Pressure Washing · Service

Brick cleaning, at the lowest pressure that works

Brick has a fired outer skin and mortar softer than the brick around it. Both are removable in an afternoon and neither grows back. Get matched with crews who test a panel before they clean a wall.

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In short

What is brick & masonry cleaning?

Brick and masonry cleaning removes soot, atmospheric grime, biological growth, efflorescence and sometimes paint from brick, stone and mortar. It is governed by a principle borrowed from building conservation: use the gentlest method that achieves an acceptable result, and prove it on a test panel before touching the elevation. The reason is physical. Fired brick has a hard outer skin, mortar is deliberately softer than the units it joins, and aggressive cleaning removes both permanently.

The job

How brick & masonry cleaning actually works

Identify the masonry and its era before choosing anything

Modern extruded brick, soft handmade brick, natural stone and cast stone tolerate completely different treatment, and so do lime mortar and modern cement mortar. Age is the fastest proxy: older buildings generally have softer units and softer joints, and both are more easily damaged than they look.

Watch for: A quote given without anyone touching the wall. Soft handmade brick and hard modern brick are the same colour from the pavement and are not the same job.
Diagnose the soiling — it is not all one thing

Biological growth, atmospheric grime, efflorescence, metallic staining and paint each have a different removal route. Efflorescence in particular is not soiling at all: it is salt carried out of the masonry by moisture moving through it, and it will keep arriving as long as the moisture does.

Watch for: A single method proposed for a wall showing several problems. It will over-treat some areas to under-treat others, and on masonry the over-treated areas are the permanent ones.
Test a panel, in an inconspicuous place, and wait

A small trial area is cleaned by the proposed method and then assessed — not while wet, but after it has fully dried, which is when discolouration, mortar loss and unevenness actually become visible. If the result is unacceptable the method changes and the panel is repeated.

Watch for: Any contractor who considers a test panel unnecessary or wants to judge it wet. Masonry looks uniformly excellent while it is wet. That is precisely why the test exists.
Work up from the gentlest method

The sequence runs from water and time, to detergent, to a chemical treatment appropriate to the soiling, escalating only when the gentler option has demonstrably failed. Pressure stays low throughout — the National Park Service recommends beginning at or below 100 psi on historic masonry and generally staying under 300 to 400 psi, which is a fraction of what a driveway job uses.

Watch for: Starting at the strong end "to save a visit", and any mention of abrasive blasting. Blasting removes the fired skin of the brick, and the wall is left permanently more absorbent than it was designed to be.
Control water, then rinse thoroughly and neutralise

Masonry absorbs. Openings, vents, air bricks and any defective pointing are the routes water takes inside, and they are protected before work rather than mopped up after. Chemical treatments are rinsed and, where the product requires it, neutralised — residue left in the pores continues to act.

Watch for: Saturating a solid wall on a house with no cavity. Water driven into the mass takes a long time to come back out, and where it comes out on the inside face you get damp and salt bloom on the plaster months later.
Assess the joints once the wall is clean and dry

Cleaning routinely reveals pointing in worse condition than the dirt suggested, and any joints lost during cleaning need making good. Repointing is masonry work with its own mortar-specification questions, not something a cleaning crew improvises at the end of the day.

Watch for: Open joints left open through a winter. That is direct water ingress into the wall, and it does far more damage over one wet season than the dirt ever did.

Money

What does brick & masonry cleaning cost?

Masonry cleaning is quoted after inspection and usually after a test panel, priced on area, access, the method the panel proves out, and the condition of the joints. Repointing and paint removal are separate works with their own quotes. The Cost Guide explains how masonry pricing is structured.

See the full brick & masonry cleaning cost guide — by material, size and region →

Exterior cleaning tools → Size the elevations and note the joint condition before you take quotes.

Straight answer

When brick & masonry cleaning is the wrong call

Everyone else ranking for this is paid when you say yes. Here's when you shouldn't.

The pointing has already failed. Washing a wall with open, sandy or missing joints pushes water straight into the wall core. Repoint first with a mortar matched to the existing, clean after — doing it the other way round means cleaning twice or damaging fresh mortar.
The building is historic, listed or in a conservation area. Cleaning may need consent, and the appropriate method is set by conservation guidance rather than by a contractor's usual practice. Get the advice before you get the quotes, not after somebody has cleaned a test panel you cannot undo.
Somebody is proposing sandblasting or any abrasive method. Abrasive cleaning strips the fired face of the brick and erodes mortar. It is one of the few things on a house that cannot be put back, and the resulting absorbency drives damp problems for decades afterwards.
The problem is efflorescence and nobody has asked where the water is coming from. That bloom is salt arriving from inside the masonry. Wash it off and the same moisture path delivers the next one. The useful work is finding the leak, the bridged damp course or the failed flashing.
You want painted brick stripped and you have not tested it. Paint removal from masonry is a specialist job with a real risk of taking face material with the coating and of leaving ghosting that is worse than the paint. It needs its own trial area and its own decision, separate from cleaning.
A freeze is forecast within a few days. Masonry holds water long after the surface looks dry, and saturated brick that freezes can spall — the face pops off in flakes. This is the most avoidable form of cleaning damage there is.

