My GF and I are in the process of buying a house. We like it a lot, but unfortunately the living room contains a major decor misstep in my view - they PAINTED the brick fireplace. Anyone have experience stripping paint from indoor brick? How much of a hassle is it? Should I just hire a professional or can I DIY it? Is it even a good idea?
The house is 40 years old, so who knows how long the paint has been there. It’s not at all attractive though.
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Huh.
Just before this, I read the “would you take revenge” thread.
I think you need to find out who painted that brick, and take revenge.
More seriously: no clue; have never been in this position. For some reason I have a vague memory of reading that a wire brush (perhaps attached to a drill) would be called for, but hopefully someone will happen along who knows what they’re talking about. Good luck!!
My husband pointed out to me once, as we were driving by a house that had been painted (and the paint was wearing off): The two big advantages of bricks are that they’re fireproof and low maintenance. Painting them negates both of those aspects.
There could still be lead in it, so caution if you DIY;
If no lead, you could try a heat gun and a stiff wire brush.
I’ve never done this myself but I can offer you Bob Vila’s advice on the subject:
A couple of links (which suggest that a wire brush would NOT be step 1):
Very good point!
Lead paint was banned in 1978 in the US. I would hope people had reduced the use of it by then but that’s not something you can rule out, if the house was built in 1977 (assuming you’re in the US that is).
How to Determine if Your House Has Lead Paint - Today's Homeowner (video plays automatically). There are test kits available.
If the place does have lead, you might consider having a professional deal with it, but I’d imagine it would be expensive. The approaches that use a gel-based stripper might be less likely to spew up lead dust but you’d need to be careful about any scraping - wear protective masks and so on.
If you can find out from the seller whether they know when the painting was done, that might remove any worries - say their response is “yeah, we did that 15 years ago, we were idiots” then you know lead is not an issue.
On the other hand, if you have relatives like mine, that paint could be sitting in the cellar for who-knows-how-long before it gets used. “Yeah, we did that 15 years ago, with paint I got when Ike was in office–it was still good, we were idiots.”
Test kit is an excellent idea.
ETA: I’m not 100% sure you can legally remove lead paint DIY. The EPA might have something to say about it.
Thanks for the links. The house was built in 1978 so HOPEFULLY lead paint isn’t involved, but I’ll check with the seller.
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I would use either a heat gun or a plummer s torch, wire brush and a scraper to start off. Very difficult to get like new bricks again.
Are you sure the paint needs to come off? I see decorators deliberately paint fireplaces all the time on TV. If you’re going for a modern or even “rustic” look to your home, I don’t see how orange brick is going to fit in. Especially if it’s 1978 brick. I don’t think it would look as good as if it was, say, 1900s brick. If it’s a cabin or a darker space, yeah. But IMHO painted fireplaces with beautiful mantles are in right now.
Take a look on Google to see your painting options while you’re researching your de-painting options.
To each their own, but I think painted brickwork looks tacky. Which is not to say the actual bricks under the paint might not look worse - if I strip it, I’ll test a small area first to make sure it actually looks okay before going all the way.
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Sorry, never had to do it myself, but I’ve talked with folk who have and have read up on it, and everything points to it involving a ton of effort and a ton of chemicals.
Good luck!
I am consistently astounded at those home shows, where they paint lovely brick - or clad it - saying it “updates” it.
You should never paint bricks. It’s an almost permanent one-way step. On the other hand, chemical strippers will do the job. But just like you can’t caramelize onions as fast as the TeeVee shows suggest, it’s a lot of effort. My sister helped me strip my fireplace. She was using an environmentally friendly stripper that required more work. It’s not completely clean, but has a worn distressed look that is way more attractive than the six coats of paint that were on it before. Helpful hint: go for the good stuff. You aren’t going to use that much. I’m pretty sure that coating any lead paint with chemicals to dissolve it will not release lead into the air in the way that sanding or scraping it would.
That makes sense. Of course, gloves and at least a surgical mask seem imperative, and mucho ventilation. If there is lead, be wary of disposal of your rags and what-have-you, just tossing it all in your regular trash might lead to trouble. The Voice of Doom is finished. 
I have stripped paint from a brick fireplace. Two things. First, stripping it is messy and took longer and was harder than we thought. We used something called Zip Strip, which is a heavy, gel-like liquid that you paint on, heavily, then wait while the paint bubbles and loosens, then scrape it off. It is caustic. You need gloves, and not just ordinary rubber gloves, but rubber gloves made for dealing with chemicals. You also need a drop cloth to protect the floor, a wire brush, and I think we ended up finishing off some of it with an Xacto knife.
Second thing: paint can change brick, and it did. After stripping the brick was, I think the term is friable. It emitted brick dust. So we had to seal it again. We used something called Z-sealer, which is used to seal Z-brick, which, if it still exists, was kind of a brick look veneer–but it worked on our stripped brick. It is matt finish and invisible.
We were lucky in that some of what we uncovered, which looked like smaller brick, turned out to be tile, and it was both easier to strip and did not require sealing. But the brick did.
The philistine clods who did this also painted the wood mantel, which turned out to be oak. Stripped the same way, refinished differently.
Thanks for the advice, Backwater Under_Duck and Hilarity N. Suze! Sounds like it’ll be quite a project.
Painted brick is a pet peeve of mine! I don’t care how trendy it is. I’ve seen some very nice updates that left the seventies brick alone. I wish people would get over the notion that it’s a Bad Thing. If you don’t mind, Loopus, please let us know how it goes.
This may end up getting pushed back a few months, but I’ll come with updates whenever we get around to doing it.
How big of a swath of brick are we talking? It would probably be less work to cover it with tile or a tile/drywall/wood combo. If you like brick, they make brick veneer you could use.
Expect some paint to remain in the pores of the brick and mortar.
You’ll probably never get every speck of paint off.
Consider that it adds character to the fireplace. 
You have a great DIY warrior story to tell friends.
Strip it off. Seal and enjoy.
Don’t make yourself crazy over a few specks that don’t come off. It’ll still look a thousand times better than painted brick.