Removing epoxy glue from tiles

JillB · #1 20th Nov 2011, 10:42 AM

Hello, when using epoxy glue ( Techniglue, much like Aralydite) to fix some steel to timber for strengthening a carcase top, I failed to notice the excess glue drips on the non slip ceramic tiles until too late. It has set and cured.

I have tried to wire brush it off ( big mistake, marked the tiles), used Oomph ( citrus compound which removes all stains and sticky stuff) without success, and tried chipping it out with the pointy edge of a chisel, which was OK for the big blobs of glue, but still left lots in the pores of the rough surface of the non-slip ceramic tiles.

Can anyone please suggest what I should do to remove the glue?

Master Splinter · #2 20th Nov 2011, 11:15 AM

I'd try methylene chloride (paint stripper).

After that - I know that the people who like to reverse engineer IC chips strip the epoxy package with techniques involving fuming nitric acid or concentrated sulphuric acid at boiling point.

A heat gun and scrubbing might also work...but may also crack the tile.

JillB · #3 20th Nov 2011, 12:34 PM

Well, I really was despairing, after seeing several patio tiles badly stained by epoxy glue, and none of my above efforts being effective. Tomorrow, if no progress today, I was going to call my tiler and get him to replace them, at great expense.

Thought of a chemical treatment, but that would probably mark the tiles, and make it worse. My next step was the heat gun and scrubbing, as suggested by MS

Had a family b'day party last night, on the patio, with 8 kids, with 6 of them 5 and under, and the mess was horrific. So I borrowed son's water blaster to clean it up, and lo and behold, the expoy glue all lifted up too with a bit of sustained blasting

Joy of joys

The whole patio now looks like new, and even the marks from the rotary wire brush have disappeared