Interior brick floors may be cleaned with a solution of a moderately strong alkali such as washing soda or borax. Use about 1 tablespoon in a gallon of warm water, stronger if needed. Use either a string mop or scrub brush mop; spong or flat cloth mops can get shredded on the coarse brick.
Mop the floor using a vigorous back-and-forth motion to remove stuck grease, dirt, or stains. If necessary, use a stiff nylon scrub brush to attack stubborn dirt and grime. After mopping, you may want to go over the floor with a soft towel, a washcloth, or a dry-mop to remove liquid from crevices and grout joints.
Because brick is made of clay and is grouted with cementitious mortar, brick floors are highly susceptible to stains unless they are properly sealed.
If the bricks are very dirty, use a nylon-bristled scrub brush and put some elbow grease into the scrubbing. Natural cleaner three is baking soda and dish detergent. Make a thin paste by mixing 3 tablespoons of dish soap to 1/2 cup baking soda. Spread it on brick, let sit for 10 minutes and then scrub off with a brush.
Disadvantages of Brick Flooring:
With a brick floor's durability also comes its tendency of being too hard to be comfortable. What adds to it is the danger of shattering falling objects.
Vinegar can be used to clean indoor or outdoor brick. It's especially effective on efflorescence, the chalky white salt crystals that build up on the mortar. Mix 1 part white vinegar to 5 parts water and use it to remove the efflorescence with a scrub brush.
Never use vinegar on any kind of paver, brick, flagstone or concrete; it WILL damage the surface. Same for salt. And the oft-recommended 'boiling water' will damage your surface.
Start by sweeping or vacuuming the brick to remove any loose debris. For a quick clean and to prevent dirt buildup, use a mop and plain water over the floor. If you would like a more thorough cleaning, add mild detergent to the water until its slightly sudsy. Mop the surfaces with the sudsy water.
Mix 1⁄2 c (120 mL) of mild laundry detergent with 1 oz (28 g) of regular table salt and add just enough water to create a paste. Use a clean, damp cloth to apply the paste to the red brick and let it sit for 15 minutes, or until dry. You can also use a mixture of salt and dish soap or borax and warm water.
Put some white distilled vinegar into a spray bottle and apply generous amount of vinegar onto the bricks. Let it soak for 5 minutes before scrubbing the surface with bristle brush one more time.
Paint The Bricks
Make sure that the bricks absorb the water. After that, scrub the bricks with a pre-paint cleaner before they entirely dry up. After putting in the pre-paint cleaner, wait for the bricks to dry off completely. After applying the pre-paint cleaner, apply a sealer.
However, you should exercise meticulous care and caution since bleach can discolor your brick pavers and thus ruin your precious hardscape. Since bleach can have such strong impact on your hardscape and lawn, you should test it first in a small and inconspicuous patch.
Mix 1 cup each of table salt and dish soap to make a paste. Then, apply it to the brickwork in an even layer. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, scrub the wall with a brush, then wipe the paste off with a wet cloth. For stubborn stains, get an acid cleaner, which you mix with water and spray onto the wall.
Natural Brick Cleaners
This stuff works wonders for outdoor patio brick or brick paths and is a fantastic alternative to chlorine bleach which can and will damage or kill any plants you have around your patio or along your walkway. Although OxiClean is the best-known oxygen bleach brand, any of them will do just fine.
Prepare the Cleaner
Avoid using chlorine bleach, as Old Mill Brick says this can be more harsh on the brick than other brick cleaning solutions. Instead of chlorine bleach, use oxygen bleach brick cleaner, which can be found in either a liquid or powder form.
Don't Use High-Pressure Power Washing
Pressure washers can damage the surface of an entire brick house. You cannot pressure wash brick on high pressure settings. It may take a couple of years for you to realize that the brick was damaged.
Faded red brick walls can be restored to a deeper, richer red color by cleaning the brick and applying a clear-coat product specifically designed for brick. Both indoor and outdoor red brick walls can benefit from this type of procedure. Clear-coat products add a gloss to the brick that helps deepen its color.
The white residue is triggered by efflorescence or salt petering. Efflorescence or salt petering is a crystalline, salty deposit with a white or off-white colour that can form on the surfaces of bricks, masonry or concrete.
A: The white spots are efflorescence, a crust that develops when water laden with mineral salts moves through the bricks and evaporates, leaving salt crystals behind. It's ugly but usually doesn't cause damage, so you can take your time figuring out a solution.
Efflorescence is a white crystalline or powdery, often fluffy/fuzzy deposit on the surface of masonry materials like concrete, brick, clay tile, etc. It's caused by water seeping through masonry or cement based material.
Vinegar and water solution—Efflorescence can be removed by using a dilute solution of household white vinegar and water. A vinegar and water solution is relatively inexpensive, non-toxic, and easy to obtain, mix and apply. Dilution ratio is 20–50% vinegar in water by volume.
Efflorescence is a powdery deposit of salts which forms on the surface of bricks and mortar. It is usually white but can also appear yellow, green or brown. It is caused by a number of soluble salts including the sulphate or carbonate compounds of calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium.