removing paint from quarry tiles

[tamsin]

Hi,

I've just brought my first house and it has a lovely quarry tile floor but someone has dripped white paint all over it and then walked about in it. We found a pot of white emulsion in the shed that I think is the culpret.

We really like the red colour of the tiles which I guess is some sort of tile paint/polish as a few tiles are worn and look a dull orangy underneath. Is it possible to strip the white off without the red or do we strip the whole lot and then redo it? What would the red be?

Here is a picture, incase that helps:

Thanks,
Tamsin

 

[Nigel S]

I think it's fair to say that after a nuclear strike the only things left will be cockroaches and quarry tiles so you can do pretty much anything to them, but that will probably lift the red coating as well which I assume is Cardinal paint. You can still get this but you may have to track it down.

There is a company who used to advertise on this site called Strippers who have a very wide range of products and very helpful helpdesk.

Soneone will post a link to them soon I'm sure

 

[Sue Wilkinson]

What a mess! Some people have no idea do they?

If it is emulsion you may be able to lift some of it with hot water and a paint scraper. Even try holding the steam iron close (but not touching the surface) to the paint and giving a few blasts of steam.

If you can't get it off with such easy means, then get some nitromors paint stripper (water soluble type) and dab it on with an old brush. After a few minutes wipe off with a green pan scourer and rinse it in water. This should get the paint off without scratching the tiles, but it will remove the red.

Sue

 

[jacky]

have had similar ,you could try turps with wet and dry sand paper but may affect red good luck!

 

[tamsin]

Thank you for the tips. I'll give it a go and let you know how we get on.

I don't mind if the red ends up a little faded in places - it's the big white foot prints I object to! Why they couldn't have put a sheet down I don't know :roll:

Half of the work we're doing is correcting half finished bodged jobs.

Tamsin