How to Care for a Brick House

Clean the brick once annually. Sometimes spraying down the brick with a hose is enough to get rid of loose dirt. However, if there are places that seem especially dirty, clean the brick with soapy water and a stiff bristle brush. Do not use a metal brush, because flecks of metal wiring can become lodged in the mortar. These flecks will eventually rust and cause discoloration.

Inspect the house once annually for water damage (mold, cracks, crumbling mortar or brick, deposits of salt). If you can, identify the source of the water problem (often rain runoff from a faulty gutter, or perhaps landscaping that may be trapping in moisture) and fix that problem.

Clean mold from the brick with a simple mixture of bleach (1 cup) and water (1 gallon) and a stiff brush. Spray down the area with water first to prevent the brick from absorbing the bleach.

Repoint damaged areas where mortar or brick is cracking and crumbling. Repointing is the process of scraping out old, damaged mortar and replacing it with fresh mortar. Repointing should be done by a professional contractor, because this process will involve testing for the right type of mortar to be used, and proper application of the mortar. If this process is done incorrectly, you could end up with a bigger moisture problem than you started with.

Remove paint with chemical treatments designed specifically to remove paint from brick. This job also should be done by a professional contractor, because if the chemicals are not properly mixed and applied, they could damage the brick.

Remove crawling plants like ivy from brick walls. Crawling plants trap in moisture and can cause damage to the facade of your brick.