Freshen up 70 yr old red brick house

[AstridT]

Hi just wondering if there is an easy way to freshen up the red brick on our house ? Or is acid the only way? 
Thanks ! 

 

[wooshka]

Hi @AstridT , i would be extremely cautious using an acid cleaner on an old house(learned the hard way) , just try an old fashioned pressure clean first if no good get some professional guys in who specialist in this sort of work, the reason being if you use acid wrong it can keep eating away at your brick and mortar joints for a long time

[ProjectPete]

Do you want to keep the red brick look or would you consider painting it? A render texture paint would give it a new life.

[JDE]

Astrid I would be careful using acid on old mortar. I had a look at this.  https://www.pressurewashersdirect.com/stories/187-How-to-Power-Wash-a-Brick-House.html. Things to be mindful of are fix mortar before starting clean so water doesn't get in and be careful not to have too higher pressure or square on mortar as old mortar can sometimes be weak. I like Petes idea of painting it gives a totally different look but a lot of work and more expensive than cleaning. We have just had a new house built and went down the painted path, we didnt want to be another chocolate brick house in the street (the trendy thing out here at the moment) and we can change colours in the future.

James