Removing Plaster on Brick
- 1). Clear the room of all freestanding items and floor coverings. If you can't remove the items in the room, move them against the wall opposite the brick wall and cover them with plastic sheeting.
- 2). Limit the dust spread. Turn off the central heating. Close the windows and doors and tape plastic sheeting over them. Cover the floor in front of the brick wall with plastic sheeting. Tape over any wood moldings to avoid scratching them.
- 3). Protect yourself from dust. Put on goggles, a dust mask and heavy work gloves. For protection against dust and particles, wear safety goggles that fit snugly against your face, and put on a dust mask. The home improvement experts at "The New York Times" recommend putting on a new dust mask once every two hours.
- 4). Chip away at the plaster with a brick set chisel. That's a chisel with a wide blade, also known as a bricklayer's chisel. Start at a bottom corner of the wall and chip away a chunk of the plaster. Once this starter chunk is removed, hold the chisel at the edge of the main body of plaster so that it is almost parallel with the wall. Tap on the butt of the chisel with a hammer so that the chisel slides easily between the plaster and the brick and removes a chunk of plaster. Continue in this fashion, working up the wall, until you have removed all of the plaster from the wall.
- 5). Dispose of all of the large plaster chunks from the base of the wall to clear the area.
- 6). Brush the excess plaster and dust from the wall. With a stiff-bristle brush, use short, firm strokes to brush-clean the wall from the top down. To minimize further dust spread, run the nozzle attachment of an industrial vacuum under the brush to collect the dust you remove.
- 7). Sweep up all of the dust and debris with a broom and dust pan. Allow the dust to settle for two hours, then sweep again.
- 8). Wash any remaining plaster debris off the wall. Put on a pair of rubber gloves and your goggles. Pour one gallon of hot water into a plastic bucket. Stir in 1/2 cup of trisodium phosphate, or TSP, powder. Dip a scrub brush in the solution and scrub the walls clean from the bottom up. Rinse out the bucket and fill it with fresh water. Dip a clean scrub brush in the water and use the brush to remove any TSP powder from the wall. Rinse the brush frequently as you scrub. If the plaster residue does not come off the walls completely, scrub a second time with clean water.
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