Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - cleaning brick from ivy tendrils...

Hi there,

We've just removed a whole lot of ivy from the front face of our house and as you can imagine it has left meters and meters of DEEPLY imbedded tendril tracks within the bricks. My question is what is the best chemical to use to get rid of it? Someone recommended that I use muriatic acid, but from what I could find, this is to be used only as a last resort. Is there anything less harmful and destructive that I can try first?

I've tried just plain powerwashing and it doesn't work. I spent a half an hour on a small patch and while it did the job it was only a small patch...very inefficient and wasteful. Any suggestions???

Muriatic will have little to no effect on vegetable matter in any concentration that will not destroy the brick. Powerwashing will cause more problems than it solves, via efflorescence. You can let the material rot for a year or so then remove it mechanically with a wire brush or you could try various proprietary cleaners. I would let it rot off, personally.

Thanks for your suggestions. A good portion of it has been left to rot for a few months now and it is hard to imagine that stuff ever rotting off completely on its own, but I guess I really have no choice. It seems like it gets more entrenched as time passes as contrary to logic as that may seem. In the meantime do you recommend any particular proprietary cleaners?