My builder has just finished Phase 1 of my conservatory (Base and Dwarf wall). As he is a bit of a perfectionist and wanted to use 'Brick Acid' to get off any odd splashes of mortar on his brickworkl.
To be honest, his brick work was immaculate and I saw no need for him to do this, but he wanted to do it, so who was I to argue. He brought round 15 litres of "Cementone Mortar and Brick Cleaner" which, according to the container is the right stuff.
We got talking about the quality of his brickwork (good) comparied to that on my 5 year old house (bad) and he advised that this "Brick Acid" was just what a needed to get rid of the splashes/smudges of morter which are all over the brickwork on the house.
As a demonstration he brushed a load of it onto the side of the house, left it to fizz for a while and rinced it off. It seemed to do a good job, so I went to work and forgot all about it.
Last night I walked round the side of the house and found this large 'white' patch on the wall (Looks like a salty deposit) over the area that he had 'cleaned'.. It seems that the 'acid' has done more than removing the excess mortar.. I tried to clean the bricks with a wet scrubbing brush and whilst they looked fine when they were wet/damp, as soon as they dryed, the white stain returned.
The surprising thing is that he used 3x5l containters of the stuff on my conservatory, which is build with the same bricks as the house and they still look perfect.
There must be something about the bricks on the house or the method of application which used on the house. Is this reversable? Is there anything I can do to clean them up (i.e Jet washer, Scrubbing brush etc).
I can't tell wether the 'white' is actually a residue (in which case it might be possible to clean it off), or a 'burn' of some kind (in which case its probably not)
Does anyone have any experience with this kind of substance?