How to remove paint from bricks?

mistykal5

Evening All,

Anybody had any experience of removing paint from the outside of the house or from bricks without causing any damage? What products or method did you use?

Are there companies that do this type of work or is it a simple DIY job?

Thanks in advance for any help...

HappyMJ

You can do it yourself. What sort of paint is it? Takes a lot of effort though...just elbow grease no real skill needed...except some common sense with handling chemicals.

mistykal5

HappyMJ wrote: »

You can do it yourself. What sort of paint is it? Takes a lot of effort though...just elbow grease no real skill needed...except some common sense with handling chemicals.

I'm not sure what type of paint it is - it has been on the property since we've owned it - it's red external paint I guess.

What type of chemicals would I need to use? It's only the bottom half of the house, so not as bad as doing the whole thing!!

Wobblydeb

We're looking at this on a house we're buying, and tempted to hire a sand blasting machine.

I'd be interested if anyone had removed it this way?

mistykal5

Wobblydeb wrote: »

We're looking at this on a house we're buying, and tempted to hire a sand blasting machine.

I'd be interested if anyone had removed it this way?

I read that depending on the condition of the bricks, you could end up doing more damage than good using a sand blasting machine

tony6403

My advice would be not to attempt removing the paint.
Dragfaced/textured bricks will in my experience look terrible after trying to get rid of it.
You might have some success with smooth faced brick but the paint will not easily be removed from the bed joints/perps and you will almost certainly have to rake out and repoint.

Biggles

Almost impossible, I would have thought, without removing the outer surface of each brick. Better to find a more acceptable colour and repaint them.

muckybutt

I have used a steam cleaner / pressure washer with a high pressure nozzle on it in the past to remove graffiti from brickwork and to remove old masonry paint on our first house

Kiran

You can rent a hot water/steam pressure washer from Speedy Hire etc. but it won't be a miracle cure, it will take time. If the paint is in a bad state you might be lucky but I'd be concerned about the condition of the brick then.

BertieUK

My advice would be to get a reputable local contractor to visit your property and give you his opinion, the age of the brickwork and the type of paint that was used really depict the safest process to be carried out.

You could, without seeking professional advice cause a lot of damage to your brickwork.

When you get the paint removed from the property what plans have you for the walls?