We have a brick hearth which was speckled with paint droppings many years
ago.

I've done everything I can think of to get the drops out -- scraping,
scrubbing, even used paint remover. But nothing works. I think the paint has
seeped deep into the brick.

Any suggestions welcome.

"Ray" wrote in message
news:_1cni.4599$4J4.2964@trndny05...

We have a brick hearth which was speckled with paint droppings many years
ago. I've done everything I can think of to get the drops out -- scraping,
scrubbing, even used paint remover. But nothing works. I think the paint
has
seeped deep into the brick.

Any suggestions welcome.

There are no such suggestions. Brick is so porous
any paint that sticks to it becomes irremovable except
by scraping.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Ray wrote:

We have a brick hearth which was speckled with paint droppings many years
ago.

I've done everything I can think of to get the drops out -- scraping,
scrubbing, even used paint remover. But nothing works. I think the paint has
seeped deep into the brick.

Any suggestions welcome.



Can't get it out because the surface is too rough and irregular. Very
easy to conceal small spots with acryllic paint from the craft store - I
used it to cover dark brown stain my neighbor got on concrete deck.

In article _1cni.4599$4J4.2964@trndny05, "Ray" wrote:
We have a brick hearth which was speckled with paint droppings many years
ago.

I've done everything I can think of to get the drops out -- scraping,
scrubbing, even used paint remover. But nothing works. I think the paint has
seeped deep into the brick.

Any suggestions welcome.

What kind of paint remover did you use? If it did not contain methylene
chloride, then try again with a brand that does. ZipStrip is one such brand,
there are probably others. You probably won't find ZipStrip at Lowe's or Home
Depot, but Ace Hardware sells it.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Ray wrote:
We have a brick hearth which was speckled with paint droppings many
years ago.

I've done everything I can think of to get the drops out -- scraping,
scrubbing, even used paint remover. But nothing works. I think the
paint has seeped deep into the brick.

Any suggestions welcome.

That is a really tough one.

I have seen some paint removal "kits" that include a thick gel type
chemical and a backing material. The whole think like a towel soaked in a
gel is slapped on the project and allowed to work and then the whole thing
is pulled off. I have never tried it myself. In my younger days I did
remove paint from my 2½ story brick home using a sand blasting outfit. I
suspect that might be a little messy for what you need and you would need to
do all the brick because it would clean out any old soot etc on the brick as
well.

Good Luck.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

Thanks -- will do that.


"Norminn" wrote in message
ink.net...
Ray wrote:

We have a brick hearth which was speckled with paint droppings many years
ago.

I've done everything I can think of to get the drops out -- scraping,
scrubbing, even used paint remover. But nothing works. I think the paint
has seeped deep into the brick.

Any suggestions welcome.



Can't get it out because the surface is too rough and irregular. Very
easy to conceal small spots with acryllic paint from the craft store - I
used it to cover dark brown stain my neighbor got on concrete deck.

In article , "Don Phillipson" wrote:
Brick is so porous
any paint that sticks to it becomes irremovable except
by scraping.

That's not true.

1. In my first house, some knucklehead previous owner had painted over a brick
fireplace. Four applications of methylene chloride-based paint remover
(ZipStrip brand specifically) removed _every_trace_ of paint.

2. Three blocks south of where I live now, some idiot had years ago painted an
entire brick house. The current owner had it sandblasted just last week, and
(from the street, at least) you can't tell it had ever been painted.

3. I would find it entertaining to watch you trying to scrape paint off of a
brick.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Doug Miller wrote:
In article , "Don Phillipson" wrote:
Brick is so porous
any paint that sticks to it becomes irremovable except
by scraping.

That's not true.

1. In my first house, some knucklehead previous owner had painted over a brick
fireplace. Four applications of methylene chloride-based paint remover
(ZipStrip brand specifically) removed _every_trace_ of paint.

2. Three blocks south of where I live now, some idiot had years ago painted an
entire brick house. The current owner had it sandblasted just last week, and
(from the street, at least) you can't tell it had ever been painted.

3. I would find it entertaining to watch you trying to scrape paint off of a
brick.

Any solution to washing soot off white brick (cement bricks) fire place?
Frank

Doug Miller wrote:
In article , "Don Phillipson" wrote:
Brick is so porous
any paint that sticks to it becomes irremovable except
by scraping.

That's not true.

1. In my first house, some knucklehead previous owner had painted over a brick
fireplace. Four applications of methylene chloride-based paint remover
(ZipStrip brand specifically) removed _every_trace_ of paint.

2. Three blocks south of where I live now, some idiot had years ago painted an
entire brick house. The current owner had it sandblasted just last week, and
(from the street, at least) you can't tell it had ever been painted.

3. I would find it entertaining to watch you trying to scrape paint off of a
brick.

The success of removing paint from brick depends greatly on the
particular brick and paint...

Brick w/ a fired face has fairly low porosity and a relatively smooth
surface to stripper can work pretty effectively.

Sandblasting can work on the surface of about anything, of course, but
if it is a really rough, pourous surface and they happened to use a
thinner paint that got really taken up, it'll probably be impossible to
remove it all in any practical sense.

Some brick is soft enough that couldn't use sandblasting without
basically taking the brick, too...

In short, there are almost as many possible outcomes as there are
applications...

Just a gripe against over-generalization in general, nothing else...

