Removing highly resistant paint from a brick chimney breast

[brickburrows]

Hello to all.

My house was built around 1900, I have a chimney breast that previous owners have pointed poorly, painted white and put holes in for a TV mount.

I would like to strip the paint and re-point it properly, it would look great.

The problem is neither me nor two builders that have looked at it can figure out a good method to strip the paint.

Builder 1 suggested an angle grinder with wire brush head. This striped the white relatively quickly but revealed a grey coat that would only come off when the tip of the brush glowed red, this take forever and damages the brick surface.

Builder 2 believed the grey was a kind of friction burn between the paint and the steel of the brush head; there was no evidence of a coat of grey paint where we chipped some mortar away.
He suggested concentrated brick acid from Jewsons. This sizzled on contact with bare mortar but did NOT seem to affect the white paint.

I tried Nitromoors last night, this had a very limited effect, some paint came off on a scraper but it didn't reveal brick.

Any idea what the mystery white paint is and how to remove it? There must be a chemical that I can obtain...

 

[JohnD]

sand blast

A jet washer will also often remove paint, but you may find that if the brick is soft, it also wears the brick away.

If the old paint is distemper, then a steam cleaner will soften it and wash it off. So will very hot (but not cold) water.

 

[brickburrows]

I have not considered jet wash or sand blast as viable because the house is open plan and I’m living in it; water/sand everywhere!

The steam option sounds interesting, I need a steamer for stipping wallpaper anyway, I was going to rent one from jewsons.

 

[Nige F]

plaster it smooth and re do it with brick slips - done properly it looks like real neat brickwork