Barrettine Peelaway 1 5kg

Sanding or burning off old paint on a period building is the one job you shouldn't be doing. Pre-1970s coatings are very often lead-based, and both methods put lead into the air — as dust or as fume. Peelaway 1 exists to take the paint off without creating either.

It's an alkaline poultice: a thick paste you trowel on, cover with a laminated blanket, and leave to work. The paint softens through its full depth, and when you lift the blanket, the paste, the blanket and the removed paint come away together as one sheet. The debris is contained and baggable rather than airborne.

How it works

• Apply 1–6mm thick by spatula, trowel or brush, working the paste into mouldings and crevices. Thin varnish, thin application; many layers of old paint, go thicker.
• Lay the blanket on printed side out, rubbing gently to exclude trapped air.
• Leave 2–48 hours, depending on the coating and its thickness.
• Lift it off with a spatula eased underneath, keeping paste, paint and blanket together.

Before you start

Always do a test patch. Dwell time is the whole skill of this product — too short and the lower layers stay put, too long and you risk the substrate, or the paste hardens and becomes difficult to clean off.

Peelaway 1 is strongly alkaline, which is exactly what makes it effective on old oil and lead paint over masonry, plaster, stone and metal. For newer coatings, and for substrates where alkalinity is a risk, use Peelaway 7 — or run the sample twin-pack first to see which works on your surface.

5kg tub, supplied with blankets. Spare blankets available in packs of ten.

Ireland & Northern Ireland — 1–3 working days. Charged by total order weight, VAT included:

• Up to 30 kg — €6.99, or free on orders over €85
• 30–60 kg — €13.99
• 60–100 kg — €27.99
• Over 100 kg — pallet delivery €49.99

Great Britain — 2–4 working days. €13.95 up to 30 kg, then €27.90, €55.90 and €99.90 by the same weight steps. There is no free delivery to Great Britain.

Rest of Europe — non-liquid items only, from €11.75, priced by destination and weight at checkout. Paint and other liquids ship to Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain only.

Dispatch and collection — order before 12pm Monday to Friday and it ships the same day. Click & collect at Ballymount, Dublin 12 is free and often ready within the hour.

Returns — 14 days to change your mind and 14 more to send it back. Tinted paint is non-returnable once mixed.