cleaning paint/cement from patio slabs

misaps

I've got a numpty of a tenant who firstly painted the 12" square patio slabs green that form the entrance to the house, then he decided to try laying 18" non-frost resist bathroom tiles over. End result: a complete mess of green paint and tile adhesive:mad:

I've tried some nitromors paint remover, hot air gun etc to remove the paint with little success (not sure what type of paint was used)and haven't yet tried lifting the tiles that were partly laid.

The original slabs are concrete coloured type (a mixture of pink, buff and blue); does anyone have any idea on the best solution to get them back into a reasonable state....other than relaying:(

nicka99

a powerful jetwash might do it. they can strip all sorts of crud from paving slabs.

ormus

you may get away with turning them over.

molerat

Replace the slabs and bill the tenant ?

Qwiksilver

Oh dear!
The paint may come off using a mild acid cleaner (please use carefully and read the instructions thoroughly). Unfortunately the cemet/adhesive is much more problematic and if it as bad as you describe it may well be best to replace. The problem with the slabs you describe are that they tend to be of a "porous" nature due to the pigments used in colouring them. Sorry i can not be more positive but I would hate you to spend a fortune on the plethora of slab and brick cleaners which claim great things but do not deliver.

moonrakerz

nicka99 wrote: »

a powerful jetwash might do it. they can strip all sorts of crud from paving slabs.

The only problem in using a jetwash is that they do a great job of removing the dirt - but they also remove the top smooth layer of the concrete, which means the slabs will get dirty again much quicker.

misaps

thanks for the replies everyone. I was hoping someone would come along and say 'ah yes I had this problem and did.......':) but probably knew all along the only real course of action is to renew.

Right I'm off to vent some anger on the numpty:D