Removing Old Caulk

eekie34

I recently removed a mudroom entrance in the front of my house. There was a lot of caulk on the surround attached the the front which is red brick. I removed all the bulk material, but the outline is still there, and ugly. Anyone have any suggestions or products that will remove the last fine remaining caulk without damaging the brick?

dlcj

soda blasting. You may end up doing the whole house though

dkillianjr

You could try a stiff wire wheel on an angle grinder. I have done it a couple times with good results. Just try it in a small area first to make sure it dosen't scratch the brick.


Dave

eekie34

regular wire brush, scuffed brick.

dkillianjr

How about some real good paint stripper, maybe some of that gel? Maybe atleast it would soffen it up. I don't know if it would work on silicone though.


Dave

chris klee

goof off and a 5 n 1 it gets it pretty damn close

dlcj

Yeh i was going to say goof off too. If you have some try it but if not or if it works and you run out go buy some lacqer thinner , same thing and cheaper.

boman47k

Little late seeing this, but how about a heat gun and a wire brush?

eekie34

will burn the new joints i repointed.

boman47k

I see your point. It seems I have seen a product on the shelves that is supposed to help remove old caulk. I have never used it, so I cannot say one way or the other whether it actually works.

eekie34

I used something off the shelves at home depot specifically for the removal of latex caulk. did nothing

boman47k

Sort of what I expected.

Michael Olding

You may try to do a masonry stain over the bricks... especially if it is an old acrylic caulk. Usually a wire brush will scuff the surface and cause the white pigments to push deeper into the surrounding brick pores.

Stain and be done with it.