Remove facade paint - base of the paint is unknown?!

Hello everyone,

A few years ago, we bought a very old house and renovated it extensively ourselves over several years – at least the interior is now completely and successfully finished.

Now we are planning the exterior renovation.

Three sides of the house are smoothly plastered and painted with an unknown facade paint, while another side consists of facing brickwork. According to the neighbors, the painting was done back in the early 80s and supposedly consisted of a water-based primer and two top coats.

The paint is very smooth and adheres incredibly well to the facade, and the very few flakings, in my opinion, suggest a silicone or silicate paint. The area involves about 200 sqm of painted facade.

In a secluded spot on the facade, I tested applying cement slurry or plaster and even tile adhesive and left both on for several months before trying to remove them, which was basically done very quickly and completely residue-free with a wet plaster sponge. In short – obviously nothing adheres to the old paint.

However, I have absolutely no usable experience in the field of facade paints and therefore need your advice for solving the following problems or questions:

1. How can it be determined what type of facade paint was actually used back then?

2. How can this facade paint be removed or pretreated in order to apply a new coat?

3. If removal of the old facade paint is not necessary – which I do not believe – which type of facade paint base would generally be suitable for a new coating?

I would like to thank you in advance sincerely for constructive ideas and shared experiences!

Best regards

Frank

Hello everyone,

A few years ago we bought a very old house and renovated it thoroughly ourselves over several years – at least the interior is now completely and successfully finished.

Now we are planning the exterior renovation.

Three sides of the house are smoothly plastered and painted with an unknown facade paint, while another side consists of brick veneer. According to the neighbors, the painting was done back in the early 80s and was supposedly applied with a water-based primer and two topcoats.

The paint is very smooth and adheres incredibly well to the facade, and the very few chips suggest to me a silicone or silicate paint. It concerns about 200 sqm of painted facade surface.

At a remote spot on the facade, I tested cement slurry or plaster and even tile adhesive, left both on for several months, and then tried to remove them, which was basically done very quickly and completely residue-free with a wet plaster sponge. In short – obviously nothing adheres to the old paint.

However, I have no usable experience in the field of facade paints and therefore need your advice to solve the following problems or questions:

1. How can it be determined which type of facade paint was actually used back then?

2. How can this facade paint be removed or pretreated at all in order to apply a new coat?

3. If removal of the old facade paint should not be necessary – which I do not believe – what type of facade paint base would generally be suitable for a new coat?

I would like to sincerely thank you in advance for constructive ideas and shared experiences!

Best regards

Frank

Many painting professionals have a problem here. How is a layman supposed to identify the type of binder in an old facade coating? Hire a qualified master painter or, better, an expert in the painting trade.