How to Clean Brick Flooring For Home – TheFlooringlady

Brick flooring has been used for centuries in homes, in offices, as sidewalks and streets, and for buildings. The demand for the look of brick flooring is enough that brick pattern laminate flooring was created for people who wanted the look without having the rough texture and challenge of cleaning actual brick flooring.

Why is Brick Flooring Widely Preferred?

Bricks can create almost any look in your home, from casually elegant to practical and welcoming. Brick floors are easy to care for and exceptionally durable. Since you can lay brick in any number of patterns, you can create a high-design, one of a kind look for your home. A lot of people opt for brick flooring these days due to the multiple possibilities it brings to the table.

Advantages of Brick Flooring

Brick flooring consists of thin tiles (usually 1/2″ and 15/16″ in thickness) that are applied to floors with mortar or other adhesive. The result is a warm-hued and natural floor that can last for many years. Some of the greatest advantages of brick flooring include:

  • Fade-Resistant: As you can tell by driving through any town in any state, bricks maintain their beauty in the face of sun exposure. Brick homes and buildings do not fade in the sun, and neither will your brick floors.
  • Fire-Retardant: Brick is a natural flooring option that, like stone, is fire retardant. This makes brick flooring a great choice for homes, especially in the kitchen. If the idea of a home fire worries you, consider brick flooring to alleviate some of that worry.
  • Durability: Brick resists wear and tear much better for much longer than most flooring options; certainly much longer than options like hardwoods or carpeting. Roads have been paved with bricks, monuments have been built with bricks, and if you choose brick flooring for your home, you will find it will last for decades or longer.
  • The Feel: Not only does brick flooring provide an anti-slip surface, but brick stays cool in warmer weather and holds in heat in colder weather. While bricks themselves are rough, interior brick floors are sealed and therefore much smoother than what you may imagine. While incredibly durable, brick floors actually have a surprisingly soft feel underfoot.
  • The Look: This is, of course, the greatest advantage to brick flooring. The beautiful, rustic textures and warm coloring of the floors make brick a homey choice that can range from elegant to rough-hewn. While brick floors are inexpensive, they still manage to exude a special kind of sophistication and vintage appeal that make brick flooring a really special choice for the home.

Challenges in Choosing Interior Brick Flooring

There are, of course, challenges to using interior brick flooring. Some of the most significant of these challenges include:

  • Installation: While installing brick flooring is possible for anyone, it really is recommended that you find a professional who has experience installing interior brick floors, which can be more of a challenge in some areas or if your budget does not allow for hiring a professional.
  • Maintenance: While cleaning and maintaining brick floors is not necessarily more difficult than with any other flooring option, it does require special considerations, especially when selecting cleaning solutions or when dealing with repairs.
  • Uneven Surface: If installed incorrectly or on an uneven or not solid foundation, brick floors can become uneven.
  • Rough Texture: While interior brick floors are typically sealed, making them significantly smoother, unsealed brick can be rough, especially at any edges.

All You Need to Know About Interior Brick Flooring

Interior brick flooring is made by combining finely ground clays, shale and raw materials to produce hard surfaces. The materials are pressed, cut, and fired in a kiln at high temperatures. The result is thin brick flooring tiles that have the durability and beauty of brick and the convenience of tile flooring. Most manufacturers will apply a sealant or a chemical mixture after firing to seal the porous brick surface to make cleaning easier. Most brick floors will have to be resealed after installation to ensure they are easy to clean.

One will note that there is a huge importance placed on the ability to clean the brick flooring post installation. This can especially be noted in the case of brick pattern laminate flooring, where the challenge of cleaning brick flooring is adequately addressed. Laminate flooring suppliers, such as  Lumber Liquidators, offer laminate flooring in a wide range of styles and colors, mimicking all types of traditional flooring but offering the ease of cleaning and maintenance in tandem with the low price that has come to make laminate such a popular choice for homeowners.

A brick flooring interior can be not only attractive but also quite durable. Brick floors vary widely in hardness, depending on the actual combinations of materials that go into their production. Brick floor tiles that have been made from poorer-quality or coarser-ground materials are more porous, softer, and more likely to chip and crack. Higher-quality brick tiles have a hardness comparable to some ceramic tiles, especially when sealed or treated. In general, customers can often find brick tile floors with a Measurement of Hardness (MOH) rating that is 5 or 6.

Installing Brick Flooring

Installing exterior brick flooring is not such a difficult task in theory. With a bit of practice, one can lay brick flooring without any professional help. However, when laying interior brick or laying pavers in a congested space, or if you have to remove existing flooring prior to laying the brick, it is recommended that you seek expert help. Hiring a professional is the best way to head off any potential trouble, which can save you a lot of headache in the future.

