Month: September 2013

Interested in other ways to strip paint from brick? See Part I of ‘How To Remove Paint From Brick’.

Using SOY-Gel* is pretty easy but there are a few things you can do to make the product work a little better. So let the paint stripping process begin!

Supplies: Drop Cloth*,tape, newspaper, SOY-Gel*, cheap/old paint brush, 2-3 inch STIFF Paint Scraper* (about the size of one short side of a brick), Stainless Steel Wire Brush* (best size is one you can grip comfortable, if it is too big then your will not be able to get the necessary pressure. Having two is better than one!), thick rubber gloves, old rags/towels

Useful extras: Second or third stainless steel brush (we didn’t have this), coarse steel wool, someone with lots of upper body strength

1. Begin by covering your work area: I can not stress this enough; I’m a neat painter but even I couldn’t control the mess. The stripper makes the old paint into a sticky goo that will repaint anything it lands on. I suggest putting a layer of painters cloth or plastic over whatever you want to protect. The painter’s tape does an okay job of keeping the gel off of woodwork. On top of the drop cloth I would lay a layer of newsprint (more on that later).

2. Glop (yes this is my technical term) the stripper on the brick: The directions suggest spraying it, but as I didn’t have the necessary equipment so I used a cheap paint brush. It is important to put a much thicker layer than your would paint; at least 1/8″. As you work you’ll discover the correct amount, but it is better to start thicker.

3. Wait: Yes, this is the boring part. I got into a rhythm of glopping it on in the morning and then scrapping it after I got home from work and the baby went to bed. However, there is a point at which it doesn’t make any difference how long you leave it. For me that was around 8 hours after that it didn’t seem to work any better. If you are going to let it set more than a couple of hours I suggest covering it with plastic wrap. I tried to be eco-conscious and reuse plastic bags or not use plastic at all. Trust me it was a fail, if the gel starts to dry then it becomes hard and tacky and you’ll have to use a lot more muscle to get it off. Plastic bags just didn’t cover it well enough but plastic wrap worked great.

4. Scrape, now the fun part begins: Don your rubber gloves, these will protect your hands from scraping against the brick and the sticky mess. Make sure you have newspaper under the area your going to scrape. Then take your scrapper and go to town. The old paint should fall on the newspaper and you can use the newspaper to wipe the scrapper on periodically.

Depending on how many layers of paint you have the four above steps can be repeated. For six layers of paint and rough-faced brick it took three layers. Two scraping and one scrubbing. Ah yes, the scrubbing…

5. Scrub with your brush: If you have smooth faced brick this may not be as big of a deal, however I was cursed blessed with rough brick. Basically once you have scraped as much paint off of the brick you’ll want to get that stainless steel brush out and start scrubbing. You can use any method as long as it involves scrubbing till your arms feel like rubber. Periodically the brush will get full of paint crud, at this point use the edge of the scraper to remove as much as possible (this is where another brush would come in handy b/c you can remove the goo much easier when it sets a bit). Also, you can rub any smoother areas down with steel wool.

6. Scrub with brush again: IMPORTANT, if you still have paint left and are going to do this scrub put a thin layer of paint remover on and let it set a couple of hours. The paint is pretty loose, but with out this lubricant (yes I used lubricant in a sentence) you will burn the brick with the brush. This last layer is a good time to enlist whichever person has the most upper arm strength (Patrick) in, but warn them if they over scrub it will literally blacken the front of the brick.

7. Wash down: I used an ancient towel and a bucket of water with another old towel to soak up the water at the bottom. You might even do this step periodically while scrubbing. It isn’t necessary, but cuts down on the scrubbing.

8. Realize some paint will remain: Unless you have some nice smooth brick your going to have particles of paint left. Or let’s put it this way; I got to a point where I liked the look and decided it was time to stop scrubbing.

Notes:   Please, please, please remember to check for lead when working with old paint.  Also, This is a physically exhausting process. I worked in 2 ft sections so as to make progress but not be overwhelmed. This took many hours over multiple days weeks. Always remember to test these products in your home first because your results might not be exactly like mine. In other words if this messes your home up don’t come looking for me.

So, you want to remove the paint from brick work? Good Luck! This is a messy, labor-intensive job.  However, I know that it can be done. Just remember, if you and a spouse/family/friend attempt this project together you may need to add in the cost of therapy above and beyond what I list here. So now down to PART I of the tutorial.  Skip to: Part II

Before beginning to strip the paint from the bricks I researched various means of completing this project. I ended up with 5 top competitors. Here are the pros and cons of each of these methods:

If you have old paint you really do not want to mess around with lead!  Get it tested before beginning this process.

Heat Gun*:

• Cost: around $50 for a cheap one $100-120 for good one.
• Pros: Can do small sections at one time. Once you own the gun you do not have to purchase further equipment.
• Cons: Can emit dangerous fumes especially with older (probably lead paint), May not loosen paint enough to remove from brick/masonry

Sand Blasting:

• Cost: $ 85- $150 per hour (Usually hire a professional)
• Pros: You hire a professional
• Cons: This will harm the surface of the brick and can really loosen mortar. Even with professionals there is going to be a good amount of escaped dust (Lead worries again)

Peel Away® One*:

• Cost: An Entire Peel Away Set*  (covers 80 sqft) runs about $110.  You’ll need special covering paper, neutralizer, and pH tester in addition to the chemical if you want to buy them all separately.
• Pros: Supposedly it will just peel away the paint
• Cons: Product can burn skin and you have to clean the brick afterward which can be pretty messy inside a home.  Some people complain it requires multiple applications.

Regular Paint Stripper*:

• Cost: $40-$80 per gallon
• Pros: Easy to find at any major hardware store, will bubble and strip all types of paint
• Cons: Doesn’t stay workable long enough to remove from the surface of the brick, may take multiple coats, has major ventilation issues

Biostrippers: SOY-Gel*/Citri-Strip*:

• Cost: $45.00 Soygel per gallon (covers 200 sqft)/$40.00 Citristrip per gallon (covers 80 sqft)
• Pros: Eco friendlier (bio-degradable but remember it doesn’t make the paint bio-degradable) Soygel is good for oil and latex paint on wood and brick, Citristrip does better for latex and can be purchased at major retailers
• Cons: May take multiple coats and Citristrip was rated poorly for removal of paint from brick. Soygel is harder to find for purchase

After weigh all the options we went with Soygel. Why? We had to think about how this mammoth project would fit into our lives. Here was what we (mostly I) took into consideration.

• Logistics: With a 10 month old baby we were going to have to start and stop the project over many days (make that weeks)
• Home Health: With a 75+ year old house it was good bet we have lead paint in at least one of the 6 layers. (Please note using this process does not insure lead safety.  Seek professional guidance). Plus we didn’t want the baby subjected to a ton of fumes
• Cost: Seriously, I would have rather hired a professional
• Most likely to work

The paint gun seemed noisy and not as likely to work. Since, I am doing this primarily while a baby sleeps then I needed something quieter. The chimney is already have mortar issues, which a professional will be addressing, so we didn’t want to exacerbate this with sandblasting. Plus the mess and cost were a turn off. Peel Away 1 seemed really neat, but it bothered me that it was so caustic and it looked like the cost was quickly going to add up. The regular paint stripper just had too many fumes. Finally, while it was easier to find the citristrip most people agreed it just wasn’t very good with masonry. Also, we knew we had a mix of acrylic and oil paint to go through. We found a local distributor for Soygel and tried a quart of it before committing to a whole gallon.

To see the results of the Soygel and how to actually remove the paint from brick you can check out Part II of the tutorial.

Images courtesy of Lowes, Home Depot, & Franmar