How do I get paint off brickwork?

[Gigagator]

Hi all,
I have a bit of a dilemma. My house has a really bad DIY metal conservatory that I want to take down in summer but the problem is that the wall which is the back of the house has been painted white.

Not only this, but it seems it was once painted with white emulsion, but the top coat is white gloss!

How can I get this paint off the bricks and mortar and get it looking like it matches the rest of the house? I don't want the bottom half of my house painted white when the conservatory comes down.

Thanks.

 

[ic1927]

I've seen people try things like graffiti remover and brick acid with little success, removing paint from brickwork isn't easy. Sandblasting is the best way, get a specialist firm to do it.

 

[Gigagator]

Do you think sandblasting would bring it back to bare brick and pointing or leave some little bits of white paint behind? I don't want it to look awful. If it does I may as well just get the conservatory replaced with a new one and plasterboard over it.

In the region of how much would sandblasting cost for the back of a semi detached house?

 

[ic1927]

No idea of the cost, get a free estimate from a sandblasting firm. I'm sure from what I've seen you will get the best results from sandblasting, it will remove any paint from any surface. A builder friend of mine recently had some very old radiators sandblasted, they were covered in layers of thick paint and runs, a right mess. The results were amazing, stripped back to clean metal, not a blemish left.

 

[Gigagator]

That sounds good. I reckon I'll be finding a reputable firm that does sandblasting soon then. I won't be getting it done for a while anyway but wanted to be sure I could sort the problem before tearing the conservatory down.