How to remove paint from a concrete wall?

Since in the recent past, paint was often used instead of wallpaper, today the question of removing it from a concrete wall is relevant. This event is mandatory, otherwise wallpaper, tiles or other materials will hardly be attached to an uncleaned wall surface. Let's take a look at quick and effective ways to remove old paint.

There are a few things to consider before you start cleaning the concrete surface. This will help you choose the necessary method of cleansing and will allow you to quickly achieve the goal:

• Assessment of the condition of the walls. If it is supposed to decorate the walls with plasterboard, then the presence of paint on the surface will not be an obstacle. When gluing wallpaper or tiles, you should carefully remove the previous coating, while not all methods are suitable for preparing the walls for further work.
• Tool selection. Here you should take into account the efficiency and ease of use, as well as the ability to get the right type of tool without difficulty and unnecessary spending.

• The type of coating and the thickness of the applied layer. This directly affects the complexity and duration of the process. It is much easier to remove a thick layer of dye from concrete than paint applied in one layer to a thinly primed wall. To determine the type of coloring composition, you need to try to remove it in a small area. Water-based and acrylic paint can be removed quite easily, but it is also possible that the previous tenants used the most resistant option - oil paint.

Methods of mechanical action on the old coating allow you to clean the surface of the walls without the use of toxic substances, but with the presence of dirt and dust. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare in advance respiratory and eye protection - a respirator, goggles and a gas mask.

The most affordable way to remove old coating is to use a chisel and hammer. A small hatchet is also suitable for these purposes. This method is very time consuming and physically demanding, but the result is a flat surface. This technique is impractical for large volumes of work.

With a pre-sharpened ax or the pointed side of a hammer, you need to lightly hit the painted surface every 2-3 cm.After that, the surface in the cracks must be moistened well with a brush or roller, to enhance the effect, you need to mix wallpaper glue or salt into the liquid. After 6 hours, you can start removing the swollen paint layer with a spatula. The paint can come off in small particles or in large layers. Upon completion of work on the walls, you should walk with coarse sandpaper or a stiff brush, let it dry, and only then proceed to the next stage of work.

Walls can also be cleaned with electrical appliances. Their use allows you to remove the old layer quickly and effortlessly. However, they all work quite noisy, so cleaning the walls in an apartment building in this way should be done at specially designated hours or by prior agreement with neighbors.

For such work, you can use a puncher. The attachment for these purposes should be chosen in the form of a shovel, fixing it in the chiseling mode.To work neatly, you need to hold the tool at a right angle. The movement of the hammer drill is directed downward or upward due to the emitted vibrations. Choosing the widest tip will help make the process faster.

Another popular electrical appliance is the "Bulgarian". Even stubborn paint on walls or thin primers can be removed with it. It is able to clean walls to the ground, leaving a flat surface, ready for further work. This machine should not be used when working in small, unventilated rooms, since even a mask will not protect against dust that has risen. In large rooms, you also need to interrupt more often and humidify the air so that dust quickly falls on the floor.

Removing paint from the walls is also possible with a drill using three nozzles. The paint picker is made up of three chains, each with 13 links. It allows the paint to be peeled off in pieces and the plaster layer remains intact. However, the paint gripper is not durable: it may take several pieces to treat the walls in the same room.

The drill with a brush works effectivelyhowever, it generates a lot of dust.

The slotted nozzle works well on brick, but you can also use it on concrete if you wish. The choice of this method, although it will get rid of a large amount of dust, will take a lot of time.

A common disadvantage of all of these devices is that they cannot remove paint in hard-to-reach places: behind batteries, pipes and in corners. In these areas, the paint will need to be cleaned by hand. After cleaning with a perforator or grinder, the walls become rough, which improves adhesion to the mortar when laying ceramic tiles.

Removing old paint with modern special washes is a fast, quiet and efficient way. Protect hands, eyes and respiratory system when using these products. The algorithm for working with chemistry is described below.

Apply the chemical to the wall with a brush or roller. Care must be taken to ensure that the product is not applied to the same area. The flooring and skirting boards should be covered to prevent the ingress of chemicals.

Almost immediately after application, you can start cleaning the wall with a stiff iron brush. If the paint is not removed immediately, then the procedure should be repeated.

After chemical exposure, the wall should be rinsed with warm water with powder and a sponge.

You can also make homemade remover for old coatings. To do this, you need to take 1.2 kg of quicklime, 500 grams of calcined water and ordinary water in such an amount that you get a thick and homogeneous paste. The solution must be applied to the wall and left for 12 hours. After that, you can clean the surface from paint.

If acrylic paint was used, then you can use a foamy soap solution to which salicylic acid or ethyl alcohol is added. For latex paint, use chloroform or dichloroethane.

Another chemical method for removing paint is liquid glass. It should be applied thinly to the work surface and left to dry completely. After that, you should walk over the treated area with a spatula or a brush with stiff bristles.

Water-based coating not older than 3 years can be removed using wallpaper glue. It is bred according to the instructions, applied to the wall and old newspapers are glued instead of wallpaper. After drying, the newspaper should be torn off along with a layer of paint.

Old paint coatings on walls can be removed using high temperatures.However, some types of paints, on the contrary, adhere to the wall when exposed to hot air. Therefore, before starting work, you need to conduct a test on a small area. Also, the thermal method is not recommended to be used near the mains.

An industrial hair dryer is one of the thermal wall cleaning devices. With its help, it is easy to remove acrylic, water-based, as well as difficult to remove alkyd and oil paints. When blowing a hair dryer on a painted wall, bubbles appear. This means that the paint will peel away from the wall and can be removed with a spatula. It is convenient to work together - one heats, and the other cleans.

The blowtorch copes with the task no worse than a hair dryer. But it is worth remembering that such a tool is a source of open fire, therefore it cannot be used near textile, paper and other flammable objects. Also, the switched on device must not be placed on the floor.

Of the improvised heating appliances, an iron is sometimes used. To do this, glue a piece of foil on the wall and iron it with an iron. Then you should quickly remove the foil and start removing the softened paint layer.

In addition to the methods described, there are some other paint removal methods:

• Use of shot blasting equipment. This method is not popular due to the high cost of the device, but it can be rented.

The principle of operation of this device is very similar to a sandblasting machine, only metal balls are used as an abrasive material in a shotblaster. Under high pressure, they fly out of the nozzle in jets and instantly remove the old layer, after which they are sucked together with paint particles through a vacuum cleaner. Therefore, there is very little dirt with this method. Lack of skills in working with the device can lead to the fact that the concrete layer will be removed along with the paint.

• Water jet. Water under high pressure has the same effect on the paint as the device described above. However, in an apartment, the use of this method is fraught with the fact that you can flood your neighbors. In addition, water will not remove permanent epoxy paint.
• Grinding machines with diamond discs. This device is very effective, but it requires a certain skill and precision of movements, as well as a high tempo of work.

For information on how to remove old paint from the walls, see the next video.