Cleaning brickwork

[Tim Brennan]

I have some dusty exposed brick that I would like to clean without creating too much mess. See photos

One idea I had was to use my DTS400 and some crystal40 and ct to collect the dust.

Or else I could scrub will scourer and water but that seems less fun.

Any opinions welcome

 

[AlexThePalex]

I don't see how you could do this without creating some dust. Using just a sander is not enough to make this nice.

What do you want to do eventually? Keep the brick exposed or put a layer over it?

The professional way to clean this is to sandblast it, and then renew the mortar joints.

If you want to contain the dust, build a dust tent around the work area with some cheap plastic.

To make this nice, I would chissel out the joints, use a wire brush on the stone and then finish it off with a sander. And then renew the mortar in the joints. But if you just want to create a steady surface to put plaster over it, using the wire brush should be enough to remove all lose material.

 

[Tyler Ernsberger]

I would use TSP water mixture and and a stiff tire brush.  I have cleaned brick with this mixture in the past and it works really good.  It doesn't take to long.

I would not attempt sanding the brick. Bricks are not perfectly flat and sanding may damage the brick.

 

[AlexThePalex]

How can you damage a brick with a sander? All you do is skim the surface. And if you look at the picture, this is a very smooth type of brick also, so you're not gonna lose the texture.

 

[Holzhacker]

As Tyler mentioned, TSP and a brush. TSP works great.
If you know a Bricky maybe you can get a quart of Dietrich from him for cleaning. If not, too expensive to buy a 5'er and having it sitting around.
Tape and plastic the floor, then multiple drop cloths; lam floors don't like water
Its common brick its never going to look great, nice rustic at best. Find some nice vintage style tile and make it look great instead

 

[CrazyLarry]

As Tyler mentioned, TSP and a brush. TSP works great.
If you know a Bricky maybe you can get a quart of Dietrich from him for cleaning. If not, too expensive to buy a 5'er and having it sitting around.
Tape and plastic the floor, then multiple drop cloths; lam floors don't like water
Its common brick its never going to look great, nice rustic at best. Find some nice vintage style tile and make it look great instead

Definitely the Brush / elbow grease / cleaning solution.

If you're going rustic then you can spray it with a matt sealant mix after it's all rinsed off and dried out. It will then no longer produce dust as it would if left 'raw'.

 

[Rob Z]

How old is that brickwork?  How soft is the mortar?  If it is old then it might be lime mortar (soft) and would need a different approach if you decide to dress it up with tuck pointing.  And my experience here in the DC area has been that the brick of that age (roughly prior to 1900) is fairly soft and easily damaged by rough treatment.

 

[Doug S]

When we renovated our house I stripped some plaster off one wall in our kitchen to make a feature brick wall. After chiseling off old plaster (was lime based and fell off in big lumps) I removed the old pointing then I cleaned the bricks with some kind of wire brush attachment on drill or grinder, think it had brass bristles. Repointed with lime mortar, looks great.

Doug

 

[Tinker]

Whether the bricks are pre or post 1900, the bricks in the back and close to the bottom have already begun to disintegrate from heat.  The mortar n that area possibly started to breakdown before the bricks.  You might have to replace the bricks in that area.

As far as cleaning, i don't know what TSP is.  I have been told by some of my old time mentors that a slurry of plain old yellow soap and water will clean the soot.  A stiff brush to aply and scrub the slurry, lots of protection on the floor.  Maybe yu could use a moderately stiff brush, as too stiff will tend to spatter the slurry.  once the slurry starts doing its job, it will be almost a black as those bricks are now.  Not good on a nicely finished wall.

I'm not arguing that TSP is not what you should use.  As I said, I know nothing about the product.  I'm just telling what was used about a hundred years ago when i first turned 39  :
Tinker

 

[Tyler Ernsberger]

TSP-Trisodium Phoshate

 

[Kev]

As any options are welcome on his, I wouldn't bother with a clean up .. I don't believe you'll get a suitable rustic feel with that as raw material. My personal choice would be to cover it up.

 

[Tinker]

As any options are welcome on his, I wouldn't bother with a clean up .. I don't believe you'll get a suitable rustic feel with that as raw material. My personal choice would be to cover it up.

I actually agree with Kev on this one.  Of course, that could lead to problems more numerous than cleaning the bricks.  Just about 51 years ago, i was called to fix a fireplace by adding a marble facing over an ugly brick fireplace.  That job should have taken, maybe four hours.  however, I got seriously side tracked.  There was this very cute little German woman taking care of the owners three children.  Well, that job ended up taking me four days and I have been losing money on that girl ever since.  :  A year later >>> she finally nailed me down.

