Tar On Brick

Q . Recently, my son did some repair work on my house and used tar to seal the space between the house and the wall outside.  He got a lot of the tar onto my brick front porch, please if anyone can come up with a method or product to help me to remove it, I would be most grateful.

A.  We have gotten "tar balls" on the bottom of our feet at the beach and found that Vaseline petroleum jelly was the best solution to remove the tar residue from the skin – hopefully this will work on other surfaces as well – good luck.   Dale

A.  You can dissolve tar by using a little bit of gasoline or paint thinner (mineral spirits) and a scrub brush.  Then wash the area with plenty of soap and water. Please be careful!   This also works for the tar spots on your car from going through construction zones – and from your clothes from working on construction.   Bob & Lorraine

A.  A friend of mine had driven through tar accidentally and got it on the outside of her tires. She used Avon’s Skin So Soft and it came off. I’m not sure how big of an area you are talking about; her wasn’t really huge, but it did work. Ramona

A.  My son is a foreman for a constriction company, which lays tar all day long. I don’t know if or how good this works, but he has told me that Baby Oil works.

A.  I ‘ve learned that trick from my roofer. Scrape thick pieces off and soak the rest with Paint-thinner . It will come right off. I did it on my bricks and it worked beautiful. Iris , California

A.  To remove tar the first part is the hardest–time. Let the tar harden over time.  Any method of freezing the tar will usually speed this up.   After the tar has hardened physically scrape off the tar trying not to disfigure the bricks. Remember that if you use a cleaner, paint thinner for example, the discolored area will get larger and go deeper into the brick. Tar is usually too thick to penetrate brick unless it is a commercial quick drying solution of tar and thinner. If all else fails remove the stained brick and replace with similar bricks, probably from a place that carries used housing materials.If replacing the bricks do not break up and throw away. Remove mortar carefully and simply turns the brick over and remortar in place.  With time and weathering they will be identical in appearance.     If the original brick was sealed, reseal with same sealant. 

A.  Your son can help you.  After all it has been a mutual experience up until now, don’t turn it into punishment.  Life’s lessons learned.  Michael

A.  Mayonnaise removes tar.  Price

A.  In college I use to do roofing work we would clean it up with either wd 40 or gas just have to be careful it my take a few applications. Then just spray it down with the hose.  BC52