[TVCS]

Been asked to clean the paint from a house. 
The owner said basically that he is tired of repainting his house every year so he wants it taken back to brick.
He is dead against sand blasting so he has perchased some heavy duty paint remover and wants us to apply then p/wash it off,
has anyone done a job like this?  I went to look at the job and did a test area and the paint came away nicely.  I will try and get some pictures of before, during and after but was wondering if anyone out there could offer some hints and tips.
Ant
TVCS

[John Kelly]

Having done this on vandalism claims for insurance companies albeit on much smaller areas all I can say is good luck.
When you start doing a whole house you will need to sheet up all the surrounding area as the paint and remover will adhere to every surface it comes into contact with. Window and door frames will need to be masked, especially UPVC as this will blister if the stripper comes into contact for any length of time. And prepare the customer for some areas which may not respond 100%

[Andy Foster]

You could try soda blasting (no messy piles of sand to get rid of) or steaming it off.

I don't have experience with the soda blasting but have seen the results and they are very good.

Steaming the paint off is the way I would do it. (Also very good results.)

HTH

Andy

[TVCS]

cheers for the replies.
Will be masking off all the doors and windows as they are all wooden and will get in a right state.
I have discussed with the owner the posibility that there may be some areas that wont come up 100%.  he was ok with it.     
I mentioned soda blasting but he wants to use this stripper that he has already spent cash on.
well, I`ll put in a good price and see what happens.  If the job goes ahead I will try and post some piccies.

[TVCS]

Finally started this job.  been dreading it if truth be told.
First wall we started on did not come up too well. ( will add pictures later)
Under all the layers of paint that he had applied over the years there was a coat of paint that would survive a nuclear strike.
This paint will not budge.  the owner was ok with it as the other wall we started came up tops.
This is going to be one of those jobs that keep dragging on and on.  Thankfully the day rate he agreed to will keep us interested for a while yet.

[Andy Foster]

If you have the facility to hit it with steam then give that a go... I don't claim to have seen everything, but I haven't met paint I haven't been able to shift using the steam yet... you watch, tomorrow will be the day!!!

Good luck

Andy

[TVCS]

The trouble is that this is a very old house.  I had to be very careful with the pressure washer as the compo between the bricks was coming away and even some of the bricks were breaking up.  I think if I used steam I would just end up making him a few more windows.