How to remove old overspray and caulking from brick?

[james92se]

I've been working on re-painting/re-caulking some exterior wood parts on my mother's house this summer. Particularly, I'm working on the garage door overhang and there is an incredible amount of old overspray and incredibly sloppy caulking all over the brick. I can remember being a kid when it was painted by a family friend, so all this work is probably 20-25 years old now.

These are the only pictures I happen to have on my phone at the moment - but look at all that old overspray on the brick, as well as the paint drips further down the brick. It's even worse on the other side of the garage and the porch has quite a bunch of similar overspray as well. On the vertical section look at the incredibly sloppy caulking about 2 inches out onto the brick. I tried scraping it off with sharp blades to virtually negligible results. If I spent about 20 minutes on each brick I could basically scrape through the caulking and reach "clean" brick but I'm not going to sit there and do that on a hundred bricks. I've already spent way too much time on this project.





It's been there for 20+ years now so obviously my mom is used to it, but it selfishly bugs me because it now reflects on my job and I don't want to be associated with all that old sloppiness

Is there anything that will take the old overspray and caulking off? I've tried a rag and scrubbing it with both acetone and paint thinner and neither seem to have any impact on it whatsoever. I also tried actual paint stripper on one section but that didn't seem to do anything but dilute it a bit and then spread it around further when I tried to clean it up.

 

[evildky]

Wire brush and paint stripper.

 

[rlitman]

I wouldn't use a chemical solvent or stripper. It's liable to spread the mess more.

The traditional method would be a rub brick. But a wire wheel might work. So might sand blasting.

 

[james92se]

I briedly thought of sand blasting but having just finished blasting and repainting her wrought iron porch railings earlier in the summer (I removed them and blasted/refinished them in the backyard) I can't imagine all the mess that would make spraying directly at/towards the house. Although maybe I'm overstating that as these would be fairly concentrated areas.

Amazed to say that I've never heard of a "rub brick" - I had to look that up. But that just might work. Heck, I wonder if instead of buying one of those if I could just use some 60-80 grit sandpaper by hand or on a sanding block?

 

[GTO]

Plain old power washer 2500psi or better.

 

[Shiftless]

I had exactly the same problem on brick trim under some windows on my vintage 1951 house. I found that a grinding stone shaped like a cup wheel (attached to a big angle grinder) took off the paint and the top layer of dirt quite easily. It exposed a like new brick surface. However, that surface was quite porous. I sealed it right away with a 2 part epoxy sealer but there are other less expensive products that could probably be used.
Be careful!... This is a very aggressive tool and can do damage if you can't control it 100%
And it generates LOTS of dust. Respirator is a must. Silica dust and lead paint dust are both harmful.

 

[KenC]

Any abrasive may change the appearance of the brick, rub off the glazed appearance.
Try cheap oven cleaner from the dollar store followed by pressure washer. You may have to cover the cleaner with plastic wrap to keep it wet long enough to work.

 

[Shiftless]

Ken is right. If you remove the top surface you will radically change the appearance. If you go with the grinder or a rubbing stone rub brick you will want to seal the bricks afterwards with a non glossy sealer. And you can't just do the dirtiest ones...you have to do ALL of them to match.
For the front bricks with just a double of drips I would try painting over the drip area only with a color close to the brick color. That would make them unnoticeable except to somebody standing very close. Grinder marks on those would probably be MORE noticeable. Meticulous hand scraping might work. I have seen guys use dental tools for tiny crevices. Your results may vary.

I would be reluctant to pressure wash. Looks to me like a lot of water would penetrate the wall and cause trouble. Remember that the main cause of peeling paint is moisture rising up from underneath the paint film.

 

[rustyjames]

I think paint stripper, perhaps a few applications would be the best method. Just dab it on heavy and blast with the garden hose. If you need to hit it again make sure the brick is dry. I definitely would not try sand blasting, even rubbing, it will probably be more noticable than the paint.

 

[rlitman]

...For the front bricks with just a double of drips I would try painting over the drip area only with a color close to the brick color...

Interesting thought. You could take a piece of brick to HD and have a sample size color matched up in an exterior flat paint.

But I'll stick with the rub brick idea. What do you think is used to clean mortar off the bricks when they're first pointed? It's not going to hurt anything (though it may be more effort than you want).

BTW, you don't need to buy an actual rub brick. A matching brick works just as well, though doesn't come with a nice handle.

Yeah, the grinder is a scary thought. Too likely to dig in and leave tool marks.
A needle scaler would do the same thing but would pock the surface up badly.

 

[crguy]

I used a masonry disc on my small angle grinder to clean paint off brick. Sure it initially lightened it up a bit, but it looked way better than before. The cleaned areas are darkening with time.

 

[krcoomer]

I have used wire wheels in both my angle grinder and corded drill with good success for this. It is not so aggressive that it tears the brick up and you can get into the crevices and move on quickly. Get several styles and sizes to work with and stay out of the wood because it will gouge in an instant. Also, MH Ready Patch is a great spackling product to use for exterior or interior work on wood or drywall/plaster that will be painted.

 

[the gypsy]

What I did around my door frame, was to use a rotary flap disc on my drill and slowly removed the paint. It is long and time consuming but I feel it is better than using something more aggressive, like the stone or even the masonry disc on a grinder. I believe the grinder spins too fast and you can easily damage the surface of the brick.

