How to Remove Paint from Brick

LESLIE: Our next caller wants to know how to remove paint from brick.

Welcome, Ross, to The Money Pit. How can we help you?

ROSS: I bought one of those Wagner power sprayers, Powermate sprayers with the hose and everything and the hopper and everything, and I been painting my soffits and my eaves with it. It’s been doing great.

TOM: OK.

ROSS: Well, what happened was I overshot and sprayed some of the brick.

TOM: Uh-oh. (chuckles)

LESLIE: (chuckling) Yeah. You got over-excited.

ROSS: I’ve tried muriatic acid. I’ve tried a wire brush. I’ve tried a pressure washer.

TOM: Yeah, those paint sprayers work real well, don’t they? (laughs)

LESLIE: But you have to aim them in the right place.

ROSS: Paint brick, it’ll be there forever it looks like. (Tom laughs)

LESLIE: Well, actually there’s some interesting products because when you live in a big city like Tom and myself do, we have a problem with graffiti. And generally these graffiti artists like to paint on brick and any sort of masonry siding, which is unfortunate because it’s really difficult to clean. But there’s a product out there and it’s called the Taginator.

TOM: The Taginator.

LESLIE: And it’s made – it’s a biodegradable graffiti remover for masonry and it works really easily and it’s very, very effective.

ROSS: Where do you buy it?

LESLIE: Well, you can get it from their website which is TagawayProducts.com or you can call them at their office which is 610-583-7657. It works really well. You’ll be very pleased with the results.

ROSS: Well great, because I’ve tried everything else and I would have thought the muriatic acid would clean it but it doesn’t even touch it.

TOM: Well, think of the positive side of this, Ross. If it doesn’t work out as a house painter, you can always go into graffiti art.

ROSS: That’s right. (Tom and Leslie chuckle) I restore antique jukeboxes on the side, so – you know, as a hobby – so maybe I better stick with jukeboxes instead of spray painting.

TOM: Alright.

LESLIE: Or just aim carefully.

TOM: And watch that wind drift.

ROSS: Yeah. Yeah, I did everything. I covered everything up the whole way around and had no problems. And at the very end, I said, “Well, heck with it. I can get this without doing it.”

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) You’re like, “I’m really good at it now.”

TOM: (overlapping voices) I see. Yeah, you were – that’s right. You were getting a little impatient with yourself there and …

LESLIE: Overconfident.

TOM: … and overspray was quick to follow. Alright, well hopefully this product will help you get rid of it there, Ross.

ROSS: Yeah. Thanks a lot. I sure appreciate it. I’ll give it a try and I’ll let you know.

TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.