Cleaning white brick
 

I want to get my house pressure washed and I am reading that I should
not because I have white brick. It has been pressure washed before.

Anyone care to chime in?

Cleaning white brick
 

On 8/5/2011 3:04 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
I want to get my house pressure washed and I am reading that I should
not because I have white brick. It has been pressure washed before.

Anyone care to chime in?

I guess white brick is basically concrete and I have a little on a
retaining wall out back and notice that it eroding compared to the
regular brick on the house.

I have pressure wash concrete walks and patio and they look ok but on
cement facing on block wall over tar layer, lot of that came loose.
Guess you can get away with it but be careful.

My 2 cents but I'm only a homeowner.

Cleaning white brick
 

On Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:04:37 -0400, Metspitzer
wrote:

I want to get my house pressure washed and I am reading that I should
not because I have white brick. It has been pressure washed before.

Anyone care to chime in?

Depends on how the bricks were fired.
Hard to tell, except you should try a small place that doesn't show
first, then decide.
I've heard that steam cleaning some bricks causes them to suck up
water and dirt afterwards. Pressure washing might do the same.
That's all I know. Always had brown or dark yellow bricks that never
needed cleaning.
I've seen some painted bricks. Bad idea.

--Vic

Cleaning white brick
 

Metspitzer wrote:
I want to get my house pressure washed and I am reading that I should
not because I have white brick. It has been pressure washed before.

Anyone care to chime in?

If the "white" is paint, sufficient pressure will blow it off the brick.

Cleaning white brick
 

On 08/05/2011 03:04 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
I want to get my house pressure washed and I am reading that I should
not because I have white brick. It has been pressure washed before.

Anyone care to chime in?


Be careful, if you damage the brick facing you will just have the soft
mush that is inside. Why not try bleach instead?

John

Cleaning white brick
 

"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:04:37 -0400, Metspitzer
wrote:

I want to get my house pressure washed and I am reading that I should
not because I have white brick. It has been pressure washed before.

Anyone care to chime in?

Depends on how the bricks were fired.

If they are truly white bricks they were never fired. If they are the
1960-70s white bricks, I recall they were referred to as "sand-lime" bricks,
a concrete type of brick, often deteriorating by now. My father had his
house built with them in 1967, and learned when some black mortar was acid
washed off them that they stained. Never acid wash them, if you pressure
wash them, keep the pressure low and use a wide angle nozzle. They can be
damaged very easily, especially at this age.

Cleaning white brick
 

On Sat, 6 Aug 2011 11:40:49 -0400, "EXT"
wrote:


"Vic Smith" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:04:37 -0400, Metspitzer
wrote:

I want to get my house pressure washed and I am reading that I should
not because I have white brick. It has been pressure washed before.

Anyone care to chime in?

Depends on how the bricks were fired.

If they are truly white bricks they were never fired. If they are the
1960-70s white bricks, I recall they were referred to as "sand-lime" bricks,
a concrete type of brick, often deteriorating by now. My father had his
house built with them in 1967, and learned when some black mortar was acid
washed off them that they stained. Never acid wash them, if you pressure
wash them, keep the pressure low and use a wide angle nozzle. They can be
damaged very easily, especially at this age.

They are white brick. My parents built the house in 1970. My mother
called the brick "holiday hill stone" but googling it doesn't get hits
that look similar.

http://imgur.com/W7dj6

My mother complained when they finished the brick because the mortar
joints did not meet in the center. She was told the proper way was
not to center them.


I may talk my nephew into cleaning them for some spare cash.