Cleaning red bricks

[kris83]

Hi looking for some advice on cleaning the bricks on the front of my house, maybe something I could do or do I need to hire a company in, I'm thinking some of it could be carbon and general dirt, any advice would be great

 

[Cubist]

I'm afraid that this is one of those projects that should be accompanied by a government health warning. Not for you or yours but for the house itself. Depending on the type of bricks used these may have what is known as a soft or hard face and the latter may be better able to resist the possible, quite literal, impacts of media blasting systems and/or the use of chemical solvents and detergent treatments but there would still be some risk. Softer faced bricks would of course have a greater exposure to damage resulting from the use of any of the above. Regardless of the type of brick, any systems that rely on solvents or high pressure water to remove surface grime from the bricks faces also poses risks to the mortar and the caulking materials used around window and door frames and also to the lead-work around your bay window. Frankly I think you would be well advised to deposit this idea in the round one as potentially too dangerous for the property.

If your worry is based on the fact that some of the brickwork above the doorway is obviously much cleaner than the bulk of the face of the building then I would suggest you consider approaches to darken these and blend their colour to the rest of the property.

 

[kris83]

I'm afraid that this is one of those projects that should be accompanied by a government health warning. Not for you or yours but for the house itself. Depending on the type of bricks used these may have what is known as a soft or hard face and the latter may be better able to resist the possible, quite literal, impacts of media blasting systems and/or the use of chemical solvents and detergent treatments but there would still be some risk. Softer faced bricks would of course have a greater exposure to damage resulting from the use of any of the above. Regardless of the type of brick, any systems that rely on solvents or high pressure water to remove surface grime from the bricks faces also poses risks to the mortar and the caulking materials used around window and door frames and also to the lead-work around your bay window. Frankly I think you would be well advised to deposit this idea in the round one as potentially too dangerous for the property.

If your worry is based on the fact that some of the brickwork above the doorway is obviously much cleaner than the bulk of the face of the building then I would suggest you consider approaches to darken these and blend their colour to the rest of the property.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, not the advice I was hoping for but sounds like the advice I needed!! Thanks again

 

[paulc]

If they are Norfolk Reds, they will be a fairly soft brick and easily damaged.
You could try soapy water and a soft scrubbing brush on a descrete to see if it will clean up. As per Cubist's advice, I'd steer well clear of any abrasives or jet wash. If you wanted to see what a jet wash does to a soft red, I've got some spares kicking around that you are more than welcome to give a blast.

 

[Kearn]

these are the offending bricks here, everything else looks as it should. I’d assume either a leak here or replacement but likely the former given the pattern.

 

[stuart45]

It looks to me from the photo that the stains from a leak were scrubbed off so hard it took off the face of the bricks.
Nowadays, there are some methods of tinting bricks to match the existing.

 

[Stevers]

Almost like a crack has been stitched in with new bricks, but that's a funny sort of place for a crack to appear and everything looks level and evenly spaced, and the same lighter bricks seem to feature over what I assume is a a black painted lintel.

There is a gutter joint pretty much directly above that might have leaked. I was wondering why there was a gap in the string course and on reflection it's likely to be where the original cast iron downpipe would have run, but it doesn't really line up with the lighter patch of brick. It's not impossible that some sort of organic growth from a gutter leak or blocked downpipe has been cleaned off leaving the light patch, and such a leak might well cause organic growth to spread above a lintel leaving the light patch there when cleaned.

 

[Cubist]

I have a dim, and probably highly faulty, memory of a discussion here in which the use of a solution of 'soot' being used to darken the appearance of new bricks that had been used during the repair of an external wall. Blessed if I can find it now but having had the thought that the challenge is a fairly common one I Googled 'brick stain products' and found there are a large number out there that claim to do the job. Among them there seem to be many that may be appropriate for the OPs needs to darken the appearance of a limited area. Personally I would doubt my own ability - and perhaps patience too - to easily achieve a close colour match but one of these products may be worth considering?

 

[Itchinfilth]

On a previous property I managed to effectively add some 'age' to some newer pieces of stone using a stone / brick dye powder which you mixed with water.
Just make sure you start off with a low concentration of powder to water as the surface can go dark very quickly depending on a number of factors. The first stone went almost black so had to weaken the solution with more water.

 

[stuart45]

If you're looking for a really good, seamless match I'd consider getting a pro in, especially on the front of your house. Even getting the colour slightly out tends to show.