Removing paint from brick and stone walls

Just about every old house has horrible plastic "masonry paint" covering the brickwork.  In the past, removal has been almost impossible.  These days, high temperature pressure washers allow plastic paint removal - and other methods can then be used to remove distempers and lime based paints to reveal clean historic brickwork.  These methods do not damage the face of bricks. 

Methods use equipment such as Doff and Torq - or Toriq as used here.. 

It is important to ensure that cleaning does not affect the glaze on the surface of bricks - if this is damaged, moisture can get into the brick and cause spalling.  This is why grinders or mechanical means, including sandblasting, are not a good idea.

In this example, brick cleaning acid was used to dissolve lime based materials on the face of the brick - and the joints will be repointed with a soft lime mortar as required.

This video shows how VERY difficult and stubborn paint was successfully removed from a farm building in the South East: