# Acid washing old brick work!! help!



## therealcleaners (Jan 3, 2017)

Hey guys, new here and cant wait to explore a little more and see what type of suggestions you guys have. I currently own a commercial pressure washing business and we are looking to expand some of the services we offer this up coming season. One thing i have been looking heavily into is what i believe they refer to as "Acid washing" I have gotten various calls in the past to come and take a look at brick homes and there was simply nothing we could do and that is something we hate to tell our clients. These homes looked extremely aged and showed tons of weathering on the brick. Ive tried researching more on the best way to restore/clean the brick but havent come up with much however, i did see somebody suggest muratic acid. Has anybody ever cleaned a brick house with muratic acid? How did it come out?


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

Acid washing is to remove excess mortar from new construction.


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## brickhook (May 8, 2012)

If a brick wall appears dirty from aging, you can 'carefully' pressure wash it and use a mild detergent.

Muratic acid will only clean mortar off and out of the joints if you're not careful.


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/cleaning-brickwork/cleaning-brickwork.htm


You have to be really careful when cleaning old brickwork.
The Royal Albert Hall was an example.


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

Hey guys,Happy New Year ! Stuart; another method possibly developed in your country is the nebulous or intermittent spray. I have seen the results twice . Both buildings were very mechanical re-pressed smooth red brick,the buildings were from the mid 1800,s. The results were beautiful. One experienced very small efflorescence patches that went away on their own in about 6 months. I was very favorably impressed with the system.

http://uk-restoration.co.uk/nebulous-water-spray-clean/


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## Krok (Jul 9, 2016)

What kind of commercial pressure washing have you been doing? You've never used acid before? Acid is used, but have you cleaned any brick before? And if so, old brick? It can be used to clean, but you've gotta be careful as you can damage the brick and mortar with water alone.








You've been a pressure washer and never used any acid? Must be a high tech kinda guy. Old brick and mortar can be blown out/ripped into easily just by water and once you get into chemicals, that can lead to other problems.


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## Fouthgeneration (Jan 7, 2014)

Remember new homes and commercial buildings don't have any high value landscaping or trim installed when the brickies use diluted acid and soaps to wash new masonry work....

You first need to identify the type of dirt you are trying to remove and if there is any chemical processes occurring like carbonation of calcium to limestone....

Acid might run over copper and brass and leave green stains that cost more to remove than the dirt did.

You might ask if you can experiment on soon to Demoed buildings.:thumbsup:

Try reading what the manufacturers have learned over decades of use of their products.....:whistling
Historical societies have chapters of failed cleaning efforts and cleaning that destroyed the outer layers of bricks and appearance..

Call your insurance writer for further guidance on your policy covering the use of acid cleaners on existing buildings by untrained i d i o t s.:blink:

If you do develop the knowledge and experience to safely use Acid based cleaners there is a growing market to clean newly laid masonry as some contractors specialize and stop cleaning their own work product.


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## Krok (Jul 9, 2016)

Fouthgeneration said:


> Call your insurance writer for further guidance on your policy covering the use of acid cleaners on existing buildings by untrained i d i o t s.:blink:


I know a second gen mason that just went around cleaning and made a pretty good income....and I also know two people that got into 'exterior cleaning' (pressure washing) and they didn't do much damage (and probably therefor work) for a while, then they decided to use some chems to speed up the process. They were either lazy or thought they were more smarter than they actually were, but like you said, one job I know of they caused far more damage than they could have made. They went out of business and to be honest, my experience with presssure washers is most don't have any insurance other than vehicle insurance.

If one is in any historical/old districts and drive around you can usually see which houses got pressure washed by the damage. Whats funny is sometimes you can see where they started, but then stopped mid area, either they stopped themselves or someone else stopped them.


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## StevenBowen (Jan 3, 2017)

I do believe the primary use of muriatic acid is when your resurfacing masonry to clean lime deposits and such so your product stain or paint will stick and not peel.

ever seen a painted block wall with paint peeling and whitish dust behind the paint chips? Lime deposit from either not enough cure time or it wasn't prepped correctly.

I've never used any acid on brick walls, I have acid washed concrete with muriatic acid and citric acid. 

I wonder if citric acid would work for that you have to do, From what I remember it wasn't potent at all, I don't know about with the plants and stuff.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

Some acids migrate into bones, better know what your doing.


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