soot on old brick fireplace

[danjennings]

I have a nice inglenook firplace in house just moved into, the brickwork is stained with years or open fires and i plan a woodburner but would like to clean up the brickwork first - Ive tried klingstrip but that dosnt seem to work, hard scribbing with a stiff brush had some effect , but i was wondering if any members had any useful tips?
Check my other post ( ugly woodburner ) for picture of fireplace and sooty deposits.
Thanks

 

[essexbearhunter]

Depends how far in the tars from the fire have got into the brick.

I use a lot of reclaimed stock bricks - and many have the misfortune to have come from chimney stacks when people take fireplaces out. I tend to use a combination of wire brush and the "curly stainless steel" scouring pads - the latter don't leave the deep grooves that wire brushes do - on soaking wet bricks.

Even so, the tar can go into the bricks over half an inch and even when I plane away the surface of the brick by rubbing it over the coarse face of a Medium Density Concrete Block, the resulting face is flat & usable rather than unstained & attractive. In these cases cutting the brick out and turning it round (or replacing it) is the only real option.

 

[MdB]

Alternatively, give it a good scrub and then call it character. Completely cleaned bricks can look too clean.

Having black bricks in a fireplace shows that it has been used and has lived a life. I don't think I would want to lose that.

 

[danjennings]

Thanks for your comments.

I appreciate that the lived in look from years of fires looks ok and im not planning on getting them spotless, just removing the worst so that you can see that it is a brick fireplace. Above the register plate there is a lot of soot and tar ( looks like its run down, molten almost ) but im less worroee about that as there is a very heavy duty twin skined liner.
I'd thought that determination, wire wool and plenty of elbow grease might well be the answer, or is it.....

 

[ilona73]

The national trust use this solution to clean fireplaces and i use it on my own at home and is pretty good.. though how well it will work on brick i have no idea

This is what it is
2 parts white spirit to 1 part distilled water and 3 drops of washing up liquid.

you dab it on using pressure and the soot residue should come off on your cloth.
Like i say how well it will work on your fireplace i dont know as its used for mainly granite marble and sandstone.

give it a go it can't harm to try i suppose?

 

[HeatherJ]

Would this solution remove calcimine wash from brick? if not, has anyone had any success with anything else?
-HeatherJ