Paint Removal from Brick

[poppamango]

Hi,

We have badly flaking paint on the external brick walls of our house. Just wondering whats the best way to go about the prep-work before they are repainted. It looks like the first coat was Calsomine (Kalsomine) as it is chalky and pigmented orange then there is 100years of enamel paint. I understand that calsomine was sometimes used on external surfaces (which is probably why its flaking so bad)? Is a H20 pressure cleaner +/- sandblaster the way to go? I have used peelaway indoors before but reckon it would cost a bomb.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Oldsaltoz]

How about a small test patch with caustic soda, the stuff they use to remove several layers of paint from old doors.

Pressure washing may introduce a lot of moisture and it may tale some to dry out enough to be re-coated.

Sand blasting is very messy and expensive since the use of common sand was banned, but even the replacement grits are dusty and you may well end up with hollows in areas because briks are a regular hardness, nor in the cement.

Some form of chemical cleaning would make the least mess and require less effort on your part.

Good luck. :)

[Tannwin]

I will stand corrected but Ive never heard on using Kalsomine on exterior walls as its water soluble and would soon wash off, which is the recommended method of removal from interior walls.

I think '100 years of enamel' over flaking poorly prepared surfaces could be your problem.

I dont envy you in this task

[plum]

I'd experiment first with a commercial sized pressure cleaner, I've got one and it has opened up a new world with what can be achieved with these monsters.

[munruben]

Pressure cleaners are great but can do a lot of damage to old brickwork and mortar if you are not careful. Old bricks become brittle over time and a powerful pressure cleaner can actually cause it to disintegrate in extreme cases.