How To Clean Bricks Around A Fireplace

Written past Grove Collaborative

Clean Team: How to clean fireplace bricks naturally.

Final Updated: January 20, 2022

Your fireplace should exist the identify of light, warmth, and peace during the dark wintertime months that seem to stretch on endlessly. However, information technology can't be any of those things if it looks muddy and soot-drenched. The only vibes you'll be getting from it then are grim and goth! That'south why it'due south important to make clean your fireplace and surrounding bricks regularly.

Ready to tackle the dirtiest spots in your home? Grove Collaborative has y'all covered with Clean Team. Each week, we'll practice a deep dive into how to clean a dissimilar place or detail in your home. No spot is also small-scale — and nosotros'll tell you lot how to conquer them all, naturally.

Good question. Afterward all, nada says mannerly and cozy quite like a toasty burn down called-for in the dead of winter. It gives character to a room and can exist a perfect focus for your décor.

Still, a fireplace is non without its drawbacks. No matter how hard you effort, eventually some soot forms and scatters on to the bricks surrounding your fireplace, creating a grimy, dingy look.

If y'all follow the National Burn Protection Association Standards, all chimneys, fireplaces, and vents should be inspected at least yearly to ensure they are working properly.

With that in mind...

Weekly

Perform weekly cleanings to remove ashes, soot, and debris, especially if you utilise your fireplace on a regular ground. Not simply can soot latch itself onto drapes, carpets, upholstery, grout, ceramic tiles, and of form, bricks, it tin also cause permanent damage by settling into porous surfaces.

It's also important to sweep the hearth regularly to minimize the spread of ashes, and to ensure that information technology's condom to burn your fuel. Information technology's also highly recommended to remove all soot every bit soon as possible, to help foreclose discoloration and minimize the risks of soot flying around the house damaging your carpeting and piece of furniture.

Yearly

Deep cleaning of the fireplace and surrounding bricks should exist washed once every twelvemonth, at minimum. The best time is when you lot are washed using the fireplace for the wintertime season. Even better if you do it twice a year.

One of the dangers of not cleaning your fireplace and chimney every 6 months or so is that it tin effect in build-up of creosote. Creosote is a highly combustible substance that can crusade an uncontrolled fire. This fire burns hotter than 2000 degrees, making information technology difficult to extinguish. Just something to continue in mind when planning your cleaning schedule!

While the in a higher place is all of the best natural cleaning solutions for jazzing up your fireplace and its surroundings, the below is a basic sequence of cleaning steps you volition follow, regardless of what solution y'all end up using.

How to do it:

Pace 1:

Regardless of your cleaning method and ingredients yous utilise, first set up the surrounding area of the fireplace. Cover carpets with waterproof material, prepare a kneeling board downwards for yourself, and cover up with masks, gloves, and protective eye gear.

Stride 2:

Vacuum away soot and ashes by removing the grates and any other removable attachments from the fireplace. Clear out ashes and droppings, every bit well equally any small particles using your vacuum.

Step three:

Fix a cleaning solution by making a paste with baking soda and dish detergent, with a loose consistency for easy awarding. Yous can adjust the amount of detergent to get the right consistency.

Step 4:

With a scrub castor, apply the cleaning paste onto the bricks. Scrub in a circular movement, starting from the lesser. This will minimize whatsoever streaks. Once you lot have scrubbed to your satisfaction, let it sit for some time.

Pace 5:

Rinse the bricks with water to remove the cleaning paste and any loose dirt or soot. Repeat the steps if needed.

Pace 6:

(Optional) If your chosen cleaning method does make clean your fireplace as well as you'd hoped, effort making a mixture of ammonia and dish detergent to make clean information technology again. Follow the aforementioned steps and use salt or ground pumice stone while scrubbing to assistance loosen stubborn soot.

Before choosing a chemical cleaner for your fireplace and its surround, why non give some natural cleaning ingredients a take a chance?

Compared to packaged chemical cleaners, natural cleaners are gentler and less abrasive. Just make sure all the ingredients in your DIY cleaner are not-flammable for your safety. Some of the best natural fireplace cleaners can be fabricated from easily attainable household items. For instance:

Vinegar and water spray

Probably the most gentle cleaner on this list, vinegar and water spray does the job but requires a lot of scrubbing to thoroughly clean. Information technology tin can exist fabricated easily past mixing equal part water and vinegar in a spray bottle and scrubbing with a sponge or brush. It's all-time to terminate up with a paste of baking soda and h2o to neutralize the effects of the vinegar on the bricks, which could otherwise crusade discoloration with time.

Detergent and salt

Another mild method, a detergent and salt mixture works all-time on fresh stains and streaks. The two-step method requires dipping a scrub brush into a mixture of detergent and water, then sprinkling generously with salt. The salt acts equally an abrasive to help loosen dirt and soot.

Blistering soda and dish detergent

Granted, this is an effective cleaner for nearly everything, it even so requires a lot of arm work for your fireplace. The loose paste tin can exist formed by mixing one part dish detergent to 2 parts blistering soda. Scrubbing is best done with a brush in circular motions, to help loosen the clay and preclude streaks. Terminate cleaning with a h2o-dampened cloth to remove the cleaning solution likewise as any leftover grime.

Cream of tartar and h2o

Surprisingly, cream of tartar works well and is probably ane of the about effective cleaners for fireplaces and chimneys. Though you will require majority amounts of cream of tartar to do it right. Create a cleaning mixture using cream of tartar mixed with but enough water to form a thin paste. Rinse with warm water when washed to remove any leftover cleaner and debris.

Dishwashing liquid, ammonia, pumice

This method is designed for stubborn stains that require farthermost measures. The scrub brush is dipped in a solution of dishwashing liquid and ammonia diluted with water. You can then sprinkle the mixture with finely-ground pumice powder. The pumice works improve than table salt and doesn't dissolve.

• Blistering soda
• Cleaning vinegar
• Dishwasher detergent gel
• Palm fiber scrubber

Cleaning a fireplace does non accept to be complicated. The primal is to prioritize your safety higher up the cleanliness of your fireplace. For instance:

Don't sweep immediately

Information technology's best to not sweep ashes immediately after turning off the fireplace. Instead, expect at least a day for them to absurd down to prevent the risk of injury. You can besides sprinkle wet coffee grounds on the ashes earlier sweeping. This helps keep the ashes from flying effectually willy nilly.

Don't utilise abrasive or flammable chemicals

Be conscientious about the chemicals you use to clean your fireplace. Ensure that your cleaning products are not flammable to prevent excessive and uncontrolled burning the next time you lot lite a burn down. Minimize the utilise of abrasive chemicals to avoid damaging the cease of your fireplace and surrounding bricks. Some even opt to use an oven cleaner for their fireplace, since information technology's designed to be not-combustible.

Practice a spot clean get-go

Earlier you offset cleaning with whatever DIY cleaners, test the solution on a small spot in the corner. Bank check for any discoloration of the tiles or bricks, too as any harsh reactions like flammability.

Exercise use a kneeling lath

It'southward best to utilize a kneeling board or folded towel to rest your knees while cleaning your fireplace. It provides a welcome cushion and also prevents soot and ashes from getting on your knees and transferring to other surfaces around the firm with y'all.

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Source: https://www.grove.co/blog/how-to-clean-fireplace-brick

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