Removing paint from linoleum tile

[matchbookhouse]

Hi! I haven't been here in a long time, having had a massive heart attack last year and moving from my beloved 1927 craftsman bungalow to a 1959 Cape Cod in historic Fredericksburg, VA. Anyway, the seller painted everything on the first floor gray, including the original linoleum wall tile in the vintage kitchen. I'm having the plaster walls in the kitchen painted a warm cream, and I uncovered a small spot of tile and it is a cream color with a red stripe which goes perfectly with my 1953 Wedgwood stove. I'd like to remove the gray paint from some of the linoleum, but my painter wasn't too encouraging about my successful prospects. Does anyone have ideas about non-toxic methods that won't damage the surface of the linoleum? TIA for any info!

[Willa]

You could try a clothing steamer, though this may be less successful with oil vs latex on the linoleum ?

[heartwood]

I don't have any suggestions on the paint removal but i'm glad to see you are back and healthy
after your heart attack...stay strong!

[GibsonGM]

Like Jade said, good for you!

How you try to remove the paint depends on what it is...if it's water-based, you can get some stuff called "Krud Kutter", similar to "Goo Gone", which also works, let it sit on the paint for a while (maybe hours) and then use a "blue scrubbie" pad to remove it, wipe w/a paper towel, rinse and dry. You can wipe a section of paint w/denatured alcohol on a rag....if it comes off and stains the rag gray, you know it's water-based. If you are frustrated w/less toxic method, of course the denatured will also remove it The key here is to let it 'melt' with those products, and to not beat up the linoleum too much.

If it's oil based, you might be in trouble. Then you need to scrape it off, use lacquer thinner...ugh. Hopefully that's not why your painter thought "no". Try it out, anyway.

[phil]

i agree with the above, experiment with some different solvents and removers and dont do anything large until you know what is working and not dissolving what you dont want to. I was curious if something like one of the safe strippers might work? I tried one called safe T strip I didnt' really like it as a stripper but it was a little less volatile than the circa 1886 and such.

[SouthernLady]

I wonder how well CitriStrip would work for this. I've found it to be fairly gentle, and if you experimented with the time of how long you left it to sit on the paint, I wonder if you could get it to where the paint was soft enough to come up without damaging the flooring. Might be worth a shot!

[matchbookhouse]

I'm going to start off with a fairly non-toxic remover like the Krud Kutter or Goo Gone, since I have animals in the area, and see how that works. Since it's definitely latex paint it might come up a little easier. I know it's sure not great paint as it comes off the next layer of paint it's over with the lightest pressure or scratch - my cat has taken it off swiping at a moth. Of course, the linoleum will probably be the exception, haha.