Removing paint from brick

[atticus]

The front of my house (Victorian red brick) is painted. How difficult would it be to remove the paint and restore brickwork to something like the original? What's the best way to do it?

[Derek Geldard]

Depends on the surface of the bricks but I can't see a satisfactory way of unpainting a whole house front.

I've found it nigh on impossible to completely remove the odd errant brush strokes (On LBC sandfaced bricks) from when SWMBO decided she'd waited long enough to have the white woodwork painted.

I tried Nitromors which got 70% off followed by vigorous scouring which got another 20% off, at the cost of damaging the face of the bricks.

Nitromors only works the once, after that you are down to mechanical removal methods, over a whole house front I couldn't contemplate it.

I don't know if a caustic stripper would work any better on brick, but the quantities needed would be humunguous.

DG

[Andrew Gabriel]

I imagine it would have to be something which removed the brick surface, sand blasting maybe? Depends on the bricks if they will withstand that and what they'll look like and how they'll weather afterwards.

[ganja]

something which removed the brick

Having done this a few times now on london yellow & south soft reds, Wire brushing is a definate No, Also steer clear of nitromors it can affect the porosity of the brick and you could end up with water penetration, Peel away type blanket strippers are the best for this type of work, And the biggest hot power washer you can hire, Strip the remaining paint with peel away type product then neutralise as instructed, Then power wash and let someone help you do this by having them sprinkle sharp sand into the fan spray with a dustpan as you are washing, Protect all glass or it will be frosted in seconds, after that the only thing left is abrasion by hand to remove anything left, I am a proffesional property renovator and regularly work for English Heritage cleaning, redecorating period property's And have found this to work on numerous occasions with very minimal danage to stone or brickwork sometimes a bit of repointing is needed, Then finally leave to weather for a month if poss then seal with something like thompsons water seal

[Robert Laws]

people do sandblast the paint of Victorian hosues here in Cambridge but my surveyor advised against it and said this is bad as it is only the outer 'crust' of the old 'baked' brick that is strong. Once blasted they are porus more prone to decay and crumbling.

Robert