Home > Options when Removing Brick Paint
Options for Removing Paint from
Brick
There is no getting around the fact that removing paint from brick is no
simple task. Most methods for removing paint from brick have considerable
drawbacks—they can be caustic, expensive, time-consuming, and can permanently
damage your brick.
This article explores several of the options available for removing paint
from brick—especially indoor brick, such as that in a brick fireplace—as well as
less dangerous and invasive solutions to ugly painted brick.
Doing It the Hard Way: Standard Options for
Removing Paint from Brick
Most options for removing paint from bricks in your home are dismal at best,
dangerous at worst. You be the judge: Would you like to experiment with any of
the following techniques in your home?
1. Power washing and
sandblasting. This almost seems ludicrous to mention for
interior applications, but if you are flipping a house or remodeling, you could
conceivably sandblast interior brick. But consider the following before renting
that equipment:
• Sandblasting or power washing brick is the most damaging
way to remove paint from brick due to its forceful nature.
• Sandblasting
brick erodes the protective exterior of brick. This can lead to further damage
later.
• Power washing brick must be done by professionals, which is not very
cost effective to remove brick paint affordably.
Even after you sandblast or power wash brick, you will still probably need to
go over the remaining patches of paint with a wire brush to remove them by
hand.
2. Lye. Yes, Lye! Lye is a very
volatile, very toxic and very risky acid. Sodium hydroxide is the same
ingredient found in products marketed to dissolve clogs in drains. Some people
use it to remove paint from their brick and they must be rather brave
considering the following factors:
• To make the lye-based solution to remove paint from your brick fireplace
all you do is mix some water with the powdered lye solution. But remember to put
the lye into the water, because if you forget and do it the other way it will
explode or catch fire!
• If you still want to remove paint from bricks with
lye, you will need something akin to a hazmat suit—this chemical really is that
caustic. Any contact with skin requires immediate first aid. Consider wearing
long sleeves, a mask, and possibly even a raincoat.
• Lye can also require
repeated treatments. Sometimes the process can take weeks.
• Once again, have
a wire brush handy to finish the job as lye generally leaves unsightly patches
of paint on the brick—even after several applications.
If you do decide to try lye to remove paint from brick, be sure to review the
material safety data sheet for sodium hydroxide to review the risks and
potential dangers.
3. Paint stripper, paint thinners, and other
solvents. A quick internet search should make it obvious that
there is no magic bullet when it comes to removing paint from brick. Of course,
people have come up with their own homemade recipes—generally involving even
more caustic chemicals that were not even designed for use with brick. These
include paint stripper, paint thinner, and even a type of marine stripper
including several caveats about how dangerously strong it is. The problems with
these pseudo brick paint removers are numerous:
• As they are not designed to work with brick, they can ruin the brick,
compromise the brick’s integrity, and even ruin the mortar.
• Due to the
relative weakness of some of these products, their endorsements often include
that it took weeks to complete, was tedious, and even required scrubbing the
brick with a tooth brush.
• The products can have dangerous chemical
reactions with pre-existing paints, tints, or treatment.
A Better, Safer Way to Remodel Ugly Painted
Brick
Despite anyone’s claims to the contrary, there is no safe, easy way to remove
paint from brick. But there is a safe and easy alternative to remodel a
fireplace with ugly paint—and one that gives you the look of natural brick.
Brick-Anew is a patented painting process that is specially formulated for painting brick. Unlike the odious task of removing
brick paint, Brick-Anew offers a more practical and efficient solution that can
be done quickly, easily, and safely. You can paint over existing paint, and
being acrylic based, you can do so with out the fear of hazardous fumes, the
danger of unexpected chemical reactions, or the expense of having to hire
outside help.
The obvious advantages to using Brick-anew when
dealing with brick paint:
• Brick-Anew is a brick paint kit that is formulated to approximate the look
of real Brick.
• Brick-Anew will make your painted brick look new and real
again.
• Brick-Anew is latex, thus it is very safe and not reactive to other
substances.
• Brick-Anew is a simple, do-it yourself process requiring no
outside help.
• No explosions or even any threats of explosions!
•
Inexpensive.
• No scrubbing the brick with a wire brush.
• The specially
formulated paint is fire-resistant and perfect for your brick fireplace.
•
You can get great results in a single weekend instead of toiling away for a
month.
• Is a great solution if you are even thinking about redoing your
fireplace.
• If you don’t like it, you can always paint over
it.
If your brick fireplace seems beyond help, Brick-Anew is a great way to try
to remodel and revitalize it with very little investment of time and money.
Check out these testimonials from actual customers including pictures of brick fireplaces that have been “brought
back from the brink.”
Of course, if you WANT to spend hours on your hands and knees inhaling
chemicals or scrubbing bricks with a wire brush, you can get some pretty good
results. Otherwise you might want to tackle your brick remodeling project in a
novel and efficient manner with the end result looking like real
brick.
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