Now, how could I have recommended, in good conscience, covering the fireplace in question here? [unsure]  (Oh well, we are both still healthy and still happy, so the job was not a total loss)

Tinker

 

[Corwin]

I would go with Tinker's advice. Yet, I recently purchased a steam cleaner and, while I do not have a brick fireplace to test this  on, I did see this video:

Cleaning Brick Fireplace

Sandblasting is definitely a no-no in my book for your project. But, this steam cleaning looks interesting and may merit further research. I am happy with the results of steam cleaning bathroom shower tile & grout!

 

[Tim Brennan]

At present I am just looking to stop the dust spreading. The bricks are from 1925 with lime mortar and looks like no dpc in the chimney breast so sealing might be a bad idea. I think I'm going to try a stiff plastic brush with water and see how it goes

 

[CrazyLarry]

At present I am just looking to stop the dust spreading. The bricks are from 1925 with lime mortar and looks like no dpc in the chimney breast so sealing might be a bad idea. I think I'm going to try a stiff plastic brush with water and see how it goes

Yup sounds like less is more with this. I've used these guys before: http://www.lime-mortars.co.uk/

Probably worth giving them a call and see what their advice is, one chap in particular had an encyclopaedic knowledge, (Tinker he was 39 too!!!) they do lots of IHBC stuff (colour matched lime etc for historic conservation) so bound to have come across this sort of thing before, there may even be a 'sealer' that is breathable allowing CO2 passage for the lime after you've repointed and moisture for the absent DPC but still stoping the dust problem or they'll just say plaster over it.

 

[Tinker]

I would go with Tinker's advice. Yet, I recently purchased a steam cleaner and, while I do not have a brick fireplace to test this  on, I did see this video:

Cleaning Brick Fireplace

Sandblasting is definitely a no-no in my book for your project. But, this steam cleaning looks interesting and may merit further research. I am happy with the results of steam cleaning bathroom shower tile & grout!

The vid showed the steam doing a great job on the bricks.  Some of the mortar joints cleaned, but not all of them.  I am guessing that if the completed job were seen, all of the joints would have come out clean.  It did show that to get those joints clean, it took a lot more effort.
Tinker

 

[Corwin]

I would go with Tinker's advice. Yet, I recently purchased a steam cleaner and, while I do not have a brick fireplace to test this  on, I did see this video:

Cleaning Brick Fireplace

Sandblasting is definitely a no-no in my book for your project. But, this steam cleaning looks interesting and may merit further research. I am happy with the results of steam cleaning bathroom shower tile & grout!

The vid showed the steam doing a great job on the bricks.  Some of the mortar joints cleaned, but not all of them.  I am guessing that if the completed job were seen, all of the joints would have come out clean.  It did show that to get those joints clean, it took a lot more effort.
Tinker

Well, these little home steam cleaning products are new to me. I must have been visiting another planet, or something, but have only just recently discovered these. Tried it out on old shower grout that would otherwise been a giant job, but using one of these made the job rather quick and extremely simple. So, I thought it may be something to look into for this task.  [blink]

 

[Tinker]

Many moons ago, i worked thru HS on a dairy farm.  we used steam to clean the milk room twice per day.  we used some kind of disinfectant with the steam.  I don't think any bug, germ or speck of dirt could survive that treatment.  That was way back in the'40's, way before i turned 39.  I'm surprised i did not think of steam for cleaning the bricks.  Probably trying to give a solution not needing new equipment so he could save more money for Festoys  [big grin]
Tinker

 

[Cheese]

That was way back in the'40's, way before i turned 39.  I'm surprised i did not think of steam for cleaning the bricks.
Tinker

[member=550]Tinker[/member]
That's because if you properly put things into historical perspective, steam was not yet discovered when you turned 39, and neither was the discovery of oxygen. You were just darn lucky that oxygen wasn't a staple in your life, otherwise you'd have never been able to live to the ripe old age of 39.

 

[Tyler Ernsberger]

The best was to clean brick inside a home is tsp water mixture and a brush.  Adding steam to a finished home is crazy.  That much humidity is not good to introduce inside a house.  I have cleaned brick inside a clients home with the tsp mix and it works great!!!  Put some plastic down on the ground.  Mix tsp and water together reading the directions on the side of the box.  Use a tire brush or soft plastic bristle brush and scrub away.  It's cheap, easy, and works.