How to remove paint?

Paint is the most popular material for wall decor. It is this material that is preferred when they seek to equip the room as quickly and inexpensively as possible, and a combination of several shades and types of paint allows you to implement interesting design projects. But, as soon as the time for the next repair approaches, a serious problem arises, how to remove the paint from the walls that was on them before that. You will learn all the ways of how to cope with such a task under different conditions, such as a solution, the availability of improvised tools and means, financial capabilities, from this article.

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Paint Removal - Basic Rules

No matter which method of removing paint from the walls you choose, the process should be safe and as clean as possible. Therefore:

1. Determine the material of the painted walls - the removal time will depend on this. The most difficult thing is to remove the oil paint from unplastered concrete walls.
2. Determine the thickness of the coating you want to remove and its strength. The thickness of the paint is easiest to find in those areas where the material is partially chipped. The degree of strength will become clear if you try to pry material in different parts of the wall with a knife or spatula. In some cases, with such a mechanical impact, huge pieces fall off, and in others - you will have to work hard to remove even 1 cm of the coating.
3. Be sure to use protective equipment, regardless of whether you are going to dissolve the paint or knock it down - and broken fragments, and chemical fumes can harm your health.
4. Remove all furniture from the room and cover the floor with newspapers or plastic wrap. So you can deal with cleaning the room much faster and prevent dust and dirt from spreading to other rooms in your home.

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Determine the type of paint

Determining the type of paint that you have to remove from the walls is quite simple in appearance and time of application:

1. If the building is old and repairs have not been carried out since the days of the USSR, and the coating has a matte effect, most likely oil paint was applied.
2. If the repair is relatively new and the coating is still shiny, water-based or latex solutions were probably used.

Important! In the case when you want to know exactly what the decorative coating is made of, you can test with suitable solvents for each type in a small area. One that will have the desired effect, and will help determine what type of paint. If you personally painted these walls, the question is resolved faster - just remember what paint you chose last time.

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Choosing a paint stripping technology

You can remove the paint in 4 ways, each of which differs in the amount of time spent, effort, money. Choose the one that suits you according to a more suitable criterion:

1. Knock off the paint with a hammer - it will be cheap, but laborious.
2. Remove the coating with solvents - the process will go as quickly as possible, without much effort, but it will require a cash outlay if you do not have the right tool at hand. Please note that you can not take any solvent, you need exactly the one that in its composition is suitable specifically for your type of paint.
3. Remove material with a hammer or drill - the principle of action is the same as when working with a hammer, but removing the paint will be much faster and require less effort. If you do not have such tools available, it is not advisable to buy them only for this work, since they are very expensive.
4. Melt the paint with a building hairdryer or iron. This technology is quite effective, but requires extreme accuracy.

Important! If each of the options suits you, and you cannot choose the best one, start removing oil or acrylic paint in a way that is simpler in your opinion. And if you can’t achieve the desired result, use a different technology. Such an approach will be especially relevant if in some places the paint literally crumbles itself and it is only necessary to pry it off, while in others it is still “tightly” held on the walls.

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How to remove paint from the walls - hammer with hammer

This is how the paint was removed before a wide range of solvents and power tools appeared.

Tools required:

1. Hammer.
2. Ax.
3. Chisel.
4. Spray bottle with water.
5. Emery paper of different grit.
6. Metal brush.
7. Metal spatulas.

Remove paint:

1. Make an ax over the entire coverage of the notch.
2. Knock in some places with a hammer.
3. Spray water over the entire coating. If it is a water-based paint - it is needed to soften the hardened solution and reduce the amount of dust if the coating is of a different type.
4. Embed the material in separate sections - place the chisel at an angle and hit it with a hammer or an ax.
5. Remove the residue with a sharp spatula.

Important! To remove the acrylic paint, you can act differently: in circular motions, brush the sections of the wall one after the other with a metal brush. Remove the residual coating with sandpaper in the same way.

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How to remove old paint - use a drill, puncher

The use of power tools has many advantages compared to the conventional mechanical method of removing paint. This means less time, less risk of self-injury, higher efficiency. But there are also disadvantages - a large amount of dust is formed, so it is advisable to collect fragments and dust with a vacuum cleaner at the same time.

Important! This technology cannot be used to remove paint from crumbling or thin materials. Do not work without glasses, gloves and other personal protective equipment.

