How should I get this paint off my stucco?

Question

I have an exterior stucco wall that appears to have been painted. I would like to somehow remove the paint to expose the rough surface of the top coat so I can limewash it.

I tried scraping at it with steel and brass wire brushes but they produced a result I was not expecting: the wirebrushed area became smooth and metallic.

Is this the right approach? What is the right way to remove paint from stucco?

Update: I contacted several sandblasters and they all say it's not worth the trouble, as the blasting would likely destroy the stucco, necessitating a whole house re-stucco, in which case it would make more sense to simply screw wire through the existing stucco and apply a new layer without the added expense of sandblasting.

Are there any chemicals I could use to strip this paint? Or am I really going to have to get the entire house re-wired and re-stuccoed? It seems like such a shame since the substrate beneath the paint is really just fine.

Answer 1

That looks like a good justification for a phone call to the local sandblaster. Stucco's too abrasive to be depainted with metal tools.

Answer 2

I asked a couple of sandblasters and they all told me that sandblasting off the paint would likely destroy the stucco in the process, so I would probably need a new brown coat and color coat after they were finished.

In the end, the cheapest real stucco option (i.e. not just adding another layer pf paint) seemed to be to skip sandblasting and apply wire lath over the existing stucco and then get a new brown coat and color coat. I figured if I was going to do that anyway, I might as well take the once-in-a-home-lifetime opportunity to improve the insulation, and I hired a firm to fasten rigid insulation boards over the existing stucco, and then apply wire lath and new stucco over that. I avoided the expense of sandblasting or stucco removal and substantially improved the thermal performance and comfort of the house.