On Wednesday, 18 April 2018 10:18:34 UTC+1, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
No, I no longer have the empty tube to help identify it. It is on a
painted surface, very well adhered and I need to remove it. Gentle
scrapping gets the thick off, but not the entire thickness. Is there any
solution which will loosen it please?

In case no-one else has any suggestions, I find that those Benzyl
Alcohol paint strippers soften up things like that - even when you might
not want them to :-) I've used them on acrylic sealers when nothing
else seems to work, but it also seems to soften up some of those
ready-mixed plaster repair fillers, which can be annoying; but at least
I know to be careful with it now. TBH, it's the only sort of stripper
I'll buy from now on, since it's the only thing I ever found that works
on emulsion, too. Takes hours to work, though. And it's supposed to be
non-toxic (at least it is ATM) and it is low-vapour. Costs about £30
for a big plastic bottle, so might not be economic for a small job, but
if you will be stripping paint in the future...

Benzyl alcohol is phenol aka carbolic. In the 30s it killed more people than all other household chemicals combined. Nontoxic seems more than optimistic.

Emulsion can be turned to a loose gel by soaking in water for hours.


NT