 Construction Brick Cleaning and Pressure Washing
Here at Blue Sky Power Washing, we know as a surface exposed to the exterior, brick walls are vulnerable to outside elements including sun, rain, snow, mold, mildew, algae, smoke, bird droppings, sand and dust. If these are left to sit on the surface over long periods of time they will not only make such structures old and unsightly, but they will also cause material erosion. The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to remove such debris. Blue Sky hot water pressure washers are used to eliminate water stains, salt spots, mold, mildew, dirt, wasp nests, and debris left after construction (construction cleaning).
Often times when brick and concrete are involved, the rules change. Brick companies tell you to use low pressure when washing brick. They state around 500-1000 PSI should be sufficient enough and they also insist to never go over 1500 PSI. If you just blast the brick wall with 5000 PSI you will scar up the bricks and cause a lot of damage. This is the major reason why brick cleaning jobs should be left to our Blue Sky trained professionals.
Home builders are very familiar with how important it is to properly conduct post construction cleaning. A large part to pressure and softwashing depends upon how clean the bricklayers are. If they are sloppy or if they have been laid when it has been rainy, then the brick will be smeared and harder to work with. It also matters what type of mortar was used when the walls were built. There are two main types, type N and type S. In most cases type N is used for brick and type S for block. The difference is that type N has a compressive strength of 850 PSI and type S has a compressive strength of 1800 PSI. What this means is that type S does not like to come off. Blue Sky will make sure to ask an installation specialist what type of mortar was used originally.
The next concern of Blue Sky Power Washing is the type of brick. The majority of brick are easy to clean. It is when you start getting into the sand faced brick than you have problems. The sandy surface actually gives a different kind of color than the color underneath. If you use too much pressure then the sandy finish comes off and you are left with a different color, Blue Sky knows the technique of softwashing. Improper brick cleaning and pressure washing will turn red colored brick into orange-ish. Other brick can soak up lots of water and are called sponge brick. What is bad about sponge brick is that no matter how much you wet down the wall you cannot keep water on the surface. In order to get the cleaning solutions to work properly they cannot be allowed to soak into the brick, they must stay on the surface. Learning how to clean brick properly is very important otherwise you could damage it.
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