Getting the paint off the outside of the house

JackieR2

This is a strange one, I always come here when I have a problem Im almost too embarased to ask of anyone in the real work.... Anyhow


I have been doing up my forever home, there will be no moves and I am staying here, thats it... so I want to get it perfevt in every word, its taken quite a bit of work.


I made a mistake, as petty as this may sound, I had some work done on the outside of the house (it needed re pointing) and it had previously been painted years and years ago. After the re pointing the builders re painted the house brick outside, they did a good job and it was part of the quote, I agreed to it.


I hate the newly painted brick, I think I just hate painted brick. The outside of the house looked better before to me, the old paint was dull and faded and I liked it more than the bright red horrible brick as it is now. Every time I walk up the driveway or see it I get annoyed.


Now as it was before it had been painted and you couldnt see the cement between the brick. I would like it in an ideal world to be just natural brick and cement, google "exterior brick wall" to see what I mean.


I bet after it had been repointed the cement would have been visible and looked great.


So - I have 3 questions:


1) Can the paint be removed and just leave nice brick and cement/a natural look
2) Would waiting a year to let it crack and (hopefully) fade make it easier to do the above?
3) Would it ever get weather beaten off on its own?

Aylesbury_Duck

I’d leave it to weather. That, and you will get used to it at the same time. It looks stark to you now but come back and tell us what you think in April. I’m sure it won’t seem so stark by then.

paddy's_mum

Would changing the colour help?

You mention that it is currently red, which is going to be eye-catching. Would pale cream or a soft buttery yellow look better...?

Tom99

It can be done but its not easy or cheap, plenty on google about how to do it e.g.

https://www.basildonstone.co.uk/remove-paint-from-brick/

macman

It's a nightmare to strip, and you'll never get it all off the pointing in particular.

Davesnave

I'd just repaint in a more restful colour.



Colour makes a huge difference. We've entirely re-styled the front of our bungalow, making massive changes to the structure, but no one ever comments on that. The only thing they mention and enquire about is the colour!

armchaireconomist

Paint it a softer colour. You're looking at pressure washer/sand blasting to "remove" it, and how much of the surface gets damaged is anyones guess (you'll certainly need to re-do some pointing minimum)

Tom99

You can buy a trial pack of the paint remover for about £5. You could try a patch which included some pointing to see how it works.

https://www.stripperspaintremovers.com/

If you use google to search for this type of product be careful, you can get some unexpected results!

bxboards

I think you'll struggle. It'll come of the brickwork much easier than the pointing, you'll never end up going back to brick + mortar, at best you'll get 90% of it off, and it'll look like someone splashed paint on your wall with what is left.

I don't have any suggestions I'm afraid!

that

if you sand blast it or a similar method you may end up damaging the brick, and may become more porous?

Thought about cladding in brick effect, or brick effect tiles, or wall panels, or veneers?