Best way to clean your old brick fireplace

Remove All Ashes from the Fireplace

Let the fireplace become completely cold before starting. Whenever you’re ready to clean up, remove the grate and any leftover ashes. Remove the soot and dust manually by using a vacuum with a brush attachment.

Wet Your Bricks

There’s one trick to cleaning brick fireplaces: first wet the bricks with water, and then apply a cleanser and scrub them. As you will be working inside your home, make sure you put down a waterproof drop cloth first.

By absorbing the water, the porous brick will block the absorption of soap and other cleaning solutions, so the soap will remain above the surface instead of sinking. The bricks can be wetted down using a masonry sponge, available at most hardware stores.

Prepare Cleaning Solutions

There are several options available; you can use many ingredients for this purpose, and most of them are easily available in your kitchen like vinegar, dishwashing detergent, lemon, or you can buy a readymade, more robust cleaner from any mart. But we will share with you the method to clean your brick fireplace with a vinegar solution.

It is the best option to use diluted white vinegar, although it is acidic enough that it might damage bricks older than 25 years, so care must be taken. Make your cleaning solution using warm water and vinegar in equal parts. If you want, dishwashing detergent can also be added, but only a small amount—about two tablespoons per gallon is enough.

Get the Bricks Clean

In a spray bottle, put the gentler cleaners and spritz them directly on the bricks. If you don’t have a spray bottle, you can use a sponge or paintbrush to apply the cleaning solution to the bricks. To avoid streaks on previously cleaned areas, make sure you work from top to bottom.

Keep dry bricks under control by scrubbing the surface in circular motions with a firm, plastic-bristled scrub brush. After a few minutes, lightly reapply the cleaning solution and clean the soot stains.

Wash with Water

Before you move on to the next area, rinse the area you’ve just scrubbed. Each spot should be washed several times with a sponge dipped in clean water. The water needs to be changed if the rinsing bucket gets dirty or soapy.

Remove Any Remaining Stains with a Spot-Cleaning Solution

If there are stubborn soot stains on any large surfaces that have been cleaned with the solutions above, you may have to go back and clean those spots separately. To accomplish this task, either baking soda or cream of tartar mixed with water should be used. Let it sit for five to ten minutes, and then apply it to the remaining soot. After that, scrub with a stiff toothbrush or small scrub brush, then rinse with water. This is all you can do to clean your old fireplace’s brick.

Don’t you like your old brick fireplace and want to upgrade your interior fireplace? You can call Atlantic Brick and Stone. We have a skilled team of fireplace interior designers that can guide you to transform the appearance of your old brick fireplace into a modern one.