Hi All

What is the best way of removing paint from bricks

these are internal decorative bricks, in an enclosed room, and are originally from a listed cottage at least a few hundred years old

Regards

Steve

what kind of paint is on the brick?
what kind of brick is it?

possibly caustic soda and a wire brush may do......if you try it, use a weak mix to start with in a discreet area and use a brass wire brush (curved, narrow type). this method may even give you a distressing affect.

or somthing like discleen, or patio cleaner (although they may damage the brick.

ive used flame to get paint from brick in the past, though not 200 year old stone.

surely there must be some info on the net somewhere!

hope this helps.

ed.

Hi Ed

Thanks for the info

It is just standard white emulsion on the bricks

Not sure what type they are, they are like normal house brick size, but none of them are identical (if you know what I mean), they are very old, but the area that has been painted is in a small utility room that I want to convert into a Bar :)

So i want the bare brick again, the other side of the wall in the living room, all the brick has been sealed with some kind of clear sealant

Ill post some pics if I get chance, of both the exposed brick and painted

Steve

Sonic,
I reckon your best bet is paint stripper, being emulsion it would be just about possible to get it very wet and then scrub like fury, BUT that would then need a lot of rinsing, so, stripper it is, no, not the £50 stag night type, the type you get from a diy shop!
Apply a fair amount with a paint brish (ironic I know) let it do it's job, and then rinse with (normally) hot water, this then stops the reaction the stripper is having, and hopefully, all your paint will be on the floor.
Ron.
ps, i'd put something on the floor, cos I can see another post coming, 'what do I do about the stripper on the floor'!!!!!!
we all know the answer to that one, right?

Thanks Ron

here is the exposed brick (and ultimatly the end result)

http://white-elephant.homeip.net/brick1.jpg

And here is the painted Brick (what I need to remove) this is the other side of the first pic

http://white-elephant.homeip.net/brick2.jpg

Not too bothered about the floor, as Telewest flooded that room, and its bare concrete at the mo, till I do the brick, and then wooden flooring is going down (courtesey of Telewest :))

Steve

Ahh, see the problem.

We had a similar situation in our previous house. In the end we got the pros in and they used a sand blaster but with (IIRC) very small plastic balls. This was used as it was less abrasive or something. Made a right mess of the room (paint dust everywhere) but did a perfect job.

Cheers

Ian

they look like old stocks, or 2nd hards.....they are a tough brick so i would worry about damaging them.

you could like suggested get the pros in.....

the morter joins look in good condition too....If i were to do it manualy rather than blasting, i would chase out the old morter joins (about 1/2") resulting in only the brick areas in need of treating. then i would try various methods to get the paint off, (using the best one) brick by brick and the repoint and glaze.

sonic, i am a pro decorator, you aint going to get emulsion off with paint stripper, full stop,if it was just a small area you could of tried steaming and wire brushing[very time consuming]your only answer is having it blasted off.as for sealing bricks after,diluted unibond is what we use in barn conversions, pubs etc,
Dug.

Thanks for the replies

Oh dear, wonder how much it will cost to have the paint 'professionally' removed (ie get someone in to do it)

the wall is about 7-8 foot tall, and about 4-5 foot wide

I may try one or two of the suggestions, just to see if it will work

Steve

Don't think it's a job for paint stripper, if you want to go really mad you could have it sand blasted, there are people that do it, can be a bit messy, but does give the best result, then when it's all clean, seal with something like Thompson's water seal.
Didn't realise it was a whole wall, I thought it was a patch or something.
Ron.
ps, if you do find someone, warn them that the bricks might be a bit soft, seeing as they're quite old!

[Edited by RON - 1/5/2003 11:29:54 PM]