how do you get the inside of your fireplace clean??

Question

i am scrubbing off over 20 years of suit off of the inside of my fireplace (which is made out of brick)... it is absolutely black!!!!!!!

i have tried simple green, clorox spray, windex and hot water with dish soap, and it's coming off a little bit, but it's still very black!!

i am going to be painting my living room (including the outside of the fireplace (which is brick which has been painted white by the previous owners of the house).. but i want the inside to at least look like brick before i paint!!

any ideas??

thanks chad.. sounds good.. but i don't have my pressure washer anymore.. guess this'll be the perfect excuse to tell the husband to go buy me one!! lol

to the last guy.. what the hell are you talking about?? of course i am going to still have fires!! i just want to clean it because it will look nicer with the fresh paint on the bricks outside of it!! are you nuts?? why would i have a fireplace and never use it??? wow...

Answer 1

bricks are very pourous, i can only think of one thing to clean that mess. A pressure washer. works on the outside of a house, never done it inside:> high pressure and low volume of water.

its possible

Answer 2

I was going to suggest painting it with high-temperature paint. But, that would have been to make it all black (at least it wouldn't look like soot stains). But, If you want to restore the brick, I don't think you can without using something like a pressure washer.

But, that would be an absolute mess. Think about it. There may not be a lot of water coming out at a time, but it would add up quickly in a fireplace. One wrong move with the spray stream and you're splattering black, sooty water all over wherever the fireplace is. I just think of my house where we have wood floors leading up to the wall with the fireplace. And, there's no way I would attempt to use a pressure washer to clean it.

Answer 3

If you want a really good Cheap Cleaner, Try some laundry detergent and most importantly use Water Softener that you find in the laundry soap section at the store, it's the best degreaser around. I know of a product called RainDrops and Calgon you can use borax and ammonia in you water too. Use a 5 gal. bucket of hot soapy water and scrub the mix into the bricks and use a good shop vac to pull the soot and soap out of the bricks scrub and vac scrub and vac. Be sure to go back over everything with rinse water. You will be happy!

Answer 4

It is crystal clear that you are NEVER going to light a fire in the grate again, that being the case, paint it with Shellac paint ( ZINSSER B.I.N ) also known as stain-killer or stop- stain.
Afterwards paint with a regular paint of your choice, and carefully paint the old mortar joints with a contrasting color
Wednesday. Now that I have been told off, there is another way..........Borrow a propane torch, and burn-off the blackened brickwork, wear goggles in case of splinters..

Answer 5

You need to get a chimney sweep. In addition to sweeping the chimney (which may be enough), they can advise you as to exactly what to do in your situation. Chimneys are nothing to trust to amateur advice (that is, unless you don't mind sacrificing your house to a possibile chimney fire because something was done improperly). If you try to do something goofy yourself, your insurance company might not cover the result.

GET A PROFESSIONAL!