removing soot from fireplace bricks

[Gail Hanson]

Hi,

Does anyone know what to use to remove the soot from the bricks
surrounding the fireplace? We are fixing up our house to sell it and
want the fireplace to look its best. Any suggestion would definitely
be appreciated.

Julie

[David Pritchett]

Try using a hand-held propane torch. Just heat in an area moving the
torch back and forth until you burn off the soot. I've used this method
many times and it works well. You may have noticed in the past that very
hot flames will do the same thing in small areas while a fire is burning.
The cooler flames cause the soot by incompletely buring the wood.

[David Pritchett]

After re-reading the post, I realized that you are talking about the
brick face instead of the firebrick in the fire box itself. I wouldn't
use the torch idea on those brick. They are not designed to withstand
the temperatures.

[Chuck Isaacson]

I have used cleanser like Comet or Ajax and a scrub brush with success.
Cover the floor to help.

David Pritchett (dav...@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: After re-reading the post, I realized that you are talking about the

:

[Jim Butchart]

> JulieThe first thing you can try is dishwasher detergent mixed in warm water. Use
a scrub brush and go at it. Other options in increasing order of nastiness
would be: TSP (trisodium phosphate? My dad is the chemistry teacher, not me)
and finally, muriatic acid. Fireplace and stove shops will have prepared
products for cleaning fireplaces. Our favorite is Speedy White.
--
Jim Butchart butc...@hearthshop.com http://www.HearthShop.com
Hearth & Color........(707)526-3322 Retail
Fireside Specialties..(707)526-3325 Wholesale
"Do or do not. There is no try." -Yoda

[Don Kochen]

In article <4ek47e$o...@reader2.ix.netcom.com> David Pritchett <dav...@ix.netcom.com> writes:

>After re-reading the post, I realized that you are talking about the
>brick face instead of the firebrick in the fire box itself. I wouldn't
>use the torch idea on those brick. They are not designed to withstand
>the temperatures.

If you have access to a high-pressure power washer, it would remove
embedded soot easily from brick and mortar.

Of course you would probably want to rig up some sort of apron to
contain the splattered water. (Actually there wouldn't be much volume
of water involved since it is a high velocity mist being sprayed).
. . . . . . . . .
Don Kochen koc...@ami1.bwi.wec.com
Westinghouse Electric Corp Baltimore, MD
Analog System Design (410) 765-3268
. . . . . . . . .

[Helen N. Lovisek]

In a previous article, cat...@ix.netcom.com (Gail Hanson) says:

>Hi,
>
>Does anyone know what to use to remove the soot from the bricks
>surrounding the fireplace? We are fixing up our house to sell it and
>want the fireplace to look its best. Any suggestion would definitely
>be appreciated.
>

I used a commercial brick cleaner I bought at the hardware store to
clean *inside* the fireplace (sand coloured bricks were black with
soot). I sprayed it on and used a brush and lots of elbow grease and
many many applications. It's a dirty job, so make sure you lay down
plastic on the floor first covered with rags or newspaper to absorb the
wet mess. You'll need to have a pail of warm water to keep cleaning the
brush and need to replace it periodically, so plan ahead to leave room in
the sink.

In retrospect, it might have been easier to use a metal *wire* brush
instead of a bristle brush.

If you can't find the brick cleaner (it came in a nozzle spray bottle),
try a strong solution of TSP (tri-sodium-phospate).

--
Helen Lovisek wi...@freenet.victoria.bc.ca
bh...@torfree.net

[Noel Gilmore]

In article <310F9D...@hearthshop.com>, Jim Butchart
<butc...@hearthshop.com> wrote:

> Gail Hanson wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Does anyone know what to use to remove the soot from the bricks
> > surrounding the fireplace? We are fixing up our house to sell it and
> > want the fireplace to look its best. Any suggestion would definitely
> > be appreciated.
> >

> > JulieThe first thing you can try is dishwasher detergent mixed in warm
water. Use
> a scrub brush and go at it. Other options in increasing order of nastiness
> would be: TSP (trisodium phosphate? My dad is the chemistry teacher, not me)
> and finally, muriatic acid. Fireplace and stove shops will have prepared
> products for cleaning fireplaces. Our favorite is Speedy White.

If you have a pre-engineered fireplace (factory built) and any of the
muratic acid or any acidic substance gets on the metal of the fireplace,
(screens, door frames, etc.) LOOK OUT. You run the risk of a highly
accelerated process of corosion. Even when you dilute it many times with
water, when it dries it is still lethal to the metal.

Noel Gilmore

[David B. Reiser]

cat...@ix.netcom.com (Gail Hanson ) writes:

>Hi,

>Does anyone know what to use to remove the soot from the bricks
>surrounding the fireplace? We are fixing up our house to sell it and
>want the fireplace to look its best. Any suggestion would definitely
>be appreciated.

There is a product called Kleenstone (or something like that) that I have
used successfully for removing soot from bricks. It's a bit of a pain to
rinse it off, but it sure beats having ugly bricks.

Depending on how well you can protect yourself and the surrounding room, you
could even consider muriatic acid (HCl), though that tends to cause
respiratory irritation (and, later, corrosion of any metal in the room) very
easily because of the high vapor pressure of HCl. HCl/water solutions also
attack skin fairly readily, especially at the concentrations you'd use to
etch brick.

In case you're wondering why I even bring the possibility up: My builder's
mason used HCl to clean both the brick on the outside of the house and on
the fireplace inside when he got done with his bit of construction (before
there was any internal finishing work done).

--
Dave Reiser
reis...@ttown.apci.com (I don't speak for my employer.)