LESLIE: Now we’re going to chat with Joan. You’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
JOAN: Hi. Yes, I have a question for you both, Tom and Leslie.
TOM: OK.
JOAN: My situation is I have an older brick house built in 1932 and the back portion of the house – the foundation, going up about four feet – is either concrete or marble. In one section, that which is facing southwest, it has darkened – becoming a gray to a dark gray – while the rest of it is kind of a pearly white.
TOM: OK.
JOAN: And I’m wondering if you could suggest some way I could clean it without damaging it.
TOM: Have you tried pressure washing?
JOAN: No. I was just concerned that might loosen the grout between the blocks.
TOM: Well, you’ve got to do it very carefully. What I would do is I would apply a mildicide and let it sit – you can use a bleach-and-water solution – and then I would …
LESLIE: Which like works instantaneously. It’s really so satisfying.
TOM: Yeah, and then I would follow up with a pressure washer and I would use the wide, gentle setting and just work it very …
LESLIE: And back away from it.
TOM: Work it very slowly and see if you can brighten it up. Typically, all of that concrete – most of that is just moss and mildew and algae that grows in there and dirt that gets in from over the years and when you do pressure wash it actually gets pretty bright pretty quickly.
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