The paint stripping started before the scaffolding was finished which was useful as the paint stripper needed to increase the coverage of the sheeting.

The problem with the magnolia (apart from how horrible it looked) was that it was waterproof.  The wall was sodden wet behind the paint causing damp and freezing damage,

I’ve had a go at paint stripping before.  This time I got some professionals in – Craig Ginn from Dartford who uses stripper and a DOFF steam system to remove paint.

Most of the paint came off in sheets with a steam jet wash and paint stripper.  It needed a couple of applications of stripper to get rid of all the paint.

Behind the paint we’ve mostly found good bricks.  There is a bit of mix and match from different building phases and alterations, but it already looks a lot nicer than the magnolia.