Can you clean or spruce up external house bricks?

[Won24]

I have recently purchased a lovely (if you would call it that) 1970's chocolate brown brick home.

The grand plan is to render the outside, however until then is there a product that you can buy or make or alternatively any ideas that I could try to give the old bricks a bit of a spruce up?

 

[EricL]

Hello @Won24

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's brilliant to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your house bricks.

If you look closely you'll notice that your bricks have a very fine finish on them. Not like the ordinary red bricks that are rough and very porous. This extra process that's been applied to the bricks is like a top render and gives it that smooth flat looking finish. Generally, I would suggest using a pressure washer on the surface of the brick. But in this instance, it might do more damage to the surface of the brick.  

I recommend instead using a Geelong Brush Tradies Mate Outdoor Broom or similar to scrub the brick wall. I suggest using Simple Green 4L Green Concentrate All Purpose Cleaner. I suspect that the surface of the brick will not be able to withstand a pressure washer and could end up stripping the surface of the brick. It's better to do a soft wash with a brush and refresh the face of the brick that way.

Since you are planning on having the surface rendered, I don't recommend putting on any paint on the surface of the brick as it needs to be stripped away before you render. If your rendering plans are years away then it might be worth considering repainting the surface of the brick.

If you have any other questions you need help with, please let us know.

Eric

[Jason]

Hi @Won24,

Congratulations on your purchase. We are looking forward to seeing how you can transform your new house into your home.

Could you perhaps share a few wider shots of the entire house? It might help members to give more helpful decorating advice. 

Welcome to the community. 

Jason