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When I was converting our farmhouse鈥檚 loft into new bedrooms, I had to decide what to do with two large brick chimney breasts. For at least 150 years they had lived in the gloom, neglected. Half covered with irregular lumps of lime mortar, they were considered functional, not glamorous. 

The builders never expected them to be put on display.

Now, however, I wanted to make them into features with the bricks bringing a splash of colour to the otherwise monochrome surfaces of stones, mortar and plaster.

As I explained last month, the first job with antique brickwork is to make sure the bricks are solid and secure before starting to clean them. 

Generally, this does not apply to interior brickwork, but I did have to remove all that excess, congealed mortar with a heavy hammer and chisel so that I could see every individual component properly.

Read more: Tips and tricks for cleaning old French brickwork

Bricks can absorb moisture

Bricks, you can be sure, are tough old things, but that does not mean they should be treated roughly. It is worth understanding at least one thing about them. 

Although they could not be more solid, they can and do absorb moisture. If you notice signs of damp in a wall (either rising or descending from a leak in the roof), you should deal with the source of the problem before you do anything else. 

The golden rule in cleaning bricks is to be as gentle as you can. Use the softest cleaning techniques first before you reach for strong, industrial acids and other caustic substances. Power washers and compressed air should only be used as last resorts 鈥� preferably not at all.

Start dry so you do not introduce unnecessary liquid. The main reason I say this is that a chief cause of discoloration is efflorescence (the same word in French), whereby moisture dissolves the mineral salts in the brick and draws a white powdery deposit to the surface, making it look paler than it otherwise would. 

Sometimes the efflorescence can be brushed off; sometimes you just have to accept it as the brick showing its age.

Read more: French property market picks up with rural homes still leading way

Brushing your brickwork

The other reason I recommend dry cleaning is that you will see better what you are going to end up with: bricks do not look the same when wet as they do when they are dry.

So, staying dry, use a stiff brush to begin with and see how far you can get. You may also need a scraper and wire brush to get rid of any last bits of mortar or splashes of paint. If someone has added to your problems with careless splashes of cement (as opposed to lime) the judicious use of diluted hydrochloric acid can remove such stains.

Only when you have done as much dry work as you can is it time to reach for a spray bottle loaded with soapy water, to be applied with a scrubbing brush and kitchen scouring pad.

My two smartened-up chimney breasts remain in the state that I left them. In the years since doing them I have often wondered whether there would not be a way to improve on the subdued colours of the 鈥渘atural鈥� brick. 

I meant to experiment with products one day to enhance them, but you know what it鈥檚 like: there have always been so many other priorities to get on with. 

Writing this, however, has reminded me to go back to those bricks with a paint brush and a tin of something to see if I can raise their profile. I will tell you what I have discovered in a future article.