Bitumastic paint on brick

I had this on a gable wall, it was quite old stuff. The wall was repointed and this got rid of a lot of it. I just scrapped off that which was loose and painted it. I would imagine that the property has lime mortar if it was painted with bitumen, in which case the lime mortar will disappear quicker than the bitumen. mark

Methylene chloride paint stripper is relatively easy if the underlying brickwork is flat and the scraper can run across it smoothly. You'd need a lot of it though, so buy it in 5 litre sizes from a wood finish supplier (usually listed under "french polish supplies" or similar).

Yeah, it generally does make it worse. Blasting is a no-no, it will strip the brick face off, and the bricks then gradually disintegrate. Paraffin dissolves bitumen on contact, but simpler is to just repoint using lime.

NT

Don't be silly. Plenty of historic buildings have been tarted up that way. In most cases there is no practical way to remove paint without losing the faces. Has made no difference to any building I know of, including part of my own house that was done 20 odd years ago.

And leave the bitumen on the faces?

In the building conservation trade, the technique of choice is

1. Flake it off if it will come off easily. It probably wont, so ...
2. Magic chemicals. Peelaway is one name which comes to mind. Another is
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Wire brush by hand. If it's damp behind, that will already have pushed much of the bitumen off the wall anyway, you just need to help it.

The "scouring pad" whirly disks for paint removal are good here too, as they don't damage terracotta. I'm working through our Victorian gatepost pyramids with them.