On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 12:47:46 -0500, "McCoy"
wrote:

I'm doing some work on a 1960's era house that had a past owner who was a
truly careless painter. As a result, there are several places where he got
white, oil-based paint on the bricks while painting the trim. What is the
best way to clean up these old paint smears off of the bricks, without
hurting the bricks too much?

I run into this quite often. So far I've had the best results using a
gel type paint remover then power washing. Brick is very porous and
the paint soaks in a bit. You won't get it all but there should be
considerable improvement. The treated area will be lighter for a while
but will eventually darken.