Cleaning white brick

[Metspitzer]

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?

[Frank]

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.

[Vic Smith]

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

[HeyBub]

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

[John]

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

John

[EXT]

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.

[Metspitzer]

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.

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.