 

[the gypsy]

As for the caulking, that can be removed with a sharpened scrape or a multi-tool if you have one ( don't forget to resharpen often). Or you may even try some caulking softeners. There are the chemical kinds or better yet try a heat gun to soften the caulking and try to remove it that way.

 

[Alienbaby17]

I have an old brick house with ivory trim. Consequently after many paint jobs to the trim over the years there is tons of ivory paint splatter over the bricks in certain areas. One day I was priming some small metal car part near the house and I noticed that when it dried it practically blended in perfectly with the brick. So, I tried a little spot on the brick. It looked pretty good and was very quick and simple. I was using Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. It was a really good match for the type of brick on my house and it's held up very well since I put it on around five years ago.

 

[StingRay]

Dry ice blasting. Not cheap and non destructive. Leaves no debris to clean up.

 

[PugetDude]

I just used a small stainless wire brush to remove dried latex paint from some used brick in my basement renovation. Scraped most off it off with a sharp scraper, the followed up with some judicious scrubbing with the little brush. Didn't gouge the brick or ruin the patina.

 

[RagTopTA]

I actually had the same issue today while working on my garage. there was clear silicone caulking all down the edge of the board and mostly on the bricks on one side. I used a Oscillating Tool with a scraper blade on it. It came right off. worked really good. I have the air version from Harbour Freight.

 

[ray80]

I would consider simply installing some timber quad bead over that sloppy caulking. Paint the quad before fitting it.

 

[the gypsy]

I don't believe painting brick is a good idea. Then again it depends if it is oil or latex. If you decide to paint the brick please remember that the brick must let out the moisture that builds up in the brick otherwise you will get spalling and deterioration of the brick.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

I don't believe painting brick is a good idea. Then again it depends if it is oil or latex. If you decide to paint the brick please remember that the brick must let out the moisture that builds up in the brick otherwise you will get spalling and deterioration of the brick.

I am old school and feel the same way. I cringe while watching my favorite home renovation show with Chip and Joanna Gains. They are great it seems at their job, but few of their homes they renovate that have brick...escape getting painted....

I cringe thinking...paint peeling and re-paint maintenance now has to be done on a buildings greatest feature... its brick. A feature that can withstand NEVER touching it for a hundred years or more, by most standards. And they paint it.

 

[rlitman]

I am old school and feel the same way. I cringe while watching my favorite home renovation show with Chip and Joanna Gains. They are great it seems at their job, but few of their homes they renovate that have brick...escape getting painted....

I cringe thinking...paint peeling and re-paint maintenance now has to be done on a buildings greatest feature... its brick. A feature that can withstand NEVER touching it for a hundred years or more, by most standards. And they paint it.

I get the same cringe feeling from the home renovation shows. Painting brick, stucco, kitchen cabinets and nice wood trim.

But in this case, I don't think we're talking about painting over the brick in its entirety. Just touching up the paint splattered spots with a paint color that matches the brick. I agree that painting over the brick completely is an awful idea. But painting over just some spots doesn't really hold in moisture in the same way.

 

[rick carpenter]

Plain old power washer 2500psi or better.

That! And have a helper *safely* hold up some sheet metal to protect areas from unwanted water.

 

[FullRaceMerc]

I would not sandblast it. I've seen sandblasted brick. It takes the surface off & exposes little orange grains of sand below.

For small amounts, I wonder how a heat gun would do.

 

[wasfuzz]

Soda blast it maybe, plenty of youtube videos on making your own blaster?

 

[the gypsy]

I get the same cringe feeling from the home renovation shows. Painting brick, stucco, kitchen cabinets and nice wood trim.


I feel the same way.

 

[james92se]

Well I ended up just taking round 80 grit sandpaper discs I already had on-hand for automotive work and literally just sanded the brick by hand. It was pretty tedious but worked about as good as I could hope for all said and done. Thanks for the tips everybody. It looks A LOT better. Still not as clean as I would like on the caulking edge but I'm really not feeling like putting another inkling of work into this project.

This house seems to shift every summer and I'm stuck trying to fix a bunch of cracked out mortar, only to then have it separate again the next year when it moves again. This may not be the ideal method but I decided to caulk the cracks with some "slate gray" colored Big Stretch brand caulking. I'm sure somebody will come along and say this was a terrible idea and that I should have chiseled out a bunch of the mortar and re-mortared it but oh well - it would just crack back out anyway like it has been doing. I figure at least this caulking might stretch/move and last more than a year unlike what I have been doing mixing up some Quickrete stuff and filling it in.

Here are some pictures. This first picture I'd sanded the lower bricks (below the crack) and left the upper bricks un-sanded for a comparison:

Top sanded:





Much better all said and done:



Opposite side before:



After:



Close-up before:



Close-up after:

 

[rlitman]

Looks good!

 

[krcoomer]

Looks much better. If you want to close up the gap in the mortar joints a product I used to seal some mortar joints that had some movement is called NP-1 which you can get in different colors. I picked it up at a roofing supply house. It is a urethane sealant with excellent properties. In your case I would tool it into the gap and then add a little sand to cover the "caulked look".