apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I would suspect you are looking at sandblasting. But I'd actually track down a stone and marble refinisher. I think this is perhaps beyond the normal DIY.

why not use stripper? there's an "orange" stripper on the market in a small plastic jug. it's amazing and skin friendly. it also has a nice smell.

i've never known paint to be difficult to remove from stone, quite the contrary actually.

Pretty much any solvent is safe enough if you do this sort of thing once (or once in awhile) and make reasonable efforts to ventilate (like putting a box fan in your window backwards).

If you work as a furniture refinisher, it might be another story.

Don't let the healthfood-industrial-complex push you around.

There's a paint remover called "Peel Away" which you can get at Sherwin-Williams Paint stores. Applied to the painted surface with a spatula, it goes on like putty and then you cover it with saran wrap for 12-24 hrs. After waiting, you simply peel it back with a spatula and multiple layers of paint will come off with it. It's relatively safe, doesn't smell, doesn't burn your skin like conventional paint remover, and is easy to dispose of. I've used it several times and had it remove as many as 9 layers of paint from carved woodwork.

well, at least you have an excellent motivation:
a. it looks like hell now
b. the soapstone mantel will look beautiful stripped

as a veteran heat gunner, I have to wonder if you were using it correctly, if your finger nail is more effective. The heated paint should turn to scrape-able goo that turns brittle a minute after it hits the floor. Wear a good mask and put craft paper on the floor for easy cleanup.

On www.brownstoner.com there's recommends for chemicals (I'm happier with le heat gun) and/or professionals around NYC if you're just too frustrated at this point. Search their Forums.

AND
non-work fireplace (cleaned out) = niche.
Or get a decorative cover from a salvage place.

Try and use very warm Downy fabric softener.

let here more about fabric softener as paint stripper pls..

I was so shocked...
let's hear more

I'm going with John's suggestion of peel away. I love that stuff. http://www.dumondchemicals.com/paint_remover.htm I've used it on nearly every surface out there including antiques in the auction trade. Then polish it the old fashioned way with some beeswax. (yes that works nicely on porous sopastone)

I will definitely try the peel away, sounds very promising. Thanks for all the great suggestions.

doesnt sound like folks understand that you are trying to get down to an old paint fininish removing subsequent finishes. any harsh chemicals would certainly remove all the paint including the old original faux graining... I would have to say the slow manual process is the way to go, looks like you are almost there... in restoring oil paintings the restoreer often has to do "in painting" to resolve sections of paint loss etc... perhaps this would be the easiest way to lose the rest of the white?

!!!!!

"healthfood-industrial-complex"

Ha! Now there's the real bogeyman behind the 5th column!

Soygel.

jako, I think they are trying to get down to the original soapstone and marble, not to an existing finish. They are trying to remove the existing finish.

But i could be wrong.

I thought she was trying to get rid of old faux finish, and take it down to stone . . . ?

I found PeelAway (amd ZipStrip, bleech) to leave wood unevenly porous - obviously more of an issue with wood than stone, since it was going to be stained.

Yep, I am trying to get down to the original stone, which is a combination of marble and soapstone. So I do want to remove the faux finish, which is paint. Sorry for any confusion. To see more pics of this you can go to my flickr site:
http://flickr.com/photos/93513885@N00/sets/72157600066501092/

You're probably going to have to do some more scraping even if you use a solvent. The solvent will soften the old paint, but you'll still have to clear it away with your plastic or metal scraper.

I wouldn't worry about the scratches though. You can easily sand out scratches from stone with a couple grades of sand paper (maybe one that is for wet use). Soapstone is so soft that sanding will be a breeze. On the other hand, marble is so hard that it shouldn't have as many scratches! Good luck! I bet you'll love it when its finished!

I use Liquid Sandpaper. It goes on with a brush and one hour later you wipe it off with an industrial paper towel. Just repeat until the paint is gone. It is non-toxic with no smell. I am using it now to strip the beautiful wood in an old house I am restoring. I just checked the label, and it doesn't exclude stone.

Guido - When I bought my house every room, and I do mean EVERY room had hideous wallpaper. I tried steamers (heavy, boring, too slow...) and chemicals (toxic and scary). Then I tried Downy fabric softener (yes, technically a chemical again...). When I used warm (almost hot) water with the downy it stripped the wallpaper really easily (just soak it in and let it set for a minute or 2 and peel it away). It also removed quite a bit of the paint on my wainscotting along the way (would drip down). Can't hurt to try it in a small patch. Granted wood is porous and the marble/limestone isn't, but the Downy may still loosen up the paint.

I 3rd (4th) the peelaway suggestion, and recommend painting the interior of the fp black. That's exactly what I did. Also, a high quality 5-in-1 scraper tool will make things easier.

ooh, I would love to paint the brick black, great idea! not sure my landlord would go for that though....

You might want to give this stuff a try...
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001620.php

That fireplace looks like a lot of old fireplaces around SF. It may have had a free-standing stove attached at some point. Take a look:

http://www.ziprealty.com/images_mls/CABCREIS/32/03/00/_P/320300_P09.jpg

http://www.ziprealty.com/images_mls/CABCREIS/32/03/00/_P/320300_P17.jpg

water and time...
try Steam, patience and persistance. (wire brush like rain)worked for the grand canyon and the underlying surfaces you are trying to revitalize will react appropriately.

worked for the grand canyon.

I think that Peel-Away would work well on this; I've used it before, and just so you know, if the hardware store is out of the paper you're supposed to put over it, you can easily use wax paper.

THEN... once you're done, since you don't want to paint the bricks, I think you could very easily build sort of inset thing that you COULD paint, which would act as a second-skin to the insides. Cut a rectangular hole in a sheet of Masonite and build out a little an inner niche with wood and have more masonite at the back of it, and paint THAT either black, or one of the other tones that's in the marble pattern, and then put something in it, like perhaps a mother-in-law tongue plant, which would be like green-and-yellow flame-shaped thing?

"You might want to give this stuff a try...
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001620.php "

Hey, y'all - I'm the guy who suggested SoyGel to Cool Tools. I'm an old hand at stripping paint, and have done lots of soapstone and marble fireplaces. I recommend SoyGel *because it doesn't hurt"! Apply a thick coat over the entire surface of the fireplace (not the brick, tho'), then cover the whole thing up with thick plastic sheeting, taping it to the walls around the fireplace (try to keep the SoyGel off whatever you don't want stripped), and leave overnight. Next morning, remove the plastic, and starting from the top, use a plastic scraper to remove the paint (I dump it all into a small cardboard box or whatever). Because you will not have removed all the paint, apply another coat, wait a few minutes, then use steel wool or something like 3M scruffy pad tor scrub the rest of the gunk. Then get some soapy water in a bucket and scrub down the entire surface and dry well. The thing with the harsher chemicals is they tend to 'bleach the surface'. No matter, because soapstone can be oiled....... and it'll look gorgeous. Try this site for info: http://luckstone.com/arch/maintenance/countertops/soapstone.php

By the way, have a gander at my new blog: http://materialicio.us Enjoy!

And by the way, NEVER sandblast soft stone, ever!! Jeez.

And here in Phoenix, you can get Soygel at Ace Hardware. If not there, try specialty hardware or paint stores, or maybe floor refinishing supply shops where you rent the machines (they sell mastic removers). I grew up in NYC and did restoration there for years and years, and I think you should be able to find SoyGel *somewhere* in the city. If not, order it from the site ( http://franmar.com ) or Amazon (link is on Cool Tools).

Oh, yeah, the post I wrote on my blog about paintstripping: http://materialicio.us/?tag=paint_stripping