Our home-made fireplace is constructed from un-treated bare sandstone and is in need of a clean. We've got the carpeting up, so now would be the best time.A stone-mason suggested Jeyes Fluid, but this stuff stinks and would stink the house out.I was thinking of using Flash, a scrubbing brush and some elbow grease, but wondered if there's anything to make the job easier. Any suggestions?Cheers.

First identify your sandstone. For starters, is it really sandstone?Jeyes fluid is excellent, but it's really only needed when you;'redealing with organic grot on floors. Hearths are a different problem.Using the right scrubbing brush is crucial. Make sure those bristles arestiff enough and not going to wilt either. Polypropylene won't do it -you probably need to find an old ironmonger's and get one with bassinebristles (brown woody stuff). You'll want a big sponge for mopping tooand if it's a typical hearth with corners you can't reach, a wet vacuumcleaner sucks the dirty water out better than a cloth.As to the goop, then Mr Muscle kitchen is powerful stuff and good onsandstone. However it will cheerfully eat holes in anything calcareous,such as limestone. Check it first on a tiny spot!

How best to clean sandstone?

Jan 21, 2006 21 Replies

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Rob Morley 20 years ago

What stone? ;-)

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Andy Dingley 20 years ago

So what ? It's a sedimentary rock, made of some granular stuff and a binder. Generally the grains are silicaceous and the binder is an iron oxide, but there are plenty of calcareous sandstones around. There are also a few large-grained limestones where, because the grains are visible, they find themselves described as "sandstone" when they're really anything but.

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