Red brick can be a beautiful addition to your home, but it requires some cleaning and maintenance to keep up its rustic charm over the years. You can vacuum your red brick with a high-powered nozzle or spray it with the garden hose. You can also wipe the surface with vinegar or a bleach mixture for routine cleaning.
Scrubbing With Bleach
If you have stubborn stains on your brick but don't have a power washer, you can try scrubbing. Simply mix a 10% solution of chlorine bleach to water in a bucket. Scrub the area with a stiff-bristle brush. Once you remove the stains, rinse the brick thoroughly with clean water.
Again, don't leave the bleach on so long it dries out. For more stubborn stains, such as rust, mortar or heavier dirt, an acid solution may be best. You could try a muriatic acid or acid-based masonry detergent, available at DIY and hardware stores.
Pre-wet the surface to be cleaned with water. Apply the bleach and water solution to the surface with a scrub brush. Reapply as needed to keep the surface wet for up to 10 minutes.
You can vacuum your red brick with a high-powered nozzle or spray it with the garden hose. You can also wipe the surface with vinegar or a bleach mixture for routine cleaning. For tougher stains, you may need to use a chemical cleanser like ammonia or tri-phosphate sodium.
If you don't have the supplies for the ammonia mixture, you can also use bleach or hydrogen peroxide to remove mold, mildew, and stains. Remove dirt and debris using the broom. Put on safety gear. Pour ½ cup of bleach or hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle with 3 cups of water.
Bricks. The acid content in vinegar is particularly good at breaking down the molecules in clay surfaces. Standard bricks are made mostly from clay, so exposure to undiluted vinegar will quickly result in discolouration and a sticky chemical byproduct coating your bricks.
Additionally, baking soda is absorbent, allowing it to absorb oils from the surface of the pavers, especially freshly oil spill on concrete pavers. Since it's a natural cleaning agent, baking soda is one of the safest materials you can use to remove oil stains.
Mix equal parts vinegar and water and pour into a spray bottle. Spray on the bricks and let is sit for a few minutes. Use a sponge mop to clean the bricks. If the bricks are very dirty, use a nylon-bristled scrub brush and put some elbow grease into the scrubbing.
A respirator is also a good idea. Mix 1 tablespoon of chlorine bleach per gallon of warm water. Wet the brick with just water. Using a sponge, apply the DIY cleaner to the wall.
A professional sealer application can help rejuvenate old brickwork and restore its bright red color. Professional-grade pneumatic spray equipment can ensure efficient and expedient sealing work. Some brick sealants will require multiple coats, while others will protect brickwork with only one layer.
Red dyes are made of very little pigments, usually red, pink, white, etc. So using bleach or lightener over it will cause it to fade to a lighter red or even pink color. But the natural hair color pigments in your tresses (composed of pheomelanin and eumelanin, of course) have a very different composition.
Depending on the shade and specific hue, you can expect the result to lighten, but not turn white. Red most often turns to pink when bleached. Very light reds can turn white.
Paint The Bricks
Another method of restoring the faded color of bricks is through painting them. Before painting, you need to rinse the bricks off first with water. Make sure that the bricks absorb the water. After that, scrub the bricks with a pre-paint cleaner before they entirely dry up.
WD-40 may remove paint stuck to brick if applied directly and in large quantities, allowing it to sit on the surface for a few hours.
Muriatic acid is a powerful and corrosive acidic liquid made from hydrochloric acid, water, and other trace minerals. This product is a very strong acid that will clean dried cement products off stones, bricks, and other masonry surfaces.
In a spray bottle, mix ⅓ cup of ammonia with ¼ cup of Dawn and 4 cups of hot water. Coat the bricks in the mixture. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes. Wet your bristle brush and scrub in a circular motion.
Apply Simple Green.
Use the pressure washer's detergent setting to spray Simple Green onto the bricks. Be careful not to use pressure above 3,000 psi. Higher pressure can damage the surface of the brick and actually wash away the joint sand between bricks.
Brick cleaning should only be undertaken by a trained professional. A hydrochloric acid solution is commonly used to remove mortar stains from clay brickwork. Any acid used incorrectly can damage the brick or cause unsightly staining and can be more difficult to repair.
Acetones versatile nature means you can use it to remove paint and clean paint off of other surfaces, too, including brick.
Combine a tablespoon of bleach with a gallon of warm water in a bucket, then apply the bleach with a sponge to the brick. Use a scrub to tackle hard-to-reach areas or difficult stains. If the bleach begins to dry on the brick, spray a small amount of water on the area to keep it moist.
Black stains on bricks can be caused by natural discolouration like algae and lichen growth or the stains can be linked to human-prompted discolouration like carbon staining, vehicle pollution or unwanted paint staining.
If you notice a powdery, white material on the brick, it likely has effloresced. Cement: Portland cement used in mortar and grout highly contributes to efflorescence in these materials, according to the Brick Industry Association (BIA). It is high in alkalis and is more likely to effloresce than other types of cement.