Removing Paint from Brick Fireplace

A. One method of paint removal from bricks and mortar is to use grit blasting as is done to remove graffiti from building and walls. The key is to find the correct media to use- something like sodium bicarbonate, wheat shells, pecan or walnut shell media [on eBay or Amazon] . I know these materials are used for grit blasting plastic molded parts. I'm sure there are companies that specialize in this technology. There are companies like Clemco Industries that sell the equipment and other companies that sell the media. There are also companies that do the work. Using sand would be too cutting and remove the finish from the bricks and remove mortar.

Hope this information helps.

A. I stripped a brick fireplace once using a standard stripper and it took weeks. I bought a 100 year old home back in 1999 and it had the same problem only worse. Not only was the fireplace painted but so too was the exterior entrance way and chimney. I decided to try the fireplace first before tackling the exterior brick.

I am using a new product (new to me anyway) called "Peel Away [affil links]". It is a goopy white stripper you trowel on to the brick and then cover with a fibrous paper which supposedly stops the chemicals from evaporating allowing it to slowly eat away 30 layers of paint or more. You then peel away the paper and it is supposed to pull the paint right off, even from out of the porous surface of the brick. Since my bricks are decorated with striations or grooves cut in to the surface, I thought this would be just the thing.

Well, the product works but not nearly as well as claimed. It really did eat through right to the brick in just one application but when I pulled the paper off it came off with little or no goop adhered to it. It left the putty like stripper on the brick which I then had to scrape off by hand leaving paint in the pores and the grooves. Although that paint was loose, I couldn't get at it with anything.

I just finished scraping and washing and scraping and washing the first application. I am going to try it again hoping the "peel away" aspect of the product will work when there is hardly any paint left. I really think the problem was that although it loosened the paint right down to the brick in most places, it did not loosen the lowest layers all that much so that the tension holding those layers to the brick was stronger than the tension holding the goop to the paper that you peel away. I am hopeful that a second application will pull that last paint out of the pores and grooves.

If your brick is smooth faced, this product will work a lot better for you that it has for me because you can scrape a lot easier over a smooth, uniform surface than a jagged one. The scraper on my bricks "catches" on all the grooves and raised textures. Smooth bricks could be easily scraped clean.

The stuff is way faster than the standard stuff I tried on the first fireplace so although it did not work as well as I hoped, it did work way better than anything else I tried previously.

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Ed. note: letter 15743 was on a similar topic and we have summarized there a number of suggested ways to remove paint from brick.

A. My boyfriend and I recently bought a house that has a brick fireplace that was painted. We really enjoy the warmth of a fire all winter long and want to put in a wood stove insert. We had a chimney inspector come and among other things flagged the paint on the fireplace as a fire hazard for the wood stove! I couldn't believe it. So I did a search for removing paint from a fireplace and here I found some great solutions.
I have to tell others what worked for us. After the removing process, we learned that there were 5 layers of paint on the fireplace! White, Mint Green, Creamy Yellow, Brown and another new layer of white paint.
I got soy gel paint stripper [affil links]. It is a non-chemical solution to removing paint. We did a test spot first to see how long we could leave this gel on before it hardened. Well it still hasn't hardened and the longer we leave it on the easier the paint comes off.
The first layer wrinkled up and peeled off just like a layer of latex. The next 4 layers were easily removed with a small putty knife by scraping the brick.
Then we took a wire brush and brushed our hearts out to reveal some really nice red brick with a few black bricks throughout.
The process went much faster than I anticipated and we did apply the gel every time we were done peeling and scraping for that session. The more you put on the more effective it was.
It is very messy so make sure you have everything well covered.
Hope this helps.

A. I am not understanding whether this fireplace was built from old bricks, some of which had paint on them, or whether it was built with new bricks of an "antique look". Because in the former case it seems funny that only some bricks are painted, and in the latter case it seems highly improbable that lead paint was used in their manufacture.

Although it is true that contractors are careful to capture the paint flakes and dust when they sandblast an old bridge that has lead paint, I've personally never heard of interior paint spontaneously "dusting" such that it is dangerous to breathe. The only lead poisoning I've heard of in a home setting is an infant chewing on paint. If others know differently, enlighten me. Pending that, I'd leave it be and worry about something else. If I disliked it, I'd remove it with solvent, but I wouldn't sandblast it.

