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Whenever a new friend comes over, one of the first things they say to me is that I am “so lucky” to have an exposed brick wall in my apartment. This is true, for the most part, because it’s pretty and cozy and has that classic New York vibe.
It’s not entirely true that I’m lucky, though, because it’s massive. It is about nine feet tall and 17 feet wide, which is a lot of brick to take care of. I don’t know how (and I am too scared to try) to put nails in it, so beyond the one nail leftover from a previous tenant who was braver than I am, there’s no way to hang any art, which leaves me with a ton of space to clean and deal with.
What I’ve learned in my seven years of tending to this behemoth is that just because I can’t see the dirt on the dark red bricks doesn’t mean the wall is clean. On the contrary, the porous material collects a lot of grime and must be regularly dealt with. Here’s how I clean my brick wall without damaging it.
Salt and dish soap work well (with a caveat)
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Before you start cleaning the brick with any liquid or other agent, you should give it a quick vacuuming. Little crumbles of brick and mortar, plus dust and other debris, will come right off and it’ll save you a lot of time when you get to scrubbing. I use my trusty Bissell Featherweight for this so I don’t overburden the pads on my fancier vacuum.
The first technique I like to use for brick cleaning is a paste made of plain salt and dish soap. I don’t measure it, but rather pour some dish soap into a bowl, then add salt and stir it in until it forms a thick paste. From there, I slather it evenly across the section of wall I want to clean and let it sit for about 10 minutes. If you notice that your bricks get a white film on them, that’s actually a form of salt itself, but this gritty paste is an easy way to remove it.
The paste (middle) works well for cleaning, but leaves salt in pits and holes (right), so you need to dig it out.
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson
After the mixture has sat on there a while, I take a wet rag and wipe it down. You might want to put some newspaper or plastic tarp underneath the area where you’re working, since a lot of the paste sloughs off. It’s also smart to use a bucket of water to continually wet and rinse your rag. You’re going to need it. The soap-and-salt mixture doesn’t exactly come off easily. It sudses up, spreads around, and takes about three or four passes of the rag to fully disappear.
You also need to be careful if you have pitting or gaps anywhere in the wall (like I do). The salt paste lodges in there and you’ll need to dig it out. This is definitely a time-intensive process, but it does get the bricks nice and clean.
Vinegar and water work, too
For a quicker wipe-down, equal parts vinegar and water work just fine. You can mix it in a spray bottle, spritz it on, and wipe it off, or whip it up in a bucket and dampen a rag or sponge with it. The acidity dissolves dirt and makes it come off easily, so you’ll see fast results. You still have to rinse everything down with plain water on a clean rag when you’re done because if you leave it on the brick, it can dissolve or damage it.
Ew: The vinegar technique removes a lot of dirt.
Credit: Lindsey Ellefson
Today, I added a few drops of dish soap just for some extra cleaning power. It worked great and, as I’d hoped, counteracted the stink of the vinegar a bit, but it’s not necessary. This method really pulls dirt and grime off the wall, so be prepared with a heavy-duty cloth.
This works better when you don’t want to spend a long time scrubbing an abrasive, bubbly concoction off your wall. Do this every other month or so and save the salt and soap for a twice-a-year task.