Brick walls are aesthetically pleasing and provide uniqueness to our interior home design. Bricks are harder to clean than concrete surfaces since they have pores that suck the dirt inside the material. To maintain the appearance of your bricks, there are some tricks to clean them effectively.
Even if you scratch as hard as you can to remove the dirt on the bricks, you wouldn’t get the desired result if you’ve done the cleaning process improperly. To help you restore the look of your properties, here are some ways on how to clean brick indoors.
Cleaning Solutions You Can Use to Clean Brick Indoors
Depending on the type and the construction of the bricks, here are some chemicals and mixtures you can try to clean interior bricks.
1. Trisodium phosphate
2. Baking soda and dish detergent
3. Commercial masonry mold removers
3. Cream of tartar with a small amount of water
4. Mix bleach, vinegar, and water to remove molds from bricks.
6. Mix a mild detergent with table salt and water. The same amount of detergent and salt is needed.
Using Vana Trol is recommended to remove efflorescence on bricks, stone, and concrete block construction. If you want to preserve the color of your bricks, use this concentrated acidic cleaner for new masonry surfaces.
How to Clean Interior Brick
In general, here are the steps you must follow to clean brick indoors.
1. Wear personal protective equipment. You will be using some chemicals in this process and some debris from the bricks might blast on your face when you clean them so make sure you are wearing gloves, face shields or goggles, long sleeves, and pants.
2. Wet the surface. Use a hard bristle brush or a dishcloth and wet the bricks. Make sure that the bricks are wet enough before continuing to the next step.
3. Mix your cleaning agent with water. The ratio of your chemical-to-water mixture depends on the type of cleaning agent you will be using. For chemicals with muriatic acid, more water is required in the mixture.
4. Apply the cleaning solution on the bricks. Submerge the brush on the bucket with the cleaning solution and brush the walls thoroughly. Apply more cleaning solution on the bricks as you scrub.
5. Dwell time. Wait for 5 to 15 minutes to allow the dirt on the bricks to react to the chemicals. The dwell time depends on the porosity of the brick. The waiting time is over if you see that the bricks are drying up.
6. Rinse the bricks. Brush the bricks with clean water. You can also use a cloth or sponge with lukewarm water to remove the cleaning solution.
7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 if necessary. If you haven’t achieved your desired result, reapply the cleaning solution on the bricks with a brush and rinse them after the dwell time. If you’re having a hard time cleaning the bricks, you can change the mixture of the cleaning solution by applying more acidic chemicals to it to make it stronger.
8. Wait for the bricks to dry. It usually takes a few hours to completely air-dry the surface.
9. Coat the surface with a sealer. Spray the sealer onto the bricks and wait for 5 hours for it to cure. You can add additional layers if needed. It is advisable to wait for one day before applying extra coats to inspect the bricks’ reaction and if additional layers are really necessary. Make sure to cover your floor and other objects before doing these steps.
How to Clean Exposed Brick Indoors
Cleaning exposed interior brick is more difficult than cleaning other materials. Here are the steps to follow to remove stains and dirt from exposed bricks.
1. Wear protective equipment.
2. Wipe the bricks with a brush or dry cloth to remove the dust.
3. Use a powerful detergent with acid content mixed with a teaspoon of salt. This will be your cleaning solution. Note that adding water is not necessary because we want to have a strong mixture.
4. Use a cloth to apply a thin layer of the cleaning solution to the bricks.
5. Wait for 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Gently scrub the bricks to remove the stubborn dirt with a hard-bristled brush.
7. Dip a towel into a bucket of lukewarm water and use it to wipe the detergent mixture off the surface.
8. Wait for the bricks to dry.
How to Remove Molds From Brick Indoors
If you notice a mold growing on your bricks, you must act immediately to avoid the mold from spreading out to the entire surface. Molds cause structural damage to the bricks by producing digestive enzymes that melt the material.
Once the pores of the brick with mold touches your skin or if you inhaled some particles from it, it might cause serious health risks such as allergies, asthma attacks, rashes, and skin cancer.
It’s preferable to clean your bricks during the summer season where the humidity is low. To avoid the formation of molds from your bricks, here are the steps you must follow.
1. Eliminate the water source.
Moisture accumulation from any water source causes the molds on the bricks to form. Check the surface near the bricks with possible water flows such as the chimney, roof, gutters, attic, windows, walls, HVAC, vent fans, plumbing pipes, appliances, etc.
2. Use vinegar and spray it to the surface with molds.
3. Wait for 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Rinse the bricks with lukewarm water to remove hardened molds.
5. Use a brush with hard bristles to scrub the surface.
6. Apply the vinegar once again. You can also mix it with bleach and water if you witness that the molds are almost removed.
7. Wait for 5 to 10 minutes and rinse the bricks with warm water.
Note that you can also use these steps in cleaning indoor bricks without a seal.
How to Clean Fireplace Brick Indoors
Aggressive chemicals should not be used to clean the bricks since they might degrade and discolor the material. To restore the original look of your fireplace bricks, follow the procedures below.
- Wear eye gear, a face mask, long sleeves, and pants to avoid having allergies and asthma attacks.
- Sweep away dust, ashes, and other debris from your fireplace. It is advisable to use a powerful vacuum to avoid the spread of ashes.
- Brush the interior bricks of your fireplace and then continue this cleaning process for the exterior part to loosen up the grip of dirt from the bricks.
- Apply powerful cleaners like trisodium phosphate or Prosoco® Vana Trol to remove the toughest stains on your fireplace bricks. You can also spray vinegar with warm water to clean the fireplace bricks. Note that you can’t use vinegar and other bleach solutions if your fireplace is more than 15 years old.
- Scrub the fireplace bricks and let them dry for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Rinse the wall with lukewarm water by using a brush.
- If there is any debris left, mix baking soda with the same amount of water and a teaspoon of dish soap, and scrub it to the affected areas.
- Wait for 5 minutes and rinse the bricks with lukewarm water.
This concludes the steps you can do to clean brick indoors. If you’re having trouble removing the dirt from your bricks after doing any of these solutions, consider calling a professional to help you with the cleaning process.
