Cleaning an old brick building... Need Help

M

Mathew Johnson

New member
I have to clean a fairly old brick bank, The banks maintenance company pulled off a lot of vines (Ivy). On the brick there is still small pieces of vines 4-5 inches with some soiling. The question I have is this... what is the best pressure to use, Any special tip, and any special detergent?

I will be able to get close to the building, I am renting a 45 foot articulating boom lift.
 
Hey Matt,
I would try using heat maybe around 200 degree's and I would use a 15 degree tip and get as close as you can without scarring the brick to try to get some of that vine stuff to come off. Besides that I don't know of any chemical that can take off the vine stains. Maybe an acid but you probably should do a patch test somewhere in an unnoticeable area to see how the brick looks after doing this. Hopefully you can find a little vine area down below to try this on. As for Vines themselves I pull,cut and sometimes scrape to get them of of the surface I'm cleaning.

Take some pictures of this job if you can so we can all learn something from it and to see the before and after shots...Those are priceless.

Best of luck
 
I gotta tell you that if your renting a boom you should be able to get close enough that hot water, pressure and a little soap will do the trick.

The vines will come off better be pretreted. even with just water. caustic blaech if nothing below will be affected.
 
Must interject here......if this is old brick, pressure may be more harmful than helpful. Some older brick was fired differently and may be too porous to withstand pressure. Also, depending on the mortar, old mortar can blow from the joints easily with too much pressure.

Matthew, Do you have some up close photos of the brick?

Celeste
 
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