Removing paint/caulking on brick

[greasyfingers01]

I'm replacing a window in the "new" house and I'm replacing the sill and brick molding while I'm at it. There are several layers of paint buildup and looks like ****. The previous painter was sloppy got paint all over the brick. Now that I have the window and molding out, there is a ton of old hard caulking I can't seem to get off. I scraped most of it off but there's still quite a bit left behind. Any surefire ways of removing paint and caulking from the brick?

I've tried a wire brush, and it removes some but it's SLOW going. It would take a week to get it done. A wire cup in the drill just burns it and spreads it around. I thought about using my steam cleaner to soften and blast the paint from the pours as I hit it with a wire brush. I'm concerned about using a paint stripper, I think it would just spread the paint to the rest of the brick and make a mess.

 

[garage rookie]

Portable sand blaster?

 

[pcmeiners]

paint stripper...

If it is oil base, will not spread paint as long as you allow it to raise the paint, then dry out. Latex is more difficult to strip, at least in my experience. If you use stripper, get the best, cheap stripper will not cut it.
Can see the painter did not have patience.

 

[Milton Shaw]

Heat gun will soften it and let you scrape it easier. Just don't go overboard and burn the house down.

 

[Shiftless]

I have the same construction detail on my house with the bricks under windows. Like you, previous painters were sloppy so I had various drips and globs of green and white paint on the angled bricks. Scraping can't get to the paint down in the pores of the rough brick. What worked for me was to take my big two handed electric grinder and mount a cup shaped stone on it. Using that, I ground down the surface of the brick until the spots were gone. That also removed decades of dirt so the bricks looked new! I sealed the area with clear penetrating epoxy sealer and it still looks great!

Wear a dust mask and hearing protection.

 

[djjsr]

Latex paint can be removed with Goof-Off. But it's going to be hard to do on a rough surface like brick.