I had a volunteer mount a metal plaque on a brick wall in an outside courtyard a couple of days ago. I went and looked to be sure the work was done, and found that the plaque is where it should be on the brick wall, but there is a yellow contact adhesive dripping from the plaque down the brick wall under it. Now, I do know that he did mount it with screws countersunk into the brick and in the back of the metal plaque. I guess the idea of using the adhesive was a good one, just not leaving before making sure all the adhesive had been cleaned off the wall and bottom of the plaque.

Can you remove this adhesive in some way besides just trying to chisel it off. Not sure that is going to get the yellow color off the brick either. Anyone have any suggestions besides not using that volunteer anymore?

You could try acid that is used in concrete cleaning. I forget the name. Someone here may know.

That was what I was afraid of. Guess I'll try that route. Thanks for the info.

I used to work in the industry as a hodcarrier and a part of my job was cleaning brick after a job was finished. The acid is called Muriatic. Mix it in a five gallon bucket using approx 1 cup of acid per bucket. Make sure you moisten the brick and surrounding areas first and rinse thoroughly afterward. A bucket of baking soda and water will neutralize the acid afterward and is a good idea to have around during the process to rinse any skin that gets splashed with the acid while washing the brick. Don't forget ventilation to avoid lung burns.

Good luck.

Hold on folks, muratic acid has a strong effect on many materials including a metal plaque and brick but it has very little effect on most glues and adhesives. If you plan to try this do a very, very small spot to see what happens. I'd look into a blasting company that can blast with corn fines, relatively soft abrasive that will not touch brick or metal but should cut the glue.