Scraping (bitumen?) off flagstones

[pboae]

The floor in our dining room is flagstones (or so we were told) with a red spotty lino sort of material stuck down on to them. As far as I can see there is a thin layer of black stuff (possibly bitumen?) all over the flags with sticky brown/orange glue round the edges of the lino pieces.

I've uploaded pics here
http://www.pboae.plus.com/house/floor.jpg

I scratched a tiny patch of the black stuff off
(highlighted here)
http://www.pboae.plus.com/house/scrape.jpg

and it seemed to come off OK, but I did need to use a lot of elbow grease and I was scratching the stone underneath. I'm worried that if I take something like a wall paper scraper to it, I will do more damage to the surface of the stone.

So what's the best way to get the flags clean?

I found this old thread
http://periodpropertyshop.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5752&highlight=flagstone
but there doesn't seem to be much consensus.

Should I just take a scraper to it, and polish the surface afterwards?
Is sand blasting the best option?
What is the orange based Ecover product?
Is this even bitumen I am trying to shift?
I'd rather avoid harsh chemicals if possible, but will use them if they are the best option.

Also would sand blasting get (pink!!) masonry paint off semi-external york stone walls?

Thanks

 

[michael cox]

I had the same on my floor tiles i was able to remove it with white spirit and a scubbing brush, I think a small area should be tested first.Good luck.

 

[Lime]

If it is bitumen then you have your work cut out for you, it is awful stuff to remove.
As michael cox says, white spirit and elbow grease will remove it as long as the stone is not too porous.

If it on a porous surface and you have to paint it afterwards it can be very difficult.
It will grin through any type of paint eventually.
Sometimes white spirit will make the situation worse.
On bare stone you don't have to be so thorough which may make it easier for you.

It is much easier to remove bitumen from a non-porous surface but it can still be messy.

 

[Moo]

As far as the black stuff is concerned, I'd do a lot of test patches first, and give everything a try (white spirit, the Ecover stuff, the HG bitumen remover, Nitromors...).

To get the paint off of the semi-internal stone wall, go for one of the poultice stripping systems.

 

[Tom]

I had a similar problem with the quarry tiles we found underneath the concrete floor. They had sticky black stuff on them which just 'smudged' when wiped. Because we were busy with other things, we stacked the tiles outside (under the carport) and left them for a few weeks. The next time I looked at them, the black stuff had gone hard and quite brittle...and easily chipped off!!! If you can leave yours exposed to the air for a while, you might be lucky enough to have the same result. I certainly hope so as it sounds like you've got an awful job on your hands otherwise Good luck!

Jaqy

 

[Moo]

But it sounds as though you're going to end up with a wonderful floor.

 

[pboae]

Thanks for all the suggestions (and the pep talk Moo )

I'm going to pull a small section up in an out of the way corner, and first see if I can get the sticky glue stuff off easily. Then I'll do some test patches on the black stuff, and also leave it exposed to the air for a while, and see if it changes texture that way.

I'll let you know how it all goes!

 

[dusty]

You might like to try this recipe:
Buy a litre of Vulpex from Picreator and mix it 1 part Vulpex to 10 parts white spirit and use it to remove the bitumen with a scourer or nylon scrubbing brush. This way the dissolved bitumen will be encapsulated in the solution and less likely to be absorbed deeper into the stone. Once you got it up re-rinse with fresh solution to remove final residue, but dont try to do to big an area at once. hope this helps
Dusty

 

[andrew gayton]

just a thought, but would it help to spray the bitumen with the spray that plumbers use to freeze pipes? this would make the covering less smudgy and more readily scrapeable??

 

[joatex]

Has anyone tried eucalyptus oil? It works removing tar from cars. Expensive and need to keep the windows open