Having Trouble Removing Old Paint? This Guide Will Show You How!

Your old wall colours bore you, don’t they? Would you like to change things up? Have you had your eye on a stylish wall pattern for your living room? So it’s time to paint it again!

But wait, can’t you just cover the old colour with paint? What if it becomes visible? What if the paint is peeling and old underneath? In this instance, you must take off the old paint before putting your painting overalls.

You might be wondering how exactly to get paint off a wall. Not to worry! We will go into great detail about it in this post.

Do you really need to remove the paint?

Consider whether you actually need to remove the paint before getting started. Is it bubbling or chipping? Is it unevenly distributed? If so, it is recommended to remove the existing paint before applying a new layer or a fresh coat of wallpaper. However, if your existing paint is even, smooth, and undamaged, you may simply paint over it.

So, if you’ve determined that the old paint needs to be removed, allow us to show you how to do it.

How to remove paint from a wall

You have a few options when it comes to removing paint from walls. But first, you need to set the room ready for the procedure.

Prepare the area

It takes a lot of work to remove paint from walls. Therefore, take careful to avoid damaging your possessions while doing it.

Remove all decorations and photographs. As much as you can, reposition the furnishings in the area. Better still, after you move it, cover it with a plastic sheet. safer to be safe than sorry.

Put newspaper, drop cloths, or any other covering on the floor adjacent to your wall. If you’re going to use chemicals, make sure they don’t leak down and harm the finish by covering and taping them up as well.

Protect yourself

Protecting your home isn’t where the preparation stops. You must safeguard both your physical and mental wellness. Any method of removing paint can produce a lot of fumes or particles that, if inhaled, can be quite harmful.

So, invest in some reliable safety gear. Put on gloves to protect your hands and a face mask to avoid breathing in dust or fumes.

The fun (or laborious, depending on how you look at it) phase is now over; let’s choose how to remove the paint off the walls!

Choose your method

Let’s take a look at each of the four main ways for removing paint from a wall.

Scrape the paint off

Scraping off paint that is already flaking or peeling is among the simplest ways to remove it. Remove any paint that is chipping or cracking by using the wire brush. After that, gently press down on the paint with the flat side of a pointed scraper to pull it off. Use an oscillating tool with a scraping blade to simplify things or to cover greater area.

It can take a lot of effort and labour to manually scrape the paint off an entire wall. Continue to the way below if you don’t feel capable of completing the task or if you want to hasten the procedure.

Use paint stripper

The best, fastest, and simplest way to remove paint is by using paint stripping chemicals. Particularly on plaster walls, it works great.

However, you need to change the materials of your floor coverings. Use a plastic sheet as a base instead of drop cloths, and then cover it with kraft paper. A chemical spill on your floor will be prevented by doing this.

Apply the paint stripper in layers using a broad brush. After the allotted time has passed, the paint should begin to bubble. When it does, scrape it off using a scraper. Push the scraper under the paint from the bottom up, starting at the bottom.

If you don’t neutralise the chemicals once you finish, the fresh coat of paint will just peel off. To accomplish it, pay attention to the label’s directions because they can vary depending on the product.

Use sandpaper

When it comes to drywall, sanding is a fantastic way to remove paint from a wall, but it will take a lot of time and effort to remove all the paint. However, if you only intend to paint over the layer and don’t want to remove the entire layer, it works great for smoothing out any irregularities in the paint.

Make use of a 40-grit sanding block and work in segments. Utilize an oscillating sanding tool to get the process along more quickly and easily.

Wash the wall

Make sure there are no remaining paint flakes on the wall once you have finished removing the paint. Use a sponge to wash it and a solution of water and soap to do that. Allow it to totally dry.

Clean up after

You can begin cleaning up as you wait for the wall to dry. Remove the furniture and floor coverings, then dispose of the waste. Simply sweep up any dust that has fallen to the floor. 

So there you have it! Now that the wall has been primed, it may be painted all over again.

Final words

Why waste your valuable time doing the troublesome task when you can spend it doing what you enjoy? You may get help with that from the skilled house painters in Melbourne. The professionals know just how to handle the procedure so that your walls appear better than ever and your home is left pristine afterwards, so you don’t have to worry about uneven colours or a cluttered room longer.