Removing paint from pressed metal ceiling

Hi, I am trying to strip the paint (About 3 layers) off pressed tine ceilings in our home. I have tried 3 different applications and am a bit lost on how to proceed. I have tried:

- Selleys paint stripper - had to recoat 3 times to remove all paint and still left paint residue
- Peal Away no 9 - Didn't last the 24 hours even though heavily masked to the ceiling - maybe took 2 layers off and a **** mess!
- Heat Gun - bubbled and pealed the paint away cleanly and removed all 3 layers together. Only issue is that I was concerned that maybe I heated too much and for about 30 mins after there was alot of noise coming from the ceiling like it had expanded and was buckling.

Although either way is going to be labour intensive I liked the result of the heat gun as it was clean and gave me bare metal to work from to repaint. The sheets look like they are nailed to the roof frame but was concerned that the heat would distort the metal and possibly mealy away any adhesive that has had been used.

Thoughts?

As per above = 3 coats of paint took more than a day to apply - and they take more than that to remove.

Heat gun - be careful of overheating it or you could set fire to the wood. noises - yep that happens when steel get hto - same with a roof

Question - Why remove the paint? - you can't leave it bare or it will rust - but I assume that the paint has by now masked the detail - hence you want to reveal it under only 1 coat of paint.

Make sure you buy aussie made paint

Thanks for your response. The paint needs to be removed as it is flaking in places. Want to bring it back to bare and paint it to highlight the detail. Thinking the heat gun is looking like the best option, might need to confirm our insurance is upto date!

Have you tried sandblasting?

No I haven't. does the tin need to be removed to sandblast it?

Thanks for your response.

You have chosen a very difficult task. Possibly the best way is to look up paint strippers or abrasive blasters and get someone to sandblast it using dry ice. It is a special machine where the ice just evaporates after removing the paint, however I believe it is expensive.

Next is to use paint stripper, but look through Yellow Pages for a manufacturer of stripper cos you will buy 20 Lt from them for the price of 4Lt from a hardware. After you apply it once and it is bubbling, go over it again slapping more on very heavily and rpushing it into the surface because two applications will go deeper and when it bubbles the stripper is separated from the base paint so it needs to be rewetted and pushed against the ceiling again. Try three applications, but normally it drops off by then. Just do areas maybe half to one sq.m. at a time.

You may be able to sand what is left or just apply the stripper all over again. If you apply the stripper again do it as soon as you have removed the first bulk rather than letting it dry between. When you have finished you must wash it thoroughly or the residue will prevent the new paint from sticking. Bad job for people who do not have the stamina.

Good luck.

Thanks to all for their help. As we started to work through getting the paint off we found a number of badly rusted areas so have instead decided to pull them down and replace with plasterboards!