Paint Removal
Paint removal is often required to solve damp problems, to prevent the deterioration of masonry and to restore the building to its original glory which can add significant value to a property.
Many houses have been painted in the past years when it was fashionable to paint facades, covering up beautiful patterned brickwork. Now, we've realized that these synthetic, not porous paint/coating are the major cause of internal damp as this prevents the inner walls of the building to breath by locking the moisture in the walls. The paint can also damage the external brick work where damp and frost can penetrate under the layers of paint by leading to the brick and stone to become soft and crumbled. Therefore, paint removal sometimes is necessary to allow the building not to deteriorate.
Our advice, in order to remove the paint, is not to use any sort water/air-abrasive systems, even at low pressure, as this can easily result in damage to the surface beneath.
The best way to remove the paint is the Paint Stripping method where a product will be applied on the brick surface and removed after duelling with a hot steam pressure washer system. All products that we use are water based and non-hazardous, harmless for the user and the environment.
However, the clients should be aware that paint removal from bricks and stone is quite difficult, messy and unpredictable work. By the nature of the work we don't always know what sort of damages are under the layers of paint, sometimes brick replacement and repointing are required after the paint has been removed. We also need to work from a sheeted scaffold as the waste will need to be contained and disposed.