Cleaning brick.

Jim West Pa

I have exposed red brick in my 1830 home that has black soot on it from a house fire.
Does anyone know how i can get this brick clean.
I know that sand blasting will work but i was hoping for another way to do this. Let me meantion that it is "on sight" brick and over 170 years old. Much of it is pumpkin brick and the pointing is pretty dry and crumbly. I do plan on re-pointing it but not sure if i should before or after cleaning the brick.
Also, i think that steam or pressure cleaning is out because i just cannot expose the floors and other wood in this building to that water.
Thanx, Jim

stuart45

I know paraffin dissolves soot. Not sure about suet.

Jim West Pa

What is paraffin stuart ?

stuart45

I think you call it something like kerosine.

stuart45

I would clean before re-pointing with a lime mortar. I think that sand blasting ruins the look of old brickwork.

gma2rjc

Have you considered 'dry ice blasting'? If not, google it. It's a very effective process.

jomama45

I would try something like this from Prosoco:
http://www.prosoco.com/ProductDetail...0-5F4B547BA4B9}

I would reccomend calling their customer service line first, though, & give them all the details of what you have & what you are trying to do. They are the pro's in this field, afterall.

Jim West Pa

thanx gma, i never heard of it before. i will check it out.

Jim West Pa

jomama, let me first say i like yer moniker. My oldest son and i have called his mom "joe" (jomama) for the past 25 years.
I tired to check out the info you gave me but the link won't work. I get some kind of failed message. I never had these issues till i got a new computer, vista bites !!!

Jim West Pa

If yer serious about this stuart then how do i clean up the kerosene ?

Jim West Pa

I agree stuart, i do not want to risk changin the original flavor of this building at all.

Tscarborough

Be very careful, because almost anything you do is going to damage the brick and destroy the mortar.

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stuart45

You could try sugar soap. I am not 100% sure if paraffin is the same as kerosine.
We actually use a soot wash on new brickwork built amongst old houses to match the ones covered in soot. This is made by leaving soot in a bucket of water overnight.