My dogs walked through wet concrete then over my sandstone paving stones on the patio - it's too firmly set already to scrape off. How can I get rid of these footprints without damaging the sandstone please? [/list]

Hi Willson,

Welcome to the forum.

If you have a pressure washer it might be possible to remove the marks with that. If not then brick acid should remove it without damaging the sandstone.

I'm not sure about the availability of brick acid in Australia, but it is available in most builders merchants over here and is used to remove cement/mortar from bricks and stone.

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DIY | Donnas dream house

Thank you for the suggestion. I assume Brick Acid is very corrosive and I'll need to paint it on in a suitably diluted solution. I'll ask in my hardware store tomorrow.

I think it normally only attacks the cement and does not normally damage stone or brick, but you best check with the people that are selling it to you first.

These kinds of chemicals can be weird, if you look at this page- stone rust removal The acid is powerfull enough to remove those stubborn rust marks, but the acid will not damage plants and is perfectly safe to use.

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DIY | Donnas dream house

FOR GOD SAKE DONT USE BRICK ACID,

i sell this sandstone paving and the amount of people who use brick acid to find it reacts with the iron content of the slab and bleaches out the colour leaving a big white blob.

The paving really needs to be sealed with a pave gaurd pva solution

Sandstone is quite a soft stone, couldn't you just get some sandpaper and carefully sand it off if it's just paw sized prints? It could even be removed by carefully using a bolster chisel and hammer or scrubbed with a wire brush.

It's going to weather anyway at this time of year.

I hope your dog's feet are alright!

You probably sorted this out in NOVEMBER 2007!!!

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If at first you don't succeed, ask UHM in your hour of need!