This totally worked. Remodeling my kitchen that had the chimney run through it but was covered in Plaster AND mortar. Just using water, brush and sponge was not working. Thanks for posting!
I did an experiment today by just squeezing some lemon juice on 2 of the bricks that had efflorescence, and almost immediately I could see the efflorescence disappear !! I did not even brush it in or anything. So tomorrow I go to Costco and get 98 ozs of lemon juice for $6.49. That is a lot cheaper than the $50 and $60 efflorescence removers they have for sale. And most of the reviews I've read for the expensive $60 removers says they are not all that effective either,. I am so impressed and thankful that I came across your video. Thanks!!!!!
Great tip! Just had the stone and brick replaced on my house since the builder for the previous owners chose not to put a weather ristive barrier on the house and rain permeated through the walls. Anyways this should work great to get rid of the ugly chalk like staining they left behind.
Thanks for the great tip. I did some stucco work and ended up having the white film of concrete on my bricks. I got a gallon of lemon juice, poured it on the affected areas, brushed, swept, then washed the area. Wow. Like magic.
Thank you for this video, I redid my front stairs this week and I made a mess with the mortar, I used a gallon of lemon juice and now it looks a million times better. I agree muriatic acid can be harsh, you saved the day for $10!!!
Just finished a small red brick wall. was considering using a commercial acid product, but this is something a lot cheaper and less hazardous. Thanks for the tip.
Very interesting. I’ve always used muriatic acid because it’s only $6 a gallon and I’m usually cleaning a large area. This seems useful while working inside of a finished home, cleaning a small area. I’ll have to try it. Thanks for the video
Your tip using lemon juice really helped me out with brick mortar haze clean up on my chimney. My bricks are a very rough texture, so I need to repeat the lemon juice method about 3 times, with wire brushing in between, but it works well. I didn't want to do the acid method. Thanks again.
Seems like a good job for citric acid powder. I always keep a big bag around. You can mix it to whatever strength you want and use it anywhere you’d use lemon juice or vinegar for cleaning. A bag of a few pounds is the equivalent of dozens of jugs of vinegar or similar, but much cheaper and obviously easier to store. You can also use it for cooking - it’s the same powdery stuff you find on sour skittles and gummis!
So, I tried it and while it did have some effect, it did not get rid of it even with some labor intensive scrubbing. I suspect it may work fine with a very light dusting of cement powder but it had no effect on anything even slightly heavier. Bought some muriatic acid today.
I have to do coping stones on a pool. Cost by cost, muriatic acid comes out cheaper. However, I'm not willing to etch the gunnite with muriatic acid before plaster. So, I'll be using lemon juice and sucking up the additional cost. Thanks for the tip; I've tried it on a small portion of coping and it definitely works.
Really great! Like you, I hate using muratic acid bc - while it will clean the haze, it also eats into the new mortar repairs - I love that the lemon juice is natural & safe! It's obvious you just used store-bought, pre-packaged lemon juice that comes in those little lemon-shaped containers - but it comes in larger bottles too. Thanx again!!
Thanks Sheila! Yes, I first tried it out with the smaller container. I did go back and buy the bigger ones once it was tested. Much more bang for the buck!
Thanks so much! I'm going to try this on egg stains. Some neighborhood kids egged a bunch of houses, and mine has one streaked down the side. 😞 Little farts.
Had to Do an emergency brick step repair today 50 degrees so will take a while to dry…likely be back to winter cold here in cny sunday…i got residual all over otherwise mortar would turn to soup and never set in the cold…so am I screwed? Or just need a ton of lemon juice/vinegar come spring? Prefer not to use real strong acid
I tried 24 percent vinegar because in Canada they don't sell 30 at home depots near me. Only 10. Then I tried lemon juice. Lemon juice worked a lot better for me.
mortar is a combination of sand, cement, and lime. The staining is from the lime. Lime is a base. You can clean lime stains with any acid. Just as long as it's clear since you don't want to stain it with something else. Sprite, lemon juice, seltzer, baking soda, vinegar all work to some degree. BUY whatever is cheapest.
If it bubbles it means it's lime mortar otherwise its portland so may not be effective for that but I'll try it. This isn't proper tuck pointing, but for some reason in the US you guys call it that
Yes, should work with regular lemons. Just a lot more expensive! The brick repairs still look great, so doesn’t appear to cause any unwanted after effects.
This actually works! Thanks so much for this tip! I was trying to find ways not to harm my flowers and bushes. Thank you so much, you’re amazing!
Your tips are terrific! Seriously. You saved so much time!
