Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - Cement finish over brick

I have a 80+ year old home with vynil siding on the upper level and brick on the bottom level. The brick is looking very old and I'm thinking about covering it with a layer of cement and use some decorative bricks or stones on the corners.

Is this ok? What are the "gotchas" in doing something like this? I have no experience in doing it whatsoever but back in Brazil all our houses have brick walls covered with cement, so I'm assuming it will work here too. Is that a fair assumption?

Thanks,
Vander

In your climate you will need something like stucco using wire mesh if you want it to last more than a few years.

Most of the walls your are familiar with in Brazil are basic thin one or two coat stucco applied directly on the concrete block. They work well on the 15 to 20 story loadbearing block buildings because of the climate.

Stuco is also common in most of Europe. The older buildings in places like Poland, Czech Republic, etc. are stucco applied directly on masonry without any mesh. These are usually patched where needed every 5 to 10 years (sooner for clay block homes and later for concrete block homes). This repair is a result of the climate, moisture and dissimilar materials (clay brick has long term expansion and concrete has long term shrinkage) in the case of clay.

Check out a few buildings with stucco in the area to see what has worked.

Dick