Your options

Types of brick & masonry cleaning

Cleaning methods compared

Water, detergent, chemical and where each stops being appropriate.

Efflorescence and masonry staining

Identify what is on the wall before choosing how to remove it.

Soft washing

For growth on masonry, low pressure and chemistry is usually the route.

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Before you sign

What to check when hiring for brick & masonry cleaning

Will you clean a test panel and let it dry before we agree the method?

The single question that separates masonry cleaners from pressure washers. There is no defensible reason to refuse, and wet masonry tells you nothing.
What pressure will you use, and what would make you go higher?

You want a low number and a reluctance to raise it. Enthusiasm about pressure on a brick wall is the same warning it is anywhere else in this trade, only less reversible.
How will you judge whether my mortar can take this?

Mortar is intentionally the sacrificial part of a wall. A contractor who has not thought about the joints has only thought about half the surface.
If chemicals are used, what are they, and does the product require neutralising or a particular rinse?

Some masonry chemistry keeps acting until it is rinsed properly, and residue is a common cause of staining that appears weeks later. The answer should be specific to a product, not general.
What is your plan for water getting into the wall — vents, sills, open joints, air bricks?

On solid masonry the risk is inside, not outside. A crew that has walked the elevation looking for entry points is thinking about the building rather than the surface.
Have you cleaned masonry of this age and type before, and can I see it?

Masonry work photographs badly wet and honestly dry. Ask for a job that has been finished long enough to have dried out and weathered a little.
What might look worse after cleaning than it does now?

Cleaning reveals patched brick, mismatched repointing, previous repairs and paint ghosting that dirt was hiding. Being told in advance is the difference between a result and a shock.

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Local pros

Brick & Masonry Cleaning near you

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Related work

Often done at the same time

Soft Washing

The low-pressure method growth on masonry needs

House Washing

For clad rather than solid-masonry elevations

Driveway & Flatwork Cleaning

Where pressure is genuinely the right answer

Graffiti Removal

Paint on masonry, and why it is a different problem

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FAQ

Brick & Masonry Cleaning — questions people ask

Still have a question? Talk to our team →

Can brick be pressure washed at all?

Sound modern brick in good condition tolerates careful washing at low pressure, and a great deal of ordinary house brickwork is cleaned that way without incident. The problem is that the failure threshold is invisible from the ground and varies by unit, by joint and by age. This is why the guidance from building conservation — start gentle, test, escalate only if you must — is worth borrowing even for a modern house. The National Park Service recommends beginning at or below 100 psi on historic masonry and generally not exceeding 300 to 400 psi, which is far below the range used on concrete flatwork.

Why did my brick change colour after it was cleaned?

Several causes, and they are worth distinguishing. Removing the dirt film uniformly reveals a wall that was never uniform to begin with, so patched areas and different firing batches suddenly show. Chemical treatments can react with minerals in the brick or the mortar and leave brown, green or yellow staining that was not present before. And residue left in the pores can keep reacting after the crew has gone. All three are strong arguments for a test panel assessed dry rather than a whole elevation cleaned on assumption.

What is the white powder that keeps coming back on my brickwork?

Almost always efflorescence — soluble salts carried to the surface by water moving through the masonry, left behind as the water evaporates. The important part is what it tells you rather than how to remove it: it is evidence that water is moving through that part of the wall. Repeated cleaning treats the symptom on an annual cycle. Finding the source — a leaking gutter, a failed flashing, ground level bridging a damp course, a defective sill — is what actually ends it.

Should painted brick be stripped back?

Sometimes, and it is not a cleaning decision. Stripping paint from masonry risks pulling the fired face off with the coating, and partial removal can leave ghosting that looks worse than an even paint finish did. It needs its own trial area, its own method and its own quote. There is also a genuine case for leaving it: a sound coating on brick that has already been damaged by earlier abrasive cleaning may be protecting a wall that is now more absorbent than it was designed to be.

Is cleaning going to make my mortar joints worse?

It can, and that is by design rather than by accident — mortar is specified softer than the units so that it, rather than the brick, takes the movement and the weathering. Careful cleaning at low pressure on sound pointing does not cause a problem. Cleaning at pressure over pointing that is already sandy or recessed removes it. The sequence that avoids the argument is to inspect the joints first, repoint what needs it, allow it to cure, then clean.