Interior brick floors can be both challenging and time-consuming to install. While the determined and patient do-it-yourselfer can install interior brick floors, most customers are generally better off reserving the project for professionals. Generally, it is advised to seal the interior brick flooring after installation. Without a sealant, interior brick flooring may be more prone to chipping and harder to clean than other types of flooring. But installing and sealing brick flooring uses lots of chemicals. Consequently, you should hire the work out and arrange to be gone until the floors are completely finished and the house has been well-ventilated.

Alternate Brick Flooring Options: Brick Laminate and Brick Vinyl Tiles

Brick floors have been trusted throughout history as practical and durable flooring options. Bricks are in fact considered humanity’s oldest manufactured building material. They have been used since 1330 BC for walls, roads, monuments, floors, and other crucial building projects. When you make the choice to use brick flooring, you are choosing a truly historical and well-established option for your home. As the vintage and classic style has made a resurgence in popularity these days, more people are lead to install brick flooring in their homes.

Brick floors can sometimes be rough and uneven, however. To avoid this, some customers select brick pattern laminate or vinyl flooring. Brick vinyl flooring provides a smooth and durable surface, while still retaining the beauty of natural brick.

Additionally, installing laminate or vinyl flooring tiles is a comparatively simple practice that can be tackled by any DIY-er with a little patience and preparation. While quality laminate and vinyl options mimic beautifully the look of brick flooring, it is impossible for anything to really compare with the feel of brick, so if this is part of the draw for you, laminate and vinyl options really will not be able to compete with the real thing.

Choosing Interior Brick Flooring

Despite the few disadvantages, indoor brick flooring is still a good choice. Thin, high quality brick flooring makes for a beautiful and lasting floor for almost any room of the house. Cleaning brick flooring is generally quite simple, as most brick floors are treated and glazed. To clean these floors, a mop or broom is all that is needed. Brick floors can also be vacuumed.

If you are determined to do-it-yourself for your brick flooring installation, it is possible with a little perseverance and determination. Try practicing on a smaller scale before attempting your actual home project. Check out the short video below on brick flooring installation for a quick overview of the process. Fortunately, the materials used for brick flooring are typically inexpensive enough that you can afford to adequately practice beforehand. However, repairing or correcting flooring that has been done poorly can become more expensive, so it is worth taking the time to be sure the initial installation is done properly.

By far the best advantage of brick floors, though, is their elegant durability. Bricks have been used on roads and have been used to create buildings. If brick can make long-lasting roads and buildings, you know they will stand up to years of foot traffic in your home. If you are on a tight budget and want a flooring that is durable and long lasting, then look no further than brick flooring.

If you have always wanted a unique, rustic flooring option, brick flooring is a great choice. The fire-proof and fade-proof brick floor is perfect for adding years of beauty to your home, while increasing its value too.

138 thoughts on “How to Clean Brick Flooring For Home – TheFlooringlady”

  1. I have been using Quick Shine on brick floors for a long time to give them a beautiful shine. My problem is that the last time I used the Quick Shine, I got distracted after squirking a long stream on the brick floor. When I mopped the floor, I was left with discoloration on the brick where the Quick Shine was squirked. I tried using hot water, didn’t work. I tried using more Quick Shine, didn’t work. When the floor dried, I am left with lines of spots that look like the brick was bleached. Help!!!!
    Is there anything I can do to get these wax spots up? If these are spots!!! If the Quick Shine did “bleach” the bricks, what can I do?

    Reply
  2. my brick floors previously had a water base polyurethane finish but were flooded during Katrina. Since then I have stripped them and sealed them with a high gloss sealer. I then put a product on top which was supposed to give a higher glaze but it has problems. It lets the dirt get into it so that it can only be cleaned by stripping again. I want to use polyurethane again but was told not to use it on brick floors.
    Can you advise me? I was happy with my previous polyurethane but it gave off an extreme but that was while the house was under construction and I don’t think we could live in it while it cured. It was used for industrial purposes. Can you suggest something by brand name?

    Reply
  3. Hi Barbara,
    I haven’t run into this situation before, so I’m not sure. I would suggest getting a hold of the good folks at AquaMix — they have a toll free number posted on their website and see if their sealers would work for this sort of an application. I’ll bet you’re going to be advised to use grout by either removing the sand first (shop-vac), or over the sand. Their are grouts that will give a sandy appearanc3e, by the way.

    Reply
  4. I’m thinking of installing a brick floor.My thought was to first seal the brick before laying them. I want to layer the brick dry in another area butting all the brick together so as not to allow the sealant to go to the sides or the bottom of the brick, then apply sealant with a garden sprayer. I figure this way when grouting, if some mortar got on the edge of the brick, it wouldn’t adhere because of the sealant. After completion, I’d apply another coat to seal the grout. Does this make sense?

