Cleaning Brick and Cast Iron Stove

kimberland30 · 01-22-2008, 10:28 AM

My husband and I are in the process of updating our 1970's den. Seriously, it's aweful. We have a cast iron wood stove that was converted to gas in the late 80's. It hasn't been lit in about 5 years, but with our upgrading we'd like to make it look better. Any ideas on how to clean the brick (which is very fragile) and the wood stove? We have overspray on it from when we painted the ceiling using a sprayer but it needed a good cleaning anyway.

I've thought about painting the stove, but I worry about overspray on the walls. We'd like to leave the brick natural so painting it is out.

Here is a picture during our overhaul. Don't mind the mess, our den is in shambles until we get the painting done and new trim up.

Thank you!

Bondo · 01-22-2008, 05:29 PM

Ayuh,.....

The Brick can be Wirebrushed,....
And the Stove can be Wirebrushed,+ painted with Stove Black......

Arlo · 01-22-2008, 09:44 PM

I used to have a stove til about 9 years ago. A well stocked Ace hardware type store will have a bottle of something called "stove black". Its very liquidy coating for the stove. Not sure if Home depot would carry it. Wear rubber gloves and put newspaper down in case it dribbles. You apply it with a sponge. The stove will look brand new for several months. I didn't clean the stove before I used it other than to dust it a little. This is a very cheap and easy fix and it doesn't take much time. Can't help you with the brick other than to try "Oops" paint cleaner on spots.

kimberland30 · 01-23-2008, 02:32 AM

Wirebrushing huh? Looks like I'll be putting some elbow grease into this project!

I'll have to take a look at our local Ace and see what they have. I'm glad the paint can be applied by brush...I don't want to use any type of spray stuff.

Thanks!

kimberland30 · 01-24-2008, 01:36 PM

I got two wire brushes last night (about the size of a brick) and some of that Stove paint stuff. I got a whole whoppin' 6 bricks cleaned off. The latex paint remover spray that we have is doing nicely on the large splatters, but not so much on the overspray. I gotta "put some back into it" to get it all off, but it's working.

I'm rinsing the brick with water and a sponge as I go along, but there is still a lot of grit left over. I'm hoping that once it dries, I can just take our super dooper vacuum to it.

Thanks for the help!