Victorian sandstone fireplace restoration

[HS207]

Hello there, I have a four foot odd fireplace to restore. The previous occupants had removed most of the paint but it is not the finished article. I am unsure what to do with it- sand down to smooth stone (too much time and dust I think) or finish the paint removal, sandpaper it down and then repaint. If I repaint it was it painted originally, if so what colours? I have it on good advice that the dark beige type base paint was the original and that it would have had a wood grain type effect. The fire place was installed with house in 1881, it is quite plain with no patterns and symmetrical design. Also if painted is there an approppriate primer I should use, such as acrylic etc.
Any advice or tips will be much appreciated. The room is been fully restored and the walls new skim and partial plaster is now drying out. Many thanks in anticipation.

 

[88v8]

It depends what decorative treatment you intend for the room. If the fireplace was originally stained and grained - and I have never heard of this treatment applied to sandstone, not that I deny it happened of course - then that may be appropriate again if it would be compatible with your decor. Staining and graining is very much a specialist game, you may find someone in yellow pages.
As to primer, I would use alkali resting primer, such as
http://dulux.trade-decorating.co.uk/web/pdf/datasheets/301.pdf
The undercoat wouod need to be scumble, but I would take the grainer's advice before applying it.

Or get it back to stone with paint stripper, unless anyone knows otherwise.

Ivor

 

[Penners]

I have a four foot odd fireplace to restore.

I wonder what's odd about it. :wink:

Sanding the paint off stone sounds like a hell of a lot of hard work. Personally I would want to restore it to natural stone, but to remove the paint I would use a chemical stripper.

Have a look at the "I want to remove" page on Strippers of Sudbury's website:

http://www.stripperspaintremovers.com/