Brick Acid on these bricks...

[dfarry]

Hi there...

I've been thinking about cleaning up the bricks on my house.... it's a 1960's place and the bricks are a yellow type. I've had a builder around today for another job and he suggested using Brick Acid... he said the bricks were really good/nice but were soft and so care had to be used (I mentioned about sandblasting which he advised me against).

I've had a look around and seen 36% Hydrochloric Acid being sold for brick work.... this apparently diluted in a 4-1 solution and sprayed onto a wet wall...

The brick work is just dirty really, road grim, smoke etc... the mortare is also quite soft and crumbly in places so I don't rerally want to find myself with a huge repointing job as well.

Any suggestions on using this stuff to get the best results...

As an example I have attached a picture of a small section of the brickwork to be treated...

Many thanks

Untitled

• dfarry
• 15 Sep 2012
• 1

 

[^woody^]

"Brick acid" is for cleaning cement stains, not general purpose brick cleaning.

It works by eating the cement away, so is not something to be used willy-nilly unless you want to be repointing in a few years time

 

[dfarry]

What would you suggest would be the best way to destain these bricks then?

Thanks

 

[^woody^]

Detergent or algae remover/fungicide

But when you start washing bricks, with lots of water, you risk causing efflorescence ... which then looks 10x worse

 

[r896neo]

Give it a try with 'qualgex' made by rigby taylor. Its a very good algaecide i use for cleaning paving and mossy/algae ridden walls.

 

[dfarry]

Give it a try with 'qualgex' made by rigby taylor. Its a very good algaecide i use for cleaning paving and mossy/algae ridden walls.

Thanks for the suggestion... I wonder how this would deal with just general ground in dirt and dust though. There isn't any algae growth that I can see on the bricks.

 

[^woody^]

Those green bits look like algea/moss

 

[dfarry]

Around the DPC is a small amount of Algae/Moss but on the surface of the bricks they look more "sooty" not all the bricks are like this... some have a more yellow appearance... maybe it is just the way the bricks are... perhaps they were reclaimed or something... I have no idea.

Just tested some 10% Hydrochloric Acid/patio/wall cleaner I remembered I had in the garage... that hasn't done much... apart from make the mortar very soft... think I might just have to put up with it or just render the lot.

 

[noseall]

Don't render!

If you do you introduce all kinds of maintenance issues.

What is wrong with weathered looking bricks?

 

[stuart45]

Don't render!

If you do you introduce all kinds of maintenance issues.

What is wrong with weathered looking bricks?

Good advice. I prefer mature looking brickwork.
Soda blasting is a better option to sand blasting if you go down that route.
Your ground level is a bit high (only a course to DPC) which can cause a bit of green on your brickwork through rain bounce.

 

[^woody^]

Why do people think that they need to clean the house walls in any case?

There's been a few posts about this, and I can't work it out