Has anyone had their brick/stonework cleaned?

[CatherineB]

We would like to get our house cleaned; the brickwork is fairly grey and the stone is filthy. Next door had theirs cleaned 15 years or more ago, and it looks so much better.

Has anyone had this done? I'm expecting, from talking to next door, that it would involve steam cleaning rather than anything more aggressive. There is a company that has done a number of properties in Cambridge, whom I'm tempted to contact - are we allowed to mention names? Suffice to say, they're based in Suffolk and they clean brick and stone :wink:

View attachment 1
Our house


Next door

Plus, is there anything we need to be aware of, e.g. effect on pointing, faster corrosion of stonework, etc?

(PS the filthy lace curtains are not ours, honest; the picture was taken before I took them down! )

Catherine

 

[Tom]

I rather like your 'dirty' house. The clean one looks, well, too clean. Just the way our new lintels and quoins look too clean against the originals. I can't wait for them to become 'dirty'

 

[CatherineB]

Well actually, what I'd really like is dirty bricks and clean stone, but DH says no!

 

[Penners]

To the best of my (very limited) knowledge, the best-known name in masonry conservation, restoration, cleaning, etc. in Cambridge is Rattee & Kett. They've done a lot of work on university buildings. I'm not sure whether they take on smaller, domestic work.

 

[CatherineB]

They are indeed, Penners, and seem to be more or less permanently employed somewhere or other at Caius, my old college, so it is a very familiar name!
If I had to guess, though, looking at their website, they lean more towards the large client side of the market and I don't think our house - or budget - is grand enough :?

 

[CatherineB]

Have been meaning to post an "after" shot, just for interest really.
Here is our house, after the roofers' scaffolding has finally come down, in all its newly-cleaned glory.
I know it wouldn't be everyone's choice, but we are very pleased with it:

 

[Feltwell]

Looks fantastic - I love the brickwork detail on the corner - and I reckon it will look even better in around 5 to 10 years time when it's got a little grubby again and mellowed slightly, losing it's rather "new" look that it has right now. A little dirt can be a good thing, I can't remember what it looked like before (picture has gone from the thread) but I presume it was looking very grubby.

I do like Victorian & Edwardian buildings.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Ooh, that does look nice! What a lovely house Catherine, missed this thread in November so very nice to see it.

Well done for looking after it so well!

 

[LadyArowana]

So nice to hear the end of the story and see a wonderful picture. My iPad thought it was being helpful by rotating it when I tried to flip it around the right way :lol:

 

[CatherineB]

Yes, I'm not quite sure where the picture of the dirty house has got to. Here it is again!



We have also finished replacing, and properly insulating, the 107 year-old slate roof (old slates reused at the front of the house), and installed secondary double glazing a while ago after much angst about the best option. I think/hope that what we have done so far has not harmed the original house. Opinions will differ regarding the building work currently going on at the back, but I reserve the right to upgrade the servants' quarters to 21st century standards! If our successors hate it and want to rip it down in 50 years' time, that will be their perogative

I'm quite looking forward to living in it eventually; that will be a novelty :roll:

 

[Penners]

I know it wouldn't be everyone's choice, but we are very pleased with it

I can't imagine why it wouldn't be everybody's choice. It's how the building was supposed to look, and it looks great!

Well done, Catherine. I bet your scrubbing brush is nearly worn out. :wink:

 

[michael]

Hi Catherine
I couldn’t actually gather from the threads above how your house was eventually cleaned. I have some very grubby brickwork to the rear of my house, patches of what looks like ingrained soot that doesn’t come off with soap and water. I would very much like to find a gentle but effective way of cleaning this wall. Was steam cleaning the answer to your problem and if so was it an expensive process? Did you find out if it causes any damage to the face of the bricks? In my case I would be dealing with relatively soft red and yellow bricks about 195 years old.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Yes, I'm not quite sure where the picture of the dirty house has got to.

I can recommend not Googling "picture dirty house" 8)

 

[MatthewC]

Yes, I'm not quite sure where the picture of the dirty house has got to.

I can recommend not Googling "picture dirty house" 8)

Well done for saying that before Penners!

 

[michael]

Can anybody suggest a good brick cleaning method? Catherine was suggesting professional steam cleaning and I’m presuming this is what she had done. Is this the only procedure that cleans whilst preserving the face of the brickwork? Are there any good DIY ways of doing it without causing damage?

 

[Penners]

Yes, I'm not quite sure where the picture of the dirty house has got to.

I can recommend not Googling "picture dirty house" 8)

Well done for saying that before Penners!

FW has clearly forgotten that I have the weak joke concession on this forum. :evil:

 

[CatherineB]

Hi Michael
Sorry, I haven't been online much, so missed your question. Ours was done by a combination of "low-pressure calcium carbonate vortex action" (aka sand-blasting?!), which was necessary for the very ingrained dirt on the stone, and steam cleaning for the brickwork. It doesn't seem to have damaged the fabric, but only time will tell (or not). The people who did it have also done a number of old public buildings in this area, including Ely Cathedral (or bits of it).
If you google brick and stone cleaning, there are various companies that do it, and their sites have information on the systems they use.
Not sure about DIY methods; I am really only competent to GSI!

 

[Penners]

Ah yes - the good old low-pressure calcium carbonate vortex action.

That's a bit like my capillary aqueous-dilute detergent absorption system.

Drying up. :roll:

 

[rebeccac]

I used just water and a nylon brush to remove soot stains from limestone.Bricks are more tricky.I clean most in water but once they get cement/modern paint on them its diificult.I was thinking of using some eco paint stripper.