Painted tile hell

[Old Coastie]

In an old church, we used paint stripper, stainless wire brushes and superheated steam to remove layers of paint from this lovely tile.

The thing driving us crazy was the bottom layer

of green paint that actually permeated into the ceramic surface of the tile. Gawdamighty it was stubborn. Look closely and you'll see that we could only steam out a majority of the pigment, not all of it. No, chemicals only went so far and no, pressure washing wouldn't have done any better. It cost three times what I would have guessed..

 

[Mikey P]

They don't allow jackhammers in Dixie?

 

[Kellie Hiler]

How many sq"? That sounds like an awful job...

 

[Old Coastie]

About 70 square feet. A sunday school bathroom and kitchenette that is being remodeled.

This will floor you (geddit?): we put 51 flipping manhours into getting that stuff off the tile and grout!!

It took 4 gallons of methylene chloride stripper, three gallons of wax stripper and another four of Viper to finally leach the pigment out of the tile. The grout also had 60-year old waxy dirt embedded under the green paint, which gummed up and hardened within minutes. It was apply, dwell, scrub, recover, repeat and repeat and repeat.
$1000

 

[Desk Jockey]

Great job, incredible you could get it that far.

The only question I would have is why did they want to restore instead of replacing it?

 

[Old Coastie]

Great job, incredible you could get it that far.

The only question I would have is why did they want to restore instead of replacing it?

I suspect the cost would be higher, and it matches other bathrooms. Mind you, they haven't paid yet so they might be making a down payment on a hitman.

Thank You for the compliment.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Ok that makes sense. It looks good enough to pass doesn't it?

 

[Bee Busy]

About 70 square feet. A sunday school bathroom and kitchenette that is being remodeled.

This will floor you (geddit?): we put 51 flipping manhours into getting that stuff off the tile and grout!!

It took 4 gallons of methylene chloride stripper, three gallons of wax stripper and another four of Viper to finally leach the pigment out of the tile. The grout also had 60-year old waxy dirt embedded under the green paint, which gummed up and hardened within minutes. It was apply, dwell, scrub, recover, repeat and repeat and repeat.
$1000

After the MEK, try Afterwash or Acetone with a floor scrapper/razors/brushes, then stripper with a scrubber with rinsing. It may knock down the hours on a headache like that

 

[Kellie Hiler]

About 70 square feet. A sunday school bathroom and kitchenette that is being remodeled.

This will floor you (geddit?): we put 51 flipping manhours into getting that stuff off the tile and grout!!

It took 4 gallons of methylene chloride stripper, three gallons of wax stripper and another four of Viper to finally leach the pigment out of the tile. The grout also had 60-year old waxy dirt embedded under the green paint, which gummed up and hardened within minutes. It was apply, dwell, scrub, recover, repeat and repeat and repeat.
$1000

Oh my......you keep doing jobs like that you will be fit to wear that kilt for me in Atlanta! Just sayin!

 

[Old Coastie]

After the MEK, try Afterwash or Acetone with a floor scrapper/razors/brushes, then stripper with a scrubber with rinsing. It may knock down the hours on a headache like that

Well, Strypeze (sp?) has Methelene Chloride, toluene, acetone and some other fragrant chemicals, so solvent levels are quite high. There must be something extraordinary about that green paint, I've never had that sort of trouble before.

 

[Mikey P]

The county called me today (nv)

The courthouse had its carpet removed and the tile underneath still has glue residue after the last tile cleaner gave up..

The manager said the young crew were on hands and knees scraping away. He figures they asphyxiated and gave up..

Goo gone and black pad?

 

[Nate The Great]

Seems like @Old Coastie needed to pray harder.....

Man that sucks..... But good job on following through...

 

[Old Coastie]

Mike, we did a job like that a while back. Study the edges carefully; we discovered mosaic edges that had been covered with carpet glue. We used a strong butoxyl-based VCT floor stripper to dissolve it, and steam. Just like removing gum on a sidewalk. Before, dull and dirty, edges caked over. After, much nicer.

 

[Scott S.]

Well, Strypeze (sp?) has Methelene Chloride, toluene, acetone and some other fragrant chemicals, so solvent levels are quite high. There must be something extraordinary about that green paint, I've never had that sort of trouble before.

lead?????

 

[Old Coastie]

Yeah, could be. I speculate that it was a garage floor paint and meant to bind tightly, rather than a normal alkyd or linseed oil based enamel.

 

[mmarkovic]

After the MEK, try Afterwash or Acetone with a floor scrapper/razors/brushes, then stripper with a scrubber with rinsing. It may knock down the hours on a headache like that

If Methylene Chloride paint stripper had a tough go at it MEK and Acetone is like putting water on it. I'm all for the experimental lab trials before I even quote. That's what I do first when I get a potential head banger. I found on one job that using an oxidative enzyme finally took some deeply embedded residue in an unglazed porcelain. There was an acid used for removing rust in carpet that ended up being the only chemical that reduced a penetrating sealer someone over applied to a tile intended for the grout only. I also located a gel stripper made from soy with no fumes and safe enough to taste but would take epoxy off aluminum aircraft. I always say there's many ways to solve a problem it's up to us to find the one that works best for the least cost.