Smoke Stains on Brick Fireplaces

LAVERNE: Well, I have a brick fireplace and I’m going to be replacing the mantle thing. And of course, where the mantle is now is going to be clean and the rest of it has smoke signs on it and I need to know how to clean that smoke off.

TOM: Well, the best product to probably use for that is something called TSP.

LAVERNE: OK.

TOM: Stands for trisodium phosphate. It’s a powder that’s available usually in the paint aisle of a hardware store or a home center. And you mix it up and it gets pretty soapy and you want to brush that on with like a floor brush – sort of work it in; and then rinse it very well and that ought to take the smoke stain out of that.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm, and if you’re finding that it’s being a little bit stubborn, you can mix it up so it’s a little bit more thick in consistency and then sort of put it on. Because the smoke tends to be really greasy, so the TSP works very well as a degreaser.

LAVERNE: Alright.

TOM: Yeah, just let it sit. Let it sit there for a while if you’re having a hard time getting it off. It’s also very good for pulling like oil stains out of driveways and we usually say to make a paste of it and let it sit on the driveway for a while. So the same approach applies if you have a really difficult smoke stain. OK, Laverne?

LAVERNE: Alright, thank you very much.

TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.