Select a tool:

1. Hammer drill with a crown on a brick or a wide chisel.
2. Chain Attachment Drill.
3. Bulgarian with a wide range.

Important! You do not need to use all these tools at the same time, you can choose the one that you have available.

Remove the paint:

1. Take a tool and insert a suitable nozzle: a crown on a brick or a wide chisel - for a perforator, a chain nozzle - for a drill, a wide circle - for a grinder.
2. Check the tool is working.
3. Open windows to provide intensive ventilation if the weather is not windy.
4. Press successively the working element of the tool against the wall, removing the paint. At the same time, let your assistant hold the vacuum cleaner and direct the pipe to the place of processing - so most of the garbage will immediately be drawn into the vacuum cleaner, and not fly around the room.
5. Humidify the air periodically - spray water from the atomizer in the room so that dust settles.

Important! Act carefully, to a certain depth, so as not to break off a piece of plaster or concrete.

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How to remove paint with solvents?

To remove paint with solvents is, on the one hand, the most profitable and convenient way. You can use improvised substances - potassium carbonate, chalk, water glass, lime, as well as special washes, a list of which you will find below. The main thing is to strictly observe the terms of exposure of the substance and the rules of the instruction. On the other hand, chemistry is chemistry, therefore its application is not always advisable.

Means - professional paint removers:

• Rinse No. 158, 161, 222.
• SP-67.
• B-52.
• Pufas.
• Dufa.
• Jobi.
• Abbeizer
• Smellaks.
• “Award”.

Paint Removal Technology:

1. Read the instructions from the solvent manufacturer.
2. Dip a paint brush or roller in the solution and apply a thin layer over the entire wall.
3. Make a technical pause for the impact of the product - focus on the dates specified by the manufacturer.
4. Remove the paint sequentially from the entire wall with a spatula.
5. If necessary (if the walls were painted in several layers or in a very thick layer), repeat procedure 2-4.
6. Sand the wall.
7. Rinse with clean water or soapy water to remove any chemical residues.

Important! Using other means at hand, the course of your actions will be similar. The only difference is the timing of exposure. For example, curing liquid glass can take up to a couple of hours. Potassium carbonate is great to remove old paint from wood, but for this you need to wet it, apply to the coating, cover and leave for a day.

Quicklime mix (1 kg), soda ash (400 g) and chalk (200 g) pour water and dilute to a paste-like mass. Such a composition should be treated with a roller or brush and left for at least 12 hours.

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How to remove paint from the walls with a building hairdryer or iron?

Heat treatment is good in that it allows you to remove even very old paint of large thickness. But this technology cannot be applied on walls made of combustible materials and where wiring takes place.

Choosing the Right Tool

Depending on what area you need to process, select:

• iron and foil sheets, if the area with the paint is small;
• building hair dryer, if the room is spacious and the area of ​​the walls is considerable.

Remove paint:

1. Visually distribute the wall into several small areas convenient for work on the area.
2. Heat the paint with a stream of hot air from a hair dryer or heat the iron, attach foil to the wall and press down with an iron.
3. Remove the melted paint with a spatula.

Important! If the layers were too thick, sand the residue with sandpaper.

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Safety precautions:

1. When heated, paints can release corrosive chemicals. Therefore, be sure to protect yourself not only from burns by the tool itself, but also from the effects of toxic fumes.
2. Any chemical solvent with prolonged use can cause burns to the mucous membranes of the eyes, respiratory tract, so try not to move the containers with the wash to your face and work as quickly as possible.
3. With any method of removing paint from the walls, try to ensure access to fresh air. The easiest way to do this is by airing the room.
4. When humidifying a room during operation, do not allow water to get into power tools or wiring.
5. Removing the old decorative coating mechanically, keep the distance of the body position from the wall - this will reduce the risk of injury from splinters.

Protective clothing:

1. Glasses.
2. Respirator.
3. Gauze mask.
4. Gloves.
5. Work suit made of dense, non-combustible fabric.

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Stock footage

As you have seen, you can remove the paint quickly and cheaply. It all depends on dexterity, available tools and equipment. If you are in no hurry and are ready to work hard, the best option is to remove the paint with a hammer, if you need to carry out preparatory work as quickly as possible - take chemical washes. If the problem is that the coating is very thick, old, but durable - the thermal effect will be optimal.