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Wanderers Ways. Neil Thompson 1961-2021

Getting Mastic/Silicone off Brickwork


MancWanderer

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A note of caution when cleaning brickwork. When a brick bakes in an oven if is similar to bread in that it has a crust or outer layer. Highly corrosive products can strip this layer leaving the soft underside which looks nice and clean but is also highly friable and will degrade over the years. Also be wary of older lime mortars which can be damaged and finally do not replace them with cement mortars as they will cause all kinds of problems. 

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9 minutes ago, MancWanderer said:

Might give the battery acid a go and be careful

Bought a heat gun to strip some gloss paint indoors. Tried that. Useless

I think that is the last thing you should try. Did you say you had tried the adhesive remover and it didn't work? The solution is to find out which solvent works on the mastic and use that, it could be something as simple as petroleum jelly. 

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3 hours ago, Nowack said:

I think that is the last thing you should try. Did you say you had tried the adhesive remover and it didn't work? The solution is to find out which solvent works on the mastic and use that, it could be something as simple as petroleum jelly. 

Fair point. I’ll do a bit more looking

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a lot of these silicone removers are terpene based gels. 

thats kinda what turps is made from 

heres one thats about 8 quid

hmm, heres the book , sez its not great on porous surfaces , but what can you do..

once it soaks in , you might be able to peel it away..

probably better than cheapo WD40 hacks and other workarounds. 

 

Edited by e2e4
typo
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1 hour ago, e2e4 said:

a lot of these silicone removers are terpene based gels. 

thats kinda what turps is made from 

heres one thats about 8 quid

hmm, heres the book , sez its not great on porous surfaces , but what can you do..

once it soaks in , you might be able to peel it away..

probably better than cheapo WD40 hacks and other workarounds. 

 

Yeah cheers for that. Problem is the bricks just soak it up. Went to toolstation and they just shrugged their shoulders

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Our masons use a poultice which you paint on and peel off after 24 hours, these are two companies which have it, they will advise which is best if you contact them, as they all have variations, but one should help hopefully, they may send a sample out which may be enough to use for you, otherwise only solution off top off my head which I thinks been mentioned is blowtorch It off or brick acid? 
You can get a doff or torc machine and blast it off using hot water but that’s very extreme and industrial and expensive! 

https://www.restorative-products.com/products/ready-mixed-poultices

https://stonehealth.com/product/clean-film-latex-cleaning-paste/
 

 

 

Edited by superjohnmcginlay
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13 hours ago, leigh white said:

Try getting mastic foam off your hands when fitting a window.

Piece of piss. You just wipe them on your clothes. You can spot a window fitter a mile off in Asdas or Lidls .

Other supermarkets are available but make sure they end with an S.

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