Can you remove cement off facing bricks

Brick acid (obtainable from any builder's merchant or B&Q) would almost certainly do it, but the problem will be that it will also make short work of the mortar between the bricks, so would need applying v-e-r-y carefully to avoid having to repoint the outhouse...

David

brick acid will remove cement *stains*, it won't remove dried concrete.

The ony thing you can do in these cases is remove each splatter manually, IE with a scraper, or if needs be, a small hammer, such as a pin hammer, laborious but sadly, the only real alternative to what you have now.

Brick acid.

Nope, it works very well, there being usually only a few mm on the surface, and a few inches in the gaps..being eaten at similar rtes..it takes a LOT to completely screw a mortar joint.

paint on, and wire brush.

Then pressure wash or hose the whole thing down.

It will. In time. I have 'concrete proof' harhar.

It turns just about any portland or lime based cement into a soluble chloride salt. The rest - the ballast and the sand - washes away.

Obviously chip of big bits, but for a bit of fun, make a bowl shaped bit of mortar, and put in brick acid..it may take several goes and esevarl liters, but it will all dissolve in time.

Never use a wire brush on facing brickwork. Depending on the relative hardness, it either wrecks the faces, or they are stained with the metal from the wire.

Don't pressure wash a lime mortar wall.

Oh dear. I must have been exrtremely lucky then.

Oh. I forgot. One decent thunderstorm and a lime mortar wall comes crashing down.

I think that's probably what happened to Rome.

Thats what i was concerned about - the bricks are very soft! Thanks for al the useful replies btw

In that case te acid will penetrate a little and get behind the concrete spalatters, which can just be hosed off.

I've got a chimney breast made of very soft reclaimed tudor bricks and

That reminds me that I've also got some bricks to clean which have been marked by lime mortar dust when the builders cut the joint for the new lead flashing on my extension to be slotted in. Is there anything I should know about brick acid and lead or slates, both being in danger of getting splashed. Will they get marked?? Thanks for the help.

Lead will suffer BADLY from acid, but bricks and slates can be soaked too your hearts content.

In practice if you can keep your acid confined to the cement, it gets neutralised by that. So you can use it oversensitive surfaces, as long as it hits the cement faster than the substrate. As soon as possible wash it off with water - lots of it.

Many thanks for the help! I'll be careful..