Cleaning paint from exterior brickwork

[guyspartacus]

Hi all

 

I'm renovating/converting an old pub into a house and the existing brickwork is covered with several coats of thick white masonry paint. I've been pulling the electrical fittings and wiring from the facade and it's making an awful mess.

 

We're going to be changing some windows and doors, adjusting brickwork here and there as well as building new walls - all to be painted.

 

What is the best and quickest way to remove this old paint from brickwork (some of which is 18th century) to give a good surface to repaint later?

 

Thanks,

[scottishjohn]

16 minutes ago, guyspartacus said:

Hi all

 

I'm renovating/converting an old pub into a house and the existing brickwork is covered with several coats of thick white masonry paint. I've been pulling the electrical fittings and wiring from the facade and it's making an awful mess.

 

We're going to be changing some windows and doors, adjusting brickwork here and there as well as building new walls - all to be painted.

 

What is the best and quickest way to remove this old paint from brickwork (some of which is 18th century) to give a good surface to repaint later?

 

Thanks,

get it sand blasted -will be your best way -then repoint it and paint it

[guyspartacus]

12 minutes ago, scottishjohn said:

get it sand blasted -will be your best way -then repoint it and paint it

Cool - I'll look into this

 

There's no chance this will just blast the soft bricks away?

[scottishjohn]

3 minutes ago, guyspartacus said:

Cool - I'll look into this

 

There's no chance this will just blast the soft bricks away?

that would be down to the operator --but talk to a contractor

i did it with a building in scotland --a stone one which had been pianted for over 100years --all came off and very little damge to the mortar -such that only places i repaired were bits where the paint was broken and was missing before the sand blasting.

maybe if it looks good you might not want to paint ?-Ididn,t repaint mine -looks far better in the stone 

Edited July 8, 2020 by scottishjohn

[guyspartacus]

6 minutes ago, scottishjohn said:

that would be down to the operator --but talk to a contractor

i did it with a building in scotland --a stone one which had been pianted for over 100years --all came off and very little damge to the mortar -such that only places i repaired were bits where the paint was broken and was missing before the sand blasting.

maybe if it looks good you might not want to paint ?-Ididn,t repaint mine -looks far better in the stone 

Yeah - I did think that it might look good as bare brick.

 

It's been painted since it was built in 1720 I believe and our current material schedule for approval shows painted brick again.

[PeterW]

Just watch out - I doubt the bricks match as over time it will have been extended etc, and you will need to try and match if you want them on show.

 

The benefit of painting will be that you can use any reclaim - cheap as chips - as they will be painted when you extend.

 

Most of the good modern (Sikkens, Johnstones) masonry paints is that they will go over any other paint that is stable. Just a decent wire brush of the walls will mean they are ready to paint as you need to wash off the muck and algae with a jet wash then roughen up with the wire brush.

[guyspartacus]

5 hours ago, PeterW said:

Just watch out - I doubt the bricks match as over time it will have been extended etc, and you will need to try and match if you want them on show.

 

The benefit of painting will be that you can use any reclaim - cheap as chips - as they will be painted when you extend.

 

Most of the good modern (Sikkens, Johnstones) masonry paints is that they will go over any other paint that is stable. Just a decent wire brush of the walls will mean they are ready to paint as you need to wash off the muck and algae with a jet wash then roughen up with the wire brush.

Good Point

 

Current bricks appear to all be fairly consistent imperial stock with a strange bond in some areas (stretcher, header, stretcher, 3 x header) and standard stretcher bond & garden wall in others.

 

I might try and tidy up with a wire brush before getting any professionals out