Nowt to do with cars but I'm sure someone will have some useful experience here. In our new house there are beamed ceilings throughout. The house dates back to around 1800.

The beams are covered with several coats of very old paint and the colour is a pretty disgusting dark muddy brown. SWMBO wants me to strip the beams

Seems to me that the only sensible method is sandblasting. So, does anyone have any experience of this, together with recommendations, things to avoid etc.

i don't know anything about sandblasting but be carefull of any old artec it can contain asbestos

Some bits of our house are from the 1600s and some of our beams, like yours were horribly painted.

We hired a guy, for not a lot of money to come and do the sandblasting.

He masked everything off around the rooms to keep the sand in but due to the leaky nature (particularly of old houses) we ended up with sand in every part of every room in the house.

Looks good now it's done but my advice would be to do it before you move in, or temporarily move out.

Also be prepared to repair plastering near the beams as the stray sand tends to leave it a bit pitted.

I've also tried Nitromorse and despite the above problems, I would still blast.

Thanks David. I'm expecting a mega clean up operation and I'm planning to get this done before we move in.

I will look to see if anyone can quote me on the job but I suspect that it will be pretty dear as I've got over 1400 square feet (without counting the additional surface of the beams) to clean up.

Here's a pic.



house1

Looks nice, I hope you're ok with briefly turning into a bombsite....

I suspect the sand will work it's way up through those floorboards.

You can hire the kit to do this although make sure you also get the correct breathing apparatus as the dust is very bad.

I think you'll find it really lightens the room when you're done.

Good luck.

David

you can get some sort of chemical peel stuff, i've seen it on grand designs, the bloke just painted it on, left it for a bit, came back and peeled it all off.

Don't cock about, get a professional in to do it with the right kit, the right safety kit, and has been said, be prepared for a big clean up. My parents did it on a house in France, so no recommendations of workmen, but definitely not a DIY job.

If there are loads of coats of paint, then the peel stuff will need several coats, and if they've been stained rather than painted at any point, then it won't really work....

Chris

Edit - looks like a French house actually! But the Parents are at the other end of the country from you...

[Edited on 5/11/09 by chrsgrain]