To remove the residue of the concrete screed, use brick acid (an example is
Seloclean made by selocrete). This will unfortunately also attack the
mortar (probably lime based) between the bricks so this will have to be
repointed afterwards (again use a lime based mortar to maintain
breathability). The "traditional" top coat for quary tile and brick floors
is a polish made from beeswax and turpentine. Dont seal it with a non
breathable sealer or varnish. For lots of advice on this exact issue search
the disscussion forum on
www.periodproperty.co.uk.

Its encouraging to note that the damp proof people suggested that the floor
needs to breathe. The normal advice from the trade is take the whole lot up
install a concrete slab and dpm and put the bricks back down again. This
has the effect of exhaerbating damp problems elsewhere (like the walls).

Andy


"DavidD" wrote in message
. net...
Hi,
We have a C17th house, one of the downstairs rooms (24'x15') has a brick
floor which at some point has had a very thin layer of screen? (is that
right it looks like cement) on it.
I'd like to take the screed up and expose the bricks, our damp proof
people
also suggest that the floor needs to breathe and we should remove the
screed.
I have pulled up a corner to check the state of the bricks and they look
fine however there is a residue of the cement or whatever was used for the
screed.
Before I start to strip the whole floor I need to know how I'm going to
clean the bricks up and then what I can coat them with to protect them and
make it easy to clean whilst still alloing the floor to breathe.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

David

Ps the bricks are on dirt.