This totally worked. Remodeling my kitchen that had the chimney run through it but was covered in Plaster AND mortar. Just using water, brush and sponge was not working. Thanks for posting!
I did an experiment today by just squeezing some lemon juice on 2 of the bricks that had efflorescence, and almost immediately I could see the efflorescence disappear !! I did not even brush it in or anything. So tomorrow I go to Costco and get 98 ozs of lemon juice for $6.49. That is a lot cheaper than the $50 and $60 efflorescence removers they have for sale. And most of the reviews I've read for the expensive $60 removers says they are not all that effective either,. I am so impressed and thankful that I came across your video. Thanks!!!!!
Awesome, never would have thought about using it for that application. But glad it worked out!
Great tip! Just had the stone and brick replaced on my house since the builder for the previous owners chose not to put a weather ristive barrier on the house and rain permeated through the walls. Anyways this should work great to get rid of the ugly chalk like staining they left behind.
Thanks for the great tip. I did some stucco work and ended up having the white film of concrete on my bricks. I got a gallon of lemon juice, poured it on the affected areas, brushed, swept, then washed the area. Wow. Like magic.
Just tried this on June 7th and it works just great...thanks for the tip and for saving me some money.
Thank you for this video, I redid my front stairs this week and I made a mess with the mortar, I used a gallon of lemon juice and now it looks a million times better. I agree muriatic acid can be harsh, you saved the day for $10!!!
Glad it worked out for you!
Just finished a small red brick wall. was considering using a commercial acid product, but this is something a lot cheaper and less hazardous. Thanks for the tip.
Worked like a charm. Thanks.
This worked like a charm! Thank you for sharing!
I used to work with Muriatic Acid for cleaning bricks before but I was looking for an alternative Thank you.
Very interesting. I’ve always used muriatic acid because it’s only $6 a gallon and I’m usually cleaning a large area. This seems useful while working inside of a finished home, cleaning a small area. I’ll have to try it. Thanks for the video
Great idea, had one recently where I couldn't use acid as it would burn artificial grass. Wish I had thought of this then
What a superb tip .... thanks for taking the time to show us .... Chris in the UK
Your tip using lemon juice really helped me out with brick mortar haze clean up on my chimney. My bricks are a very rough texture, so I need to repeat the lemon juice method about 3 times, with wire brushing in between, but it works well. I didn't want to do the acid method. Thanks again.
Seems like a good job for citric acid powder. I always keep a big bag around. You can mix it to whatever strength you want and use it anywhere you’d use lemon juice or vinegar for cleaning. A bag of a few pounds is the equivalent of dozens of jugs of vinegar or similar, but much cheaper and obviously easier to store. You can also use it for cooking - it’s the same powdery stuff you find on sour skittles and gummis!
Excellent. Going to try it out on my sidewalk I repaired with new brick. Thanks for the tip!
So, I tried it and while it did have some effect, it did not get rid of it even with some labor intensive scrubbing. I suspect it may work fine with a very light dusting of cement powder but it had no effect on anything even slightly heavier. Bought some muriatic acid today.
Now this was the exact video I needed, didn't think of lemon juice!!! Off to the shop :) :)
I have to do coping stones on a pool. Cost by cost, muriatic acid comes out cheaper. However, I'm not willing to etch the gunnite with muriatic acid before plaster. So, I'll be using lemon juice and sucking up the additional cost. Thanks for the tip; I've tried it on a small portion of coping and it definitely works.
Glad it works Paul!
Now that worked great! Thanks
Really great! Like you, I hate using muratic acid bc - while it will clean the haze, it also eats into the new mortar repairs - I love that the lemon juice is natural & safe!
It's obvious you just used store-bought, pre-packaged lemon juice that comes in those little lemon-shaped containers - but it comes in larger bottles too.
Thanx again!!
Thanks Sheila! Yes, I first tried it out with the smaller container. I did go back and buy the bigger ones once it was tested. Much more bang for the buck!
Brilliant! I’m gonna try this
You just saved my job!!!
Thanks! nice to know there is a more natural alternative.
Thanks Steve!
Thank you so much 😊
super helpful thanks!
Thanks so much! I'm going to try this on egg stains. Some neighborhood kids egged a bunch of houses, and mine has one streaked down the side. 😞 Little farts.
Brilliant - thank you, now all I need is a dry day in Northern Ireland.
RUclips algorithm recommended this video to me. So I watched it and it helped!
Thank you
What can you use after to protect the brick from it happening again. Or is this something you have to keep doing
brick acid in the uk. it costs less than lemon juice although id imagine that it smells lovely.
