Removing peeling paint from front of house

athenajm

Hi, I was wondering whether anyone has ever paid someone to remove the paint from the front of a terraced house and how much it cost? Or, has anyone ever done it themselves and is it hard to do?

I live in an 1890s terraced bay fronted house which was painted many years ago before I bought it but the paint is all peely and looks terrible. I know that to have it all removed and the front of the house sealed and fixed up would be very expensive so have resigned myself to having to have it painted again. I have bought the paint as an ex was going to do it all for me, but life being what it is, that now isn't an option.

So, is it simple enough for me to remove the paint myself (or at least remove the peeling bits so the walls can be repainted) or if it's something I''m better off using a professional for, then does anyone have a rough idea of cost so that I can start saving. I have put a quote request on a website set up for that kind of thing but thought I'd ask on here as well.

Thanks.x

keystone

Scrub the loose off with a wire brush. Treat any exposed friable areas with stabiliser. Paint over the top.

Cheers

nickj_2

rather than getting an unknown from a trade website , you'd be better off getting a reccomended decorator either from friends, nieghbours etc .
are the walls smooth or pebbledash or similar ?
if they are smooth then it shouldn't be too difficult to scrape off the loose stuff

evoke

What keystone said.

I had to do this on a previous house many years ago. It was very hard work. It was really just elbow grease. You could try to hire a cheap labourer for a day. I don't think you'd need a professional decorator to prepare the wall. Painting it, perhaps.

You could try using a scraper to get the loosest flakes off back to the solid paint. Then wire-brush to provide a good key.

The only issue I can foresee is that you'll be able to see the bits you've scraped off after you've painted it if it's brickwork. You could mask that to an extent using textured masonry paint but that is quite expensive because coverage is low.

athenajm

Thanks for all the tips. Looks like it's something I will be able to do myself.

Nickj - I would ask friends, family, neighbours, but everyone I know on the road lives in rented accommodation, none of my friends own a house and my family all live a very long way away so there isn't anyone I can go to for recommendations unfortunately.

From what everyone has said though, I think I'll be able to do it, maybe with some friends roped in to help!

ed110220

I've recently removed flaking paint from very rough cast render which must be the worst thing to get it off short of pebble dash. It isn't a difficult job, but it did take some time.

I used paint stripper from http://www.stripperspaintremovers.com (needed to get some samples to work out which one) and a pressure washer.

You may find a pressure washer is easier than a wire brush (I certainly did on rough cast - a wire brush hardly touched the stuff but the pressure washer blasted all the loose paint off even without paintstripper, right back to render).

Getting it back to brick, stone or whatever is underneath might be a timeconsuming job if you need to get every last bit off, but it's doable.