out.
Faded or mismatched veneer stone gets its color back without replacement.
Patio pavers and cast concrete carry color the same way brick does.
Can we get the color you are looking for?
Almost certainly. Colors are custom mixed, so you are not picking from a little fan of chips.
A run of brick that came out brown against a grey wall. Stained to match the courses around it. Both photos are the same afternoon, eighty minutes apart.
Drag to compare. Pick any job to see it.
Darker and richer is easy; going much lighter depends on your brick, and we will tell you straight after we see it. Start at brick stain colors to see what is possible.
Three Tennessee projects, photographed years apart.
How do we know it lasts through Tennessee summers? We go back and photograph it again. These three projects were re-photographed seven to twenty-one years after they were stained, and the brick still reads the way it did the week the crew left.
Why Nashville brick gets stain, not paint
Nashville summers are long and humid, and brick spends them taking on water and giving it back. Paint gets in the way of the giving back: moisture collects behind the film until the film blisters and peels, and the wall goes back on the scrape-and-repaint list. The National Park Service says it in its guidance on brick masonry: non-permeable paint or other coatings accelerate decay by trapping moisture behind the coating.
Mineral stain leaves the wall open. The pigment is inorganic, it is absorbed into the pore structure, and it bonds with the clay, so there is no film to blister. The Brick Industry Association's Technical Note 6, in its March 2025 revision, states that mineral-based stains are "preferred due to their high water vapor permeability" (opens in a new tab). The Row apartments in Tennessee, blended in 2004, were photographed seventeen summers later in one even range.
Every finished job carries a lifetime warranty on the stain system as applied. The warranty does not cover mortar deterioration, and a sealer applied over the top afterward voids it. Read the full text on the warranty page, and compare the cost of each option over the life of a wall on brick staining vs painting.
Staining vs Painting, in FullDon't take it from us.
Their expertise in brick staining, especially matching historic brick that's no longer available, is exceptional. It's not just close; they achieve a level of color and texture blending that makes repairs virtually disappear… Bramwell McKay employs master masons directly rather than relying on subcontractors, and it shows in the consistency and craftsmanship of their work… Whether it's restoration, repair, or new work that needs to tie seamlessly into an older structure, they bring a level of knowledge and execution that's hard to find.
Did a project for my girlfriend, excellent work and done in the timeframe they promised. Would definitely recommend
I had them redo the bricks on my house from pink to beige and brown. They were courteous and professional. I was very pleased and have had many compliments on the great job they did.
It doesn't look anything like conventional stains or paint. It actually looks like the brick or stones were made the color you stain them. It's very durable also.
Masonry staining for Nashville, from Germantown to the Williamson County line.
Nashville keeps a lot of its history in brick: the Victorian houses of Germantown, the bungalows of East Nashville, and the civic masonry around Union Station and the Ryman. Brick staining suits walls like these, because it changes the color without covering anything. The stain soaks into the face of each unit, and the old texture stays in view.
Painting vs. brick staining is the choice in front of many owners of older brick, often on a house someone painted years ago that now peels after each humid summer. Paint sits on the brick as a skin; stain goes into it. A skin has to be redone every few years. Stain is applied once and carries a lifetime warranty.
Masonry staining reaches past brick. Block, mortar, limestone and cast stone take the same mineral stain, from a single front stair to a four-story apartment block, and each color is mixed for the building and proven on its own wall first. The full list is on our masonry staining services page.
What to expect when you work with us
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Consultation
We take the brief on the first call: the building, its condition, the result you want, and the schedule the work has to fit.
You receive Documented scope -
Site assessment
We evaluate the masonry in person. Substrate condition, existing coatings, access, and how the work has to be sequenced around you.
You receive Condition and access review -
Absorption test
Water on the brick shows how the surface absorbs. Stain bonds into the pore structure, so this result governs whether the substrate qualifies at all.
You receive Substrate go or no go -
Sample panel and proposal
A section of your actual wall, stained and adjusted until the color is approved. It becomes the reference standard. Firm pricing in writing at the same time.
You receive Approved color standard, firm written price -
Application and closeout
Applied by hand with a brush, signed off section by section against the approved panel. Final walk, photo documentation, warranty in writing.
You receive Documented completion, lifetime warranty
Nashville brick staining questions
See your masonry in a new color
Two ways to reach us, and both go straight to a real person. We usually get back to you the same day.
Fill out the form
The form asks for what a real quote needs: the address, what the brick looks like now, and photos or drawings of the wall. Fill it out once, and we come out already knowing the job.
Request a QuoteCall us
A real person answers, and if we are on a wall, we call you right back. Best for a quick question, or if you've never explored stain before and want the full tutorial, we're happy to have a real person call and talk it through with you.