I may be in a very small minority, but I love the look of bricks with paint wearing off. If you went that route, it would be signifcantly less work provided you can find a technique that gives the appearance you like. I used to work in a house-turned-office that had such an exterior. I returned from a business trip to find it painted the color of baby poop. Awful.
This kind of thick caustic substance is needed. You can get concentrated lye that looks like brown jello that will dissolve any paint. If it gets on your skin it will leave a red mark that lasts for a year. If it gets in your eyes you may go blind.
If you don’t like the look I’d suggest trying to cover the old brick with a layer of brick veneer, or even a layer of whole bricks if you can.
Always wear a thick long sleeve shirt, rubber gloves and eye protection when using any strong paint remover.
It’s not dangerous if you take basic precautions.
Read directions on the can carefully. Some strippers require neutralizing the surface afterwards.
Vinegar is one example. But use what the stripper recommends.
Maybe you could have fun vaporizing the paint away with a laser!
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=paint+strip+laser
http://www.nortonsandblasting.com/nsblaserclean.html
http://www.p-laser.com/services_detail.aspx?AGUID=d0c1586f-4261-463a-9916-9e263e6415ec&LGUID=8565a502-c109-43ef-b1a1-dfba5f3edbf6
Apparently, units are available for rental.
Painting brick is effectively permanent. It’s virtually impossible to get all the paint off, and can be prohibitively cumbersome to even attempt depending on the type of brick, its age/condition at the time it was painted, etc.
The only “quick” or “easy” way to do it is sandblasting, and that still may not get everything in all the little pores. If you care to try it by hand with whatever method of scraping, brushing, etc. I would plan for many, many hours of tedious work - followed by an unknown final result that you may not like at all and wind up just repainting anyway.
If it were me - I would pull it down and start over with new brick. Seriously. If you want a fairly guaranteed final result, it needs to be rebuilt.
Either way, contact a mason for some estimates/advice on either paint removal or replacement.
edit to add: a 40 year home could have 6 or more layers of paint, further compounding things, plus the lead issue. Realistically you’re either stuck with it (and free to repaint however you like) or will have to rebuild it.
By the way, does anyone know who posted the OP? As everyone knows, it’s never Loopus…
As to the brick, yeah, you’re probably screwed as far as getting back to a clean brick finish. Good luck, though!
Interesting. We bought our home about 10 years ago. The colors were dated - blue walls and real grass wallpaper. The living room had dark wood paneling floor to ceiling, it was not oak, but ash or something. So we eventually painted out the wood. Haven’t regretted it for a second. It still has all the features of the molding, with cut outs and reliefs, but does not look like a dark dungeon. We did a recent house renovation and repainted the wood greige.
This weekend I painted out the bricks on the fireplace with whitewash. They where the old red brick style. I fully realize that this is a one-way process, and if someone ever strips the bricks, it won’t be me. I put on a heavy whitewash, so about 5% of the original color still shows through. They look great and new and clean. If someone were ever to strip them, I would think it would almost be impossible because the bricks, and especially the grout absorbed a great deal of the paint, sometimes looking like they had barely been painted the first go around. I think the brick would also be very damaged by stripping, again, especially the grout.
So I would vote for leaving the brick as it is.