A. My husband and I bought a home that had a brick fireplace that was painted white with the mortar painted black - EEEK. We used the Peel Away [affil links] compound mentioned above, and then followed up with lots of elbow grease (and a few choice words). We used wire brushes and paint remover liquid we purchased at Wal Mart to remove the paint from the mortar. The finished result was a distressed brick look (we could have gotten it totally clean, but that was the look we were going for). We were quite happy with the results, but be prepared for a mess. I would advise drop cloths for any item/floor near the fireplace if they will not be later replaced. We used the Peel Away twice in some places. To the post above - the wire brushes and liquid paint remover did a great job of getting those last bits of paint from the faces of the brick grooves. Best of luck to those brave enough to undertake this project. - Just a do-it-yourself home remodeler.

A. We used soy gel paint stripper [affil links] relatively successfully to strip white paint off our our fireplace:

renerdvate.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/project-1-restoring-the-brick-fireplace-using-soygel/

Unfortunately our fireplace was so tall that it would have been ridiculously difficult to try and do the entire thing, so we eventually settled on leaving it white. If you have a smaller fireplace I highly recommend the soygel, but it'll still be at least a weekends worth of work.

A. Several years ago I bought an arts and crafts bungalow c.1912 with beautiful natural woodwork throughout but a white painted fireplace ruining the effect. There had obviously been some problems with the brick as there was a badly patched crack and I guess the last owner didn't want to deal with it and took the easy way out. I considered stripping but in the end decided to call in a mason. I'm sure glad I did. I took several photos and then we took the fireplace apart brick by brick (it was easy as old mortar is quite soft). While I knocked off the old mortar from each brick (also easy) the mason turned them around paint side in and rebuilt the whole thing (150 bricks)in about six hours. It cost $600. and looks great. I'm sure glad I didn't try to strip paint! This might not work for every situation but it's something to consider.

A. Yes I too have a problem with painted fireplace! I thought I'd reface it with brick layers, but I think I'll try soy gel or peel away. I could choke the idiot for painting it - color? Sh*t yellow! Like the rest of the house. Now I have re-painted the house, and am looking forward to a re-covering the fireplace.
Wish me well.
Sue

A. I tried to remove white paint from some otherwise beautiful brick exterior walls. I tried so many products: Citristrip (left orange residue on the bricks), Ready Strip (hard to remove after application), Klean-Strip (worked better than most). Finally I settled on Behr Concrete and Masonry Stipper #992. Apply, let sit for several hours -I went 5-6 hrs and then powerwash. I do not work for any of these companies but spent a good deal of time and money exploring them all. Good luck with all your projects.

Oh gosh after reading all the comments, I think I'll leave my 120 year old fireplace alone. It has been heartbreaking when so many people in my city have lost their homes. My fireplace is now going to remain mottled. I really feel sorry for you blokes but there is nooooooo solution. Happy reno

A. I, too, bought a house with a painted brick wall. I tried a lot of things that worked so-so. I was thrilled when I discovered Peel-Away. Unfortunately, neither the paper nor scraping picked up much of the gooey mess. Tried a wire brush--ended up with hard to remove goo caked on the bristles. Switched to solvents with no success. The company says to wash off the residue with water. Water just smears the product so you end up with a surface coated with a thin chewing gum-like substance. I've tried everything, including peanut butter (which actually does work on chewing gum).
Got a phone # for the Peel-Away rep. Still waiting for him to get back to me.
I'm thinking that the only fix is to hang drywall.
I'm really disappointed because that wall was a major reason I bought the house in the 1st place.

A. Spray the surface with water/soap mix and after few days, the paint will come off; then use your hand to peel it off like cooked potato skin. Or, buy light weight dry wall board $6 for 4' X8' to cover it up and you have a nice flat wall. This project will cost $50 max.

Just remember: Where there's a will, there's a way. Never give up if it's that important to you. I have an older home I bought and the fireplace is painted black. I will find something to remove it and I don't care if it takes all year.

A. Hi Sandra. Lead paint really ought to be removed ... but I'd bet the gas logs are not nearly as hot as the wood fires that fireplace has seen.

Regards,