--

In article , Frank frankdotlogullo@comcastperiodnet wrote:

Any solution to washing soot off white brick (cement bricks) fire place?

Washing soda -- NOT baking soda -- works wonders on soot on glass fireplace
doors; worth a try on brick.

Mix a cup of washing soda in a gallon of warm water, and start scrubbing. Wear
rubber gloves, though -- if you don't, you will rapidly become aware of the
exact location of every nick, scratch, and hangnail on your hands and fingers.
Won't do any real damage unless you get it in your eyes, but it does sting.

You can find washing soda on the laundry detergent aisle in many grocery
stores, usually next to the borax. Not sure where you are; here in
Indianapolis, I get it at Kroger. Two dollars and change for a 3-pound box.




--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

In article , dpb wrote:
Doug Miller wrote:
In article , "Don Phillipson"
wrote:
Brick is so porous
any paint that sticks to it becomes irremovable except
by scraping.

That's not true.

1. In my first house, some knucklehead previous owner had painted over a
brick
fireplace. Four applications of methylene chloride-based paint remover
(ZipStrip brand specifically) removed _every_trace_ of paint.

2. Three blocks south of where I live now, some idiot had years ago painted
an
entire brick house. The current owner had it sandblasted just last week, and
(from the street, at least) you can't tell it had ever been painted.

3. I would find it entertaining to watch you trying to scrape paint off of a
brick.

The success of removing paint from brick depends greatly on the
particular brick and paint...

Brick w/ a fired face has fairly low porosity and a relatively smooth
surface to stripper can work pretty effectively.

You might be surprised at what ZipStrip can pull out of even rough and porous
brick.

Sandblasting can work on the surface of about anything, of course, but
if it is a really rough, pourous surface and they happened to use a
thinner paint that got really taken up, it'll probably be impossible to
remove it all in any practical sense.

Some brick is soft enough that couldn't use sandblasting without
basically taking the brick, too...

In short, there are almost as many possible outcomes as there are
applications...

Just a gripe against over-generalization in general, nothing else...

Quite true; I didn't mean to appear to be suggesting that paint could *always*
be removed from brick, just that "never" isn't the case at all.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:48:17 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:


2. Three blocks south of where I live now, some idiot had years ago painted an
entire brick house.

...Back then, it was only the unrefined lower classes who had bare brick.

For the lowly like the residents of Governors' Palace, Williamsburg, VA

http://www.history.org/Almanack/places/hb/hbpal.cfm

or that lowly guttersnipe TJ's Monticello, I presume you mean?

http://www.monticello.org/gallery/ho..._fishpond.html



--

wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:40:49 -0500, dpb wrote:

wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:48:17 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:


2. Three blocks south of where I live now, some idiot had years ago painted an
entire brick house.
...Back then, it was only the unrefined lower classes who had bare brick.
For the lowly like the residents of Governors' Palace, Williamsburg, VA

http://www.history.org/Almanack/places/hb/hbpal.cfm

or that lowly guttersnipe TJ's Monticello, I presume you mean?

http://www.monticello.org/gallery/ho..._fishpond.html



You may need to do some further research! Check out England while you
are at it. G


Again, it was the "only" that got my attention...

--

In article , wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:48:17 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:


2. Three blocks south of where I live now, some idiot had years ago painted an
entire brick house.

Depending on the house, he may not have been an idiot. Painted brick
is historically accurate for many early American homes. Back then, it
was only the unrefined lower classes who had bare brick.

Built in about 1960.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:53:12 -0500, dpb wrote:

wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:40:49 -0500, dpb wrote:

wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:48:17 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:


2. Three blocks south of where I live now, some idiot had years ago painted an
entire brick house.
...Back then, it was only the unrefined lower classes who had bare brick.
For the lowly like the residents of Governors' Palace, Williamsburg, VA

http://www.history.org/Almanack/places/hb/hbpal.cfm

or that lowly guttersnipe TJ's Monticello, I presume you mean?

http://www.monticello.org/gallery/ho..._fishpond.html


You may need to do some further research! Check out England while you
are at it. G

Again, it was the "only" that got my attention...

Pretty selective interpretation, considering the rest of what I said!
LOL

If you hadn't followed that w/ the last sentence that drew the
boundaries too wide, you would have escaped _totally_ unscathed...

Figured having just gently excoriated Doug he shouldn't feel like I was
picking only on him...

Vbg...

--

In article , dpb wrote:


Figured having just gently excoriated Doug he shouldn't feel like I was
picking only on him...

LOL - you're fine.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Doug Miller wrote:
In article , "Don Phillipson" wrote:

Brick is so porous
any paint that sticks to it becomes irremovable except
by scraping.


That's not true.

1. In my first house, some knucklehead previous owner had painted over a brick
fireplace. Four applications of methylene chloride-based paint remover
(ZipStrip brand specifically) removed _every_trace_ of paint.

2. Three blocks south of where I live now, some idiot had years ago painted an
entire brick house. The current owner had it sandblasted just last week, and
(from the street, at least) you can't tell it had ever been painted.

3. I would find it entertaining to watch you trying to scrape paint off of a
brick.

1. Works if the paint isn't smeared in. Tough to get off the brick.

2. Didn't want to suggest sandblasting indoors.

3. Works if it is drops that didn't get smeared/brushed into the
mortar/brick/concrete.