How to remove clay and iron stains from brick walls, windows and grill doors?

Question

Hi! I was wondering if anyone knows any trick in removing clay and iron stains from light coloured brick walls and from windows and grill doors. I have badly "iron stained" walls and fence (colourbond) and "impossible to remove clay" on my windows and pavers and on my black grill doors. All this was due to my bore water initially and now it's driving me insane with my house being the only one in the area with such stains!

Would truly appreciate any advice that ppl may have. Thanks!

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

OHHHHHHHHH ! Don't you dare use muriatic acid on light colour bricks and grill doors !!!

It will acid-burn your bricks and make them a pukey yellow-greeny-yellow with a brand new kind of stain, "vanadium stain", and the rust stain will remain just the same. Muriatic acid will etch the glass, and it will definitely react with the metal on the grill doors severely corode the surface and disintegrate the metal turning it into a form of some kind of "salt". Brick manufacturers specifically advise AGAINST using muriatic acid, especially for light colour bricks, but even for normal red and dark bricks.

In the past, muriatic acid was used to dissolve cement smudges of normal red bricks....cement is basically limestone powder that was heated to 3000 degrees F to make it reactive and harden when mixed with water...and you know calcium or lime(stone) dissolves profusely in acid, but clay is not limestone or calcium, clay is microscopic quartz-type / silicate sand, and acid won't do as much at dissolving it, just etch or irritate it.

Some positive solutions which you could use safely,
Klenztone, non-corrosive and environmentally safe (www.klenztone.com)
or
Marble Poultice from a marble shop, to gently scrub away the clay from the glass, and maybe even from the grill doors,
and Vanatrol to remove the metalic stain from the brick without causing additional metalic staining or without "acid-burn". (www.prosoco.com)

Answer 2

Muratic Acid this is some powerfull stuff mostly bought at hardware stores it is specifically used for cleaning bricks were a mask and gloves and dont get it on ure skin it will suck this will deffinantly do the trick just apply let it sit for 5-10 minutes and scrub like crazzy