Had to
Do an emergency brick step repair today 50 degrees so will take a while to dry…likely be back to winter cold here in cny sunday…i got residual all over otherwise mortar would turn to soup and never set in the cold…so am
I screwed? Or just need a ton of lemon juice/vinegar come spring? Prefer not to use real strong acid
Thank you Sir!
Great tip!
Question: are these mortar stains from lime or cement based mortar? Assume the latter, but perhaps not with the lemon juice bubbling!
Thank you for this video.
Repointing my house now. This works remarkably well. Thanks!
Correction; Found something BETTER than lemon juice. VINEGAR!....You can get 30% vinegar at HD...Works better than lemon juice...
Do you dilute the 30% vinegar with water before applying it to the bricks?
I tried 24 percent vinegar because in Canada they don't sell 30 at home depots near me. Only 10. Then I tried lemon juice. Lemon juice worked a lot better for me.
do you think this will work on mortared stone wall ?
Will this work on any formed concrete? How about blue stone?
Thank you!!!!
mortar is a combination of sand, cement, and lime. The staining is from the lime. Lime is a base. You can clean lime stains with any acid. Just as long as it's clear since you don't want to stain it with something else. Sprite, lemon juice, seltzer, baking soda, vinegar all work to some degree. BUY whatever is cheapest.
Great idea! I will try that tomorrow! Thanks for the vid!
Did it work for you?
Thanks absolutely brilliant had a water mark from water out of our combi boiler
Thanks Harry!
I'm going down to the shop and get this. This could be BIG!
Great tip! It’s a much safer acid wash! I can’t help but mention that you used the wrong mortar mix on your repointing though…
Thank you for the video
Think that will stain my roof shingles on the rinse off after cleaning up my chimney stack?
Thanks for thé tip!!!!
This was very impressive
Will this work on those white patches on red brick? I think they're hard water stains
Thx man great vid .....
Thanks Mike!
Does this work on pavers as well
great vid will have to try
Thanks Mike!
Thank you you I have hope now.
Muratic acid is fine for most brick.
Sure-Kleen is an Acid/detergent blend for masonry
interesting because soaps are basic pH
Thanks it worked
What does it look like after it dries. Wet brick hides efflorescence
Great video mate, would this lemon juice work on oil stain on a driveway ?
I believe that would be a totally different application, so I’m not sure how that would work. Worth a try though, let us know!
*Would vinegar work?*
Does vinegar work as well?
Can't believe the residue removal is that easy. I assume white vinegar will work as well?
I looked up the percentage of acid and lemon juice and it is identical to vinegar. 5%. I’m betting it will work as well. Cheers
Does vinegar work too?
How old is the staining 10 years old? Or two days?
Will those work on mortan stain?
I repointed my brickwork. Left it to dry a few days.
I tried this and it smeared the cement all over the brick.
What did I do wrong?
What about white vinegar?
If it bubbles it means it's lime mortar otherwise its portland so may not be effective for that but I'll try it. This isn't proper tuck pointing, but for some reason in the US you guys call it that
Did this work for you? My mortar stain has portland in it and is not 100% type k lime mortar so I was curious.
What about vinegar?
Would this work with actual lemons or is the juice you used more concentrated? How did the brick hold up after this type of cleaning?
Yes, should work with regular lemons. Just a lot more expensive! The brick repairs still look great, so doesn’t appear to cause any unwanted after effects.
@@danofmanytrades863 thank you so much. My parents have a lemon tree I plan on raiding when we visit for Christmas lol
@@danofmanytrades863 my bro has a lemon tree
*Guuuuud...*
I like it when he sid he'd have to get a lot of lemon juice
If that bottles not in the video, I'd say he's 100% peeing
learnup on sealing
Wow!
citric acid works well... better and cheaper if you buy the pure stuff but don't smell as good. :D
Now you just need to grow a lemon orchard to do your house.
I started this mid-video and thought you were peeing on the bricks
How old is the mortar staining??
That was recent, I had just completed some tuck pointing.
I'll try this on my Indian Sandstone
How did it work out?
Wow
Wow!!! Not surprised because lemon juice is acidic!
Not tuck pointing!
I just tried. It didn't work for me.
Is that lemon juice "from concentrate" or real lemon juice?
That was concentrate. I believe either would work though.
@@danofmanytrades863 I used concentrate, worked well. Thanks, great tip.
A total bust. I tried it on pavers. Didnt do a thing. 😢
show it DRY. ITS STILL WET
Fake.Not working
Thank you
You’re welcome!
Will this work on brick pavers?
Diedre, I haven’t tried it, but if you try it and it works, let us know!