"TomR" wrote in message
...
I am in just finishing repairing and repointing brick steps like the ones
shown in the following YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG2E4Sf_Ot8 .

I made a bit of a mess while doing it, so I am going to want to remove the
excess mortar stains and film that I left on the bricks. My plan is to
use muriatic acid, and I may buy this stuff -- Kleen Strip muriatic
acid -- from Home Depot:

http://www.kleanstrip.com/product/muriatic-acid .
. . . ,
I am not sure how much to dilute the muriatic acid, and I don't know
whether to spray it on, or just brush it on, or whatever. . . . ,

Just a quick update...., the muriatic acid worked fairly well -- kinda fun
to use. I initially mixed it 50-50, meaning 1/2 water and 1/2 the 20%
muriatic acid that I bought at Home Depot -- that made in about a 10%
muriatic acid mixture. That was working fairly well, so I tried making it
even stronger by adding more of the 20% muriatic acid and less water. That
worked well too.

I wet the steps first with water, then brushed on the mixture, let it sit
there and do its thing for a few minutes, the brushed it a little, then
rinsed it off.

I have a little more brick pointing touch up etc. to do and I am going to
re-paint the railings, but we have rain for the next 2 days, so I'll finish
it after that. Then I'll post a few before, during, and after photos.