How to remove paint from brick?

Most brick is porous and you want to stay away from products not designed to clean masonry as they will very often leave stains and or damage the brick over time. The best way is the least damaging to the brick. Start with good ole elbow grease a stiff nylon brush and some water. Do not use a wire brush unless it is a brass or other non rusting type or you will likely get rust stains on your brick in subsequent years and or scratch the brick. If simply mechanical means will not work then go to solvents and the like. If it is a large or important area use a special product like http://www.graffitiremovalbrigade.com/images/Porou... . If it is a small or unimporant area then you can try traditional paint removal solvents but soak your brick really well first in water so that it absorbs as little of the solvent as possible and rinse it well afterward. Sometimes it can be a real pain as the porous brick absorbs the paint in liquid form then the paint dries and there is no easy way to get it out! If you get it clean consider yourself lucky sometimes these things are permanent (at least without damaging the brick).

Solutions include scraping heavy deposits of paint off the brick, wire brushing the rest of the solid paint off the brick, and then a solvent (like Goof Off Cleaner) for removing residue from the brick. The goal is to remove the solid residue prior to the solvent application, because the solvent can also make the stain bigger if there is still solid paint left on the brick.

The last item is to power wash the brick with high pressure (2000-2500 psi) with a concrete floor cleaner material mixed with hot water through the pressure washer. Sometimes the cleaner can be purchased at auto parts supply stores.

The easiest way to remove the paint from the bricks is to rent either a high pressure washer or a sand blaster, then just cover the painted surface with painters plastic and allot ot making tape and blast the unwanted paint off.

Brick is very porous; thus, the paint has seeped down and in. Removed the outer paint with paint thinner or a stripper. Rinse well. The remaining can be removed with muratic acid and a wire brush. Rinse and repeat if required. Use safety first with eye shields, rubber gloves and mask.

Whatever you do, gasoline is definitely not appropriate, and any oil type product will stain the bricks. The stone mason offered the best suggestions. However, you want to first try any chosen method in an area that is not all that noticeable ( small obscure area), in case there is a problem, it is hidden from view, and allows you to see how well any method works in removing the paint BEFORE attacking the bricks that are in plain sight.

Nothing will do a very good job of removing the paint, but I would not try using any type of thinner. The best way would be to sand blast the paint off, but that's probably not a doable option for you. Might try a good stiff wire brush to get as much as you can off the brick.

OMG please do not use gasoline. That is just ignorant. I agree with the other user- use mineral spirits. It's a type of paint thinner, and trust me- it eats away everything. Depending on how long the paint has been dried, it may take some elbow grease to get it off :) Good luck.

Depends what kind of paint it is. If it's latex, you can use lacquer thinner to remove it. This stuff is highly volatile and definitely not good to breathe. If it's oil paint, you'll have to use mineral spirits. Your local paint store or hardware store can help you further.

very confusing issue. do a search in yahoo. this might help!

Put the brick in a fire and the paint will burn/melt off, the brick won't burn because it is a brick.