floor pamments , how to unseal them?

[robgil]

so , ive cleaned the pamments needed to repair my kitchen floor , now , the original pamments that are there look a tad gray.
they have been under a latex screed for 30 years or more.
this is one of the old pamments (the big gray one) beside another clean pamment that i will use to replace the missing original pamments.
is there a way to clean old pamments like this? chemicals perhaps to dissolve the years of sealants or something abrasive to remove the top layer perhaps?
obviously the least damaging way first.View attachment 2View attachment 1

 

[Moo]

ive cleaned the pamments needed to repair my kitchen floor , now , the original pamments that are there look a tad gray.
they have been under a latex screed for 30 years or more.

Are you sure that the original pamments have been sealed, or are they just dirty?
From the dizzy heights of my total ignorance I would do the following to one experimental area: first, a really vigorous scrub with soap and water, with lots of repeated rinsing with clean water; then the application of a series of various solvents (meths, white spirit,turps, assorted varnish removers ...).
If none of them worked, I'd then get in touch with Strippers of Sudbury and ask for some samples of their magic potions.

And then, if nothing seemed to work, and because I'm easily bored, I'd probably finish laying the floor and wait for natural wear and tear to even the colours up a bit.

 

[robgil]

ive scrubbed and scrubbed , the only solvent ive used is paraffin , only because its all i have in the shed. its an excellent de-greaser when it isnt powering tilley lamps but it didnt work in this instance.
i think it is old sealant because the other bricks i have were, apparently used in an old stable. they were very dirty but cleaned up a treat.
ive just put in an order for some nb-510 from Sudbury for stripping varnish off some beams and looking at their site it also works for floor sealant, so fingers crossed.
if worst comes to worst , can these bricks be cut in half? like brick slips? then i could put the new face upwards. its not ideal and it would be a very last resort but looking at the difference between the two bricks id rather not live with the gray ones if i could get away with it. the other alternative i suppose would be to lay a different floor ontop and leave them be but i would rather use them than hide them away.

 

[Moo]

Another thought:

Rather than slice them in half, which could be a bit tricky, why not simply grind off a mm?


ps they don't look like pamments to me; could they possibly be a sort of stone?

 

[AMc]

if worst comes to worst , can these bricks be cut in half? like brick slips? then i could put the new face upwards. its not ideal and it would be a very last resort but looking at the difference between the two bricks id rather not live with the gray ones if i could get away with it. the other alternative i suppose would be to lay a different floor ontop and leave them be but i would rather use them than hide them away.

They can be - I would contact local stone masons/granite/marble fitters as they have the right equipment. The fitters putting in our granite told me they happily take a pallet load and run it through their saws when they're not busy doing other work.

Masonry bench saws can be hired (we did) but the mess is extraordinary and if you want a dangerous machine, imagine an unguarded blade that can chop a brick in half - scared the bejesus out of me. http://www.gap-group.co.uk/products/detail.asp?prodid=284

I would caution against laying the cut surface up - it will show saw marks either immediately or if you're unlucky much later when it's too late. It will also need sealing but you'll never get the kind of stable surface that firing the bricks in the kiln created on the uncut sides.

We cut a load of floor bricks in half and laid them cut side down. The builders used a jig but as the bricks weren't uniform thickness I ended up with some very thin 'tiles' which the brickie helpfully laid without showing me and in high traffic areas. They've since split and cracked which has added some rustic charm but wasn't a desired effect. Imagine my shock when I lifted one very loose 'brick' to discover it tapered from 25mm to about 5mm at one end.

If it were me I would either patch with the newer ones and accept the 'honest repair' or lift the lot and intermix. MAKES SURE THEY'RE EXACTLY THE SAME SIZE before you choose that plan.

My kitchen floor

 

[JoceAndChris]

Gosh, that's pretty.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Robgil,

I know you've "scrubbed and scrubbed" - but have you tried a jetwash? We had some very dirty heather browns we discovered. Took them all outside, squirt of fairy liquid and very close jet wash and they came up a treat.

Just a thought - and a bit less abrasive than chopping them in half!

