How to remove old paint from the walls?

Different paints are removed in different ways: some are easier, others are sometimes confused even by experienced builders. It all depends on the type of paint, as well as on the surface on which it was applied. In order not to waste your time searching for information, as well as a variety of experiments, carefully study this article. In it, we will consider all possible methods for you, how to remove old paint from the walls, describe their advantages and disadvantages.

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How to choose the best way to remove paint from the walls?

Several factors influence the choice of a particular method of cleaning a wall from old paint:

• the surface on which the paintwork was applied, as well as what exactly you plan to do with it in the near future;
• the type of paint, the number of layers, as well as the strength of its adhesion along with the surface;
• tool availability;
• the budget you planned to spend.

All paint is divided into several types: water-based, acrylic, and also oil. Paint could be applied to wood, metal, drywall or concrete. It is the oil paint that is most difficult to eliminate from the surface of concrete walls.

Important! Of course, you may not know what paint is on the surface of the walls of your home. In this case, whatever one may say, you will have to experiment a little with the methods of elimination on a small section of the walls. To get started, try the least time consuming as well as gentle methods.

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Mechanical method

Taking into account the physical characteristics of the paint, which during the chemical as well as thermal elimination emits sufficiently strong toxic substances, the most optimal will be the use of a mechanical method to remove old paint from the walls.

The well-known very old grandfather's method is laborious, slow, but it is also cheap, not traumatic, least harmful - notching the wall surface with an ax. In order to clean the old paint from the walls, you will need, in fact, an ax, muscles and water.

How to act:

1. First, make a notch with an ax.
2. After that, carefully spray the wall with prepared water, wait a few minutes until it is absorbed.
3. Then brush off the paint with an ax.

Important! In order for the work to go much faster, more efficiently, correctly select the angle of inclination of your ax.

Most often, this method is used if you plan to further wall cladding with ceramic tiles, because the adhesion of the tiles together with a non-smooth surface is ideal.

Important! Regardless of the fact that the method is somewhat laborious and also slow, it is quite effective when it is necessary to process a small area, as well as practically the only option in poorly ventilated rooms.

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Mechanized mechanical methods

In order to accelerate the mechanical removal of paint from a concrete surface, to facilitate the work, to increase its productivity, we advise you to use a mechanized method. You can use the grinder along with a wide range.

Important! During such cleaning, there will be an incredible amount of dust: after 1 minute of work, you will have to wait 20 minutes until all the dust settles. But today there is already a great new equipment in which a vacuum cleaner is built-in, which allows you to remove old paint from the walls as cleanly as possible.

There is another way how to remove old paint from the walls - a perforator with special nozzles. As a nozzle, a chain on a drill and grinding wheels are used. This method is a fairly effective and cheap option for removing paint, as well as rust from concrete, wood, metal surfaces.

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Environmentally friendly ways

Relatively little dust is formed during the removal of the old swollen coating with a spatula or other improvised device. Such mechanical cleaning requires a lot of patience and takes a fairly large amount of time. With scrubbing movements you can clean the surface even in the most inaccessible places - in those in which it is impossible to use other devices.

The advantages of the method:

• Minimum formation of noise and dust.
• The possibility of total application in absolutely all areas.
• It does not require additional material costs for various chemicals or to pay for energy, as well as to purchase an expensive instrument.
• It does not require any special skills in the device or the knowledge of technology.

The disadvantages of this method:

• The time spent is quite large.
• A significant amount of monotonous physical labor.

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How to remove water-based paint from the surface of the walls?

Not taking into account the fact that acrylic or emulsion ink is highly soluble in water, after it dries, it cannot be washed off only with the same tap water. And in the bathrooms, in the kitchens they use a special waterproof type of water-based paint.

But mankind has come up with several tricks that allow you to defeat the "stubborn adversary":

• Moisten the walls liberally with warm water, wait for several minutes. At this time, the paint will absorb water and swell. You can easily eliminate it with a spatula.
• To soak the ceiling, it is best to use a soft roller of a sufficiently large diameter.
• During drying, the paint will peel off worse, which is why during operation, moisten it with water all the time.
• All cleaned up softened paint stains coatings quite strongly, which is why before starting work, cover the floors with newspapers or plastic wrap.
• If waterproof paint is used, it will be pointless to soak, which is why it is necessary to eliminate the paint on an absolutely dry coating with a spatula or a grinder. The latter option is extremely different in the formation of an incredibly large amount of dust. You must take this into account and take various precautions, for example: wear a respirator, construction glasses, gloves, a hair cap.
• You can anneal a sufficiently thick layer of waterproof paint with a building hair dryer or with a blowtorch. With a thin layer, this method is not recommended.

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Universal method for water-based paint:

1. Prepare a paste, that is, a solution of PVA glue - it must be very liquid, or take ordinary wallpaper glue.
2. Lubricate the surface to be cleaned thoroughly with the prepared compound and immediately paste over with newspapers.
3. Wait for the glue to dry, and then peel the newspapers together with your paint.

Important! In particularly difficult places with a hard coating you can use a metal spatula.

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Chemistry

The most harmful variant associated with toxic fumes is the use of special washes. They are sold in the form of aerosols, liquids, gels.The form of release will affect the efficiency, convenience and speed of surface treatment. Therefore, carefully read the information on the packaging or tube - it usually says there, for which paint the solvent is suitable and for which material the basis of the walls.

Such washings have proven themselves well among consumers:

• Docker S4, S5;
• Anticras;
• solvent 647 and 646;
• Fale 4.

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Stock footage

Now you have a complete picture of all the possible methods and you probably could decide how to remove the old paint from the walls. We hope you managed to do this quickly enough and the repair did not drag out for an indefinite period due to difficulties at the stage of preparing the walls.