Can you remove paint from a painted brick house?

It can be difficult to remove paint from brick.Depending on the scope of the job, it can take several hours or days to complete.Many homeowners are unable or unwilling to commit their schedules to the project because of the time and effort involved.

If you relish a challenge or only deal with a modest expanse of brick, there is some good news: Paint-stripping products have improved over the years, making the work friendlier to your health and to the brick itself.These new, safer formulas are the way to go.Many people recommend Citri-Strip.Devotees of SmartStrip as well.None are cheap, but they are effective.

If you try a shortcut, such as power- washing the paint, it may do more harm than good and leave the building material in a vulnerable condition.In a similar way, many caustic chemical-based paint-removal solutions compromise brick.If you use any of these potentially damaging methods to remove paint from brick, you may end up with a bigger problem than paint.

It is important to not clean the brick in a way that harms it.Gel or paste compounds are the best solutions, followed by fabric-based peeling strips.The paint stripper causes a chemical reaction that makes the paint adhere to the fabric.In the final step, the fabric strips are peeled away, taking the paint with them and exposing the natural brick.Know what you are getting into.Most situations call for a great deal of further scrubbing and/or scraper by hand, but the right paint stripper can do most of the work for you.