Removing polish from stone floor

We are restoring a building of about 1690 in North Norfolk in
England, which has grey (York?) stone flag floors thought probably
to have been taken up from an earlier abandoned religious building.
The stones are generally not very smooth, and in one area have been
covered in a red finish which is probably "Cardinal Tile Polish"
made by Reckitt and Colman (though given the history of the
building, one would not be amazed to find it is red lead paint). The
floors are laid directly on their original 'earth' bed which may not
be disturbed, and the stones have been in a very damp condition for
about 100 years, though not actually covered by anything other than
the red polish we seek to remove.

Is there a way of lifting off such a polish with an acid or caustic
treatment or perhaps a poultice treatment of some variety, which
avoids damage to the surface of the stone?

John van Oosterom,
J v O papers
15 Newell Street
London. E14 7HP
+44 207 987 7464
Fax: +44 207 987 9307


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:54
                 Distributed: Thursday, March 27, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-16-54-025
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