    Reply
  5. Just moved into an older home where brick flooring was installed in kitchen and den. To achieve the look they wanted, they painted over the brick and the mortar. I don’t think the mortar was sealed because there are places on the mortar where is is chipped, exposing the bare mortar underneath which is now black with dirt. The floor desparately needs to be cleaned, but don’t know how – should it be steamed cleaned, or would that cause problem with the painted mortar?

    Reply
  6. Wow. It’s hard to say – you’d almost have to test a little of the area. Really, what I would recommend is a product such as StainSolver or Enviro-One. I’ve used both of them for dirty concrete and they both work great. You might have to literally get down on your hands and knees with a scrub brush to clean it, but at least I know you won’t damage it. Good luck!

    Reply
  7. We are just laying our brick tiles and during construction they are now dingy, dusty, and blah looking. We haven’t sealed them yet and the grout isn’t down. How in the world do we get them clean? Do we just need to wait until the grout is down to do anything?

    Reply
  8. Hi Kristi,
    Why are they dirty if you’re just now laying them? What kind of dirt do you think is in them? Are they being laid inside the house or outside? You should get them clean first (see the link in the post above yours) or you might even want to consider something from the AquaMix product line if you need something stronger. Be sure to seal your brick before grouting or you’re really going to have a tough time getting any excess grout and haze off of your brick before the final step of sealing after you grout.

    Reply
  9. I tried AquaMix on my brick floors, it didn’t seal well. At least not to my stanadards. Then I put Euclid a concrete sealer down and my great dane just wore it off. Then I applied a polyurethane oil based sealer over it. It blistered in places and now my brick floors looks like it has leporasy. Any suggestions.

    Reply
  10. Hi Donna,
    It sounds like your initial problem was most likely not using enough coats of the AquaMix. Brick is very porous and sometimes takes 4 or 5 coats to seal well. Chances are, both the AquaMix & Euclid were water based sealers and when you put on an oil-based poly that got you into trouble. You cant use water & oil based products together – they don’t react with each other well. Your only hope at this point is to strip the floor and start over.

    Reply
  11. We have just laid the brick and have started to grout. We did preseal with a penetrating sealer to help with final cleanup. But I am using a grout bag to help get in the cracks without smearing the grout all over every inch of the bricks. I started to use my finger to smooth the the grout in, and it looks really good. But my finger is taking a beating! Is there a tool made for this job? Any suggestions?

    Reply
  12. I have brick flooring in my foyer, kitchen and bathrooms. I don’t think they were sealed very well, now my puppy has picked at a piece and I now have a hole about the size of a nickel, how can this be repaired without damaging the floor further? and does a floor steamer work well on brick for sanatizing with dogs in the house?

    Reply
  13. Hi Kathleen,
    I know this is going to sound wierd, but I’ve done this before using one of those little souvenier spoons. If you have a truck stop near you, they should have them.
    I wouldn’t be suprised if there’s a tool made for this job, but I’ve never found the need to search and buy one.

    Reply
  14. I don’t think that a steamer on the “raw” bricks/stone is going to be a very good idea.
    I use a vinegar/water mixture to clean my floors, roughly about 1 part vinegar to 15 parts water, but I think a 1:10 ratio would be better for the
    sanitizing issue. Enviro-One or something along that line would be good too.
    Fixing the ‘spot’ is another issue. Maybe some red sanded caulk would be good. I don’t know how well that would seal though.
    Maybe disguising it with red color/paint/stain before sealing
    it is the way to go. If it’s in a corner or at the edge of
    the room it could be disguised, but life being what it is,
    the hole is probably right in the middle of the room and
    neither furniture nor rug will be able to hide it. I do hope that’s not the case. Hopefully some of these ideas have helped.

    Reply
  15. I have brick floors in my kitchen and I can’t get them cleaned. I have dogs, kids, they are so dirty looking. We have them professionally cleaned and sealed in June of 07, but they are so hard to clean. They are very rough and tear up any mop I try to use! Any advice???

    Reply
  16. Hi Kim,
    What do you use to clean your floors and maintain them? Do you think that it needs to be re-sealed? Does water still bead in the high-traffic areas? If it’s still sealed properly it should. A microfiber mop might work better for cleaning than a sponge mop. I only use a weak vinegar & water solution for cleaning floors (1 part vinegar to 15 parts water or more). The biggest thing is to keep the rinse water as clean as possible so that you’re not just depositing dirt back onto your floor.
    I’m hoping that the person you hired to clean and seal your floor did a really good job so that this wouldn’t have to be done again for a few years. I’m guessing that this isn’t the case though and he wants yearly repeat business. Next time you might want to consider doing it yourself, even though it’s a big job. At least you’ll be able to control how much product is used (in other words, more coats of sealer so it lasts longer!). You might want to look at AquaMix to familiarize yourself with the different types of products available on the market for taking care of brick floors.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.