 

[AMc]

Indeed - I bought a £40 Nilfisk pressure washer from www.cpc.co.uk and had a lad spend 2 days blasting the floor bricks one by before we laid them. It did for the pressure washer in the end but was replaced under guarantee.
We also used brass wire wool wheels mounted on drill bits (not sure of the "correct" name) bought for about £2 each from the local hardware store to remove the more stubborn slime and concrete staining.

 

[AMc]

Gosh, that's pretty.

Thanks - I spent a lot of time crawling over them pulling them up, cleaning, painting them with Osmo polx, filling the gaps with pukingly unpleasant lime mixed with silver sand and then mopping them. Then I cursed as I had to relay them over and over again. At least they belong to the house still and they do look nice. Now if only 4 or 5 didn't need relaying again ...

 

[robgil]

thats a nice floor , well worth the work.
ive got an update on the bricks , i have not yet tried the paint stripper as it only arrived yesterday because the courier couldnt find my house.
however, i did read that acetone strips off old sealant and as some toilet cleaner has acetone as an ingredient i kept my eyes peeled while doing the shopping in tescos. result , they are selling harpic at ridiculously low prices in a promotion.
i coated the brick in harpic and left it for an hour ,it softened what ever it was coated in enough for the pan scrubber to take it off.

i cannot do them all with harpic as it will take forever but at least i know it will come off.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Yay! Result.

Why will it take forever?

 

[Flyfisher]

Acetone is also the main ingredient of nail polish remover; at least it used to be.

I've not tried for quite a while and perhaps things are different in these more paranoid times, but I used to find that these sorts of chemicals could be quite easily bought from a local pharmacist as long as you looked half-respectable and had a good reason for wanting them. I used to buy bottles of ether (for cleaning strippeddown engine parts) and isopropyl alcohol (for cleaning tape recorders). Nice and pure and not particularly expensive. Might be a cheaper and more effective option than buying up cases of Harpic.

When I was at school, I used to buy packets of saltpetre and sulphur from our local chemist. They must have know what they were for. These days it would probably result in an armed-response squad car turning up pronto and being dragged off to the local courts charged with 'possession of substances likely to be of use to a terrorist'. :roll:

 

[JoceAndChris]

When I was at school, I used to buy packets of saltpetre and sulphur from our local chemist. They must have known what they were for.

But what were they for? Were you a secret arsonist? Or a wizard?

 

[MdB]

When I was at school, I used to buy packets of saltpetre and sulphur from our local chemist. They must have known what they were for.

But what were they for? Were you a secret arsonist? Or a wizard?

Wow-Wow sauce of course...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_and_fauna_of_the_Discworld#Wow-Wow_sauce

 

[rebeccac]

Please don't all shout at once but am I the only one that thinks the bright patchwork effect that the photo shows is a bit too bright?

If a tile is 100's of years old then it will need a bit of a wash and a possible brush down with a nylon scouring pad but the overall effect when laid en mass should be a mellow sort of oldness ( bit like the way I feel )

Sorry

 

[Flyfisher]

Ha! I'd never heard of Wow-WoW sauce before, having never read the Discworld books. But, yes, there might be a problem mixing saltpetre and sulphur with charcoal biscuits.

But what were they for? Were you a secret arsonist? Or a wizard?

DIY fireworks. I don't think I qualified as an arsonist as I never set light to anything (although there was one close shave with my parents' garden shed), or a Wizard because the mixtures never seemed to be particularly potent. Probably just as well.

 

[MdB]

... having never read the Discworld books.

Oh dear. Poor you. At least this is an illness that is easy to solve.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Please don't all shout at once but am I the only one that thinks the bright patchwork effect that the photo shows is a bit too bright?

Poor AMc.

 

[AMc]

Please don't all shout at once but am I the only one that thinks the bright patchwork effect that the photo shows is a bit too bright?

Poor AMc.

1 - We scraped cement off and pressure washed - nothing more serious than that. That picture was taken just after they were laid and then covered in polyx. They're now a lot less dramatic.
2 - I don't care what rebeccac thinks, they came with the house and they're staying

 

[Schoolmarm]

8)