I suspect a previous owner was a smoker, and the fireplace wasn't adequately cleaned and prepped before the application. That's nicotine bleed. That's all going to need to be wirebrushed, and then primed with a shellac based primer. Then painted. But all of the loose and porous applied lime has to come off first.

Oh no! We bought the house 6 months ago and I wouldn't be surprised about the previous owner being a smoker since I kind of know his history. This sounds like such a pain to fix. Thank you so much for your response!

Was your painter an artistic type? Maybe she'd be willing to come back and add some antiquing to the upper parts (that's a euphemism for "making it all nicotine stained so it looks intentional").

Or..if it's good all the way down to the hearth, perhaps you could get away with a different finish on the bottom part? Would it look weird to do a solid white there?

If nicotine was the cause, wouldn't the stains affect the entire fireplace, not just the hearth? Why is the top part unaffected?

Maybe it's not nicotine. Maybe the PO kept plants on the hearth and they were frequently overwatered. It does seem like something is coming through, though.

(note to self: don't paint fireplace)

This fireplace is double-sided. The other side of the wall, the fireplace is fine as well except for 2 small spots. Most of the problem is just on the hearth of this the one fireplace so now I'm thinking nicotine isn't the problem since it will be everywhere. I hope someone can give me advice on how to fix this. I am really bummed and hate the way it looks right now.

You can’t “fix” that without stripping it and cleaning it. As should have been done prior to that way overdone too heavy amateur schmear application. Even if you didn’t have stains coming through, it’s wrong. You either seal it all in, in losing all of the brick detail, by shellacking it over now, and glopping more glop on top of it. Or you have it soda blasted, and hope that removes most of the stain when it removes the glop.

Remove glop. More glop. That’s your A or B.

C would be air chisel and take it all down to the framing and start over. And learn your lesson about Pinned fails. You’ve got a doozy.

Seems odd that it is only down low. We have some places in the house where the dogs and cat like to rub/scratch that look an awful lot like that..... Do you have pets?

I’d never heard of German smear technique. Now I have the name for a look I’ve always loved.

Cover that ugly painted brick with something bleed-proof, please.

I have seen a lot of german smear and its beautiful, however, this is like no german smear I have seen, and it is (and I hate to say this) really ugly. Sorry, you didnt get what you were hoping for.

Shievce, we are a pet free and smoke free family but we've only been in this house for 6 months so I dont know if the previous owner has pets or not.

I am so bummed about this whole process! Looks like my best solution would be just to paint it all white and avoid any more problems.

If you like the top part (it's not bad!), can you just seal and (solid) paint the bottom part? Perhaps tile or reface the bottom part?

Now that I think about it, that yellow stuff looks familiar! I had it on the bottom part of a painted brick fireplace. I had assumed the previous owners had spilled varnish or glue or something on it and ignored it.

It's not a bad look, but I'd definitely say it looks more like "distressed paint" and nothing like German smear. Maybe you can just seal the problem areas, then apply more white paint and distress it?

You could take up heavy smoking, and in several years the problem will be solved (one way or another).

I agree that something is bleeding through. If it were right around the mouth of the fireplace, I'd say it was wood smoke.

Academic question: is it German smear or German schmear? I heard Chip Gaines pronounce it schmear (in fact they made a joke of it), but I'd guess he's no expert.

It’s a lime wash with hydrated lime, or parge coat that is partially brushed off if using mortar. Schmear is an affectation. Yes, it’s a Germanic/Yiddish term for smear, but nothing else about limewashing brick is especially Germanic over any other ethnic origin.

An actual smeared mortar finish can only be done at the time that the original brick work is done with the original mortar. It’s actually careless finish work and was only common on rustic homes that the unskilled built for themselves. No wealthy person who could afford a brick house would want that careless sloppy look on their house. Limewashing was one of the earliest forms of opaque coating anything, and was done occasionally done over masonry because of mold and mildew making it look dank and depressing. It was also used to help control insects.

I would try and take a scraping tool or a wire brush to the discolored areas. Try and remove some of the yellow first with hard tools and elbow grease. It is not that bad or noticeable in the pictures. The yellow does look a little like an "antique" application so maybe you can just pass it off as that if anyone notices. My first guess was that the bricks underneath might have had some yellow tone to them and that was showing through. Second thought, it was not properly cleaned before adding the brush coat of mortar.

It is a little thick in coverage for my taste. That's why I would try and chisel some yellow off first. You would get more of the upper look on the bottom. You will need to find out exactly what mortar mix the worker applied before you invest in acids and sand blasting. Just don't stress! Do what you can with it and then let it be a happy accident. I am sure after all the furnishings and things no one will notice.

Is it just there on the side, low? (Its hard to tell in pictures, but it just looks like "character" to me.) I'd either just leave it, put a plant or basket with firewood next to it, or find off-white matte paint to touch it up (i.e., match the white; dab it here and there - don't try to make it perfectly painted of course). I wouldn't worry too much about it if that's the only place something is bleeding through. (But YMMV - I live in an old house and everything has imperfections. No one notices but me.)

Did you happen to have any dark or black bricks? I just did a German Smear on my brick fireplace and yellow bled through where the black bricks were. I just let it dry, made more mortar mix, and added another layer of mortar mix on top of the yellowed spots. It added to the smear look. I'm not sure what the hired person did to your fireplace, but if mortar was used, you could go over it again, like I did. Now my only issue is the sulfur smell coming from the dried mortar. Ew.

How do I stop my German smear from coming off when it get wet

We did it today and my husband decided to test to brick on floor and it came out . Do I deal it

I did a smear also; same result. There was an old buck stove in the fireplace before, TSP'd the entire brick scrubbed until completely clean, after applying smear same thing a yellowy color came through. I read somewhere that if you don't have smooth bricks (ours were rough) this can happen, also realized it's probably the smoke stains from the buck stove from 30 years use that was soaked into brick. So it wasn't the technique it was most likely the brick or stains from years past in the brick.

Has anyone found how to fix 😒

Has anyone found how to fix 😒

Hi @Martha G. Rivas

Check this link out - you may have to scrape it off and then apply a sealer as per the note under Nicotine Bleeding.

https://axmasonry.com/a-guide-how-to-fix-german-smear-gone-wrong/