Bricks possess a naturally attractive appearance that only grows with weather exposure and wear. However, because bricks are a porous building material, they are able to hold onto dirt and grime over time, which can ruin their appearance. Thankfully, there are a number of things that you can do to clean brick walls and masonry both inside and outside of your home.
Cleaning Interior Brick Masonry
To clean bricks inside of your home, you'll need a large bucket, dish soap, salt, rags, and a stiff bristled brush, all of which can be found at most grocery stores.
Combine a cup of salt and dish soap in the bucket to create a paste, and then use the rags to spread it over the dirty section of your interior brick masonry. Work in small sections. You'll want to let the paste sit for a few minutes to let it soak into the brick and begin to loosen up the dirt and stains that have taken hold.
Once the paste has been allowed to sit for a while, use the brush to scrub it off of the bricks (avoid wire brushes, which can cause damage to the bricks). Then, use a wet rag to remove any remaining paste from the bricks, and continue over the remaining portions of your brick masonry that need cleaning.
Cleaning Exterior Brick Masonry
In order to clean exterior brick masonry, which is exposed to a greater degree of wear and discoloration than its interior counterpart, you'll need household bleach, a bucket, a sponge, rubber gloves and safety glasses, a stiff bristled brush, and a garden hose, all of which can be found at most hardware stores.
Fill the bucket with warm water and a cup of bleach. This will create a powerful cleaning solution that will kill mold and mildew on your bricks, prevent future plant growth on them, and remove dirt and other stains.
Use the sponge to apply the cleaning solution to dirty sections of the brick, working in one square foot sections at a time. You'll want to work in such small sections as leaving bleach on your bricks can cause the color to be sapped out of them.
Once the solution has been applied, use the brush to scrub away any stains and mold that may sit on your bricks. Once the bricks look clean, you'll want to take the garden hose and rinse down the entire section to remove any traces of the bleach.
Repeat as needed over the entire section of your brick masonry, rinsing down your bricks at every chance you get to prevent discoloration. For more information, contact companies like VIP Contractor Services.
Share26 July 2017
After we realized that we wanted to build our dream home, we didn't waste any time looking for a team of general contractors. We wanted to find experts that really understood what they were doing and who could see our vision, so we talked with dozens of contractors. It was an exhausting search, but by the time we found the right team, we knew that we were in good hands. Within a few short months, our project was underway, and we felt great about the progress. This blog is all about finding great contractors who can help with everything from design decisions to ground preparation.
