A simple action that you can take for maintaining your brick chimney is by using soap and water. A well maintained brick chimney situated above your house rooftop will definitely provide a rustic and classic look to anyone who walks pass your house. Due to the brick chimney being an attractive and decorative exterior, even some house owner’s who do not have indoor fireplaces also install brick chimney on top of their house. For you to maintain outdoor brick chimney on your own, it normally involves the task of cleaning the surface of algae buildup, efflorescence and stains that you can find on this resilient brick. If you are professional brick cleaners, you would normally use pressure washers or even sand blasters in order to clean the brick chimneys. However, this method is not recommended unless you are really skilled and experienced in using the items because if you use them without proper care you might damage and discolor your brick chimney. Below are some simple steps that you can do for maintaining your house brick chimney.
To maintain brick chimney, you need:
- Hose
- Bucket
- Dishwashing soap
- Scrub brush
- Ladder
Maintaining Brick Chimney
Simple Steps to Maintain Brick Chimney
- First thing that you need to do is to spray off surface dirt, dust, and visible algae by using a nozzle which can be attached to your garden hose.
- By using this method, you would be able to remove most of the visible dirt found on your brick chimney.
- By using this method, you would be able to remove most of the visible dirt found on your brick chimney.
Make sure that you do the above step at least once a week in order to reduce any large scale of cleanings in future.
- The next step that you have to take is to fill a bucket with plain warm water.
- Then, mix the water together with 1 table spoon of your regular dishwashing soap.
- Then, mix the water together with 1 table spoon of your regular dishwashing soap.
- After that, you can soak a stiff-bristle scrub brush into the cleaning solution before scrubbing firmly on the surface of your brick chimney enabling you to remove dirt stains, algae and also efflorescence which is a white and salty material that can grow on bricks.
- If you maintained doing the above method once every three or four weeks, you do not need to do any other special cleaning methods or you do not require the assistance of specialized cleaners to do the job for you.
- If you maintained doing the above method once every three or four weeks, you do not need to do any other special cleaning methods or you do not require the assistance of specialized cleaners to do the job for you.
- In order to clean your brick chimney, you must start it from the top of the chimney and all the way down to the ground level. This is to avoid dirty water that you use for cleaning to run down onto other surfaces that you have already cleaned.
Always ensure that you have a friend or family members who can assist you especially in holding the ladder that you use while you control the hose from the ground. Do not hold multiple tools on your own especially if you are on a ladder.
- Finally, you need to rinse off your brick chimney that you have cleaned with water. Make sure that the soap that you use for cleaning them do not has a chance to dry.
- This is because dried soap will leave small stains on your brick’s surface. The rinsing task needs to be done all the way down the chimney.
- You must scrub and rinse the brick chimney until you find it completely clean.
For those who are scared of heights, do not ever attempt to clean the brick chimney on your own. We recommend you to hire professional cleaner to assist you in doing the cleaning task.
Always remember that whenever you want to maintain your brick chimney,
- You must always check the surface of brick before starting any cleaning task. Look for any damage brick so that you can repair it immediately or seek advice and assistance from a professional mason to repair the brick. If you do not repair the damage brick, the water and soap that you will be using to clean the brick chimney will create further damage to the problematic surface.
- You can also use stain-specific removers which you can purchase from your local hardware in order to remove efflorescence and algae problems. However, for those of you who encounter consistent efflorescence or algae buildup, it is recommended that you hire a professional mason for assistance in diagnosing the actual problems that create the stains.
- This is because dried soap will leave small stains on your brick’s surface. The rinsing task needs to be done all the way down the chimney.
