Melbourne & Victoria
Brick cleaning is what Vastex is built around. We clean new brickwork for Melbourne builders and developers ahead of handover, and we restore aged, stained and painted brick on renovations and heritage facades. Every job is quoted on the actual substrate — not a per-metre guess made over the phone.
Drawn to specification — site photography scheduled. Not presented as a Vastex job.
01 — What we remove
Each one has a different cause and a different fix. Getting the diagnosis wrong is how walls get burned.
01 — New build
The grey film left across the face when mortar is struck and sponged. It is cement, not dirt, so water alone will not shift it once it has carbonated.
Method · Buffered acid, pre-soak, neutralising rinse
02 — New build
Hardened blobs squeezed out of the perpends and left on the face. Chipping them off cold takes the arris of the brick with them.
Method · Softened chemically, lifted by hand
03 — Salt
White bloom where salts migrate out of the wall as it dries. Common on new brickwork through the first winter and often mistaken for a cleaning failure.
Method · Dry brush, acid-free salt treatment, rinse
04 — Biological
Green and black growth on shaded and south-facing elevations. Pressure alone removes the top and leaves the root structure to come back in a season.
Method · Soft wash, dwell, low-pressure rinse
05 — Coating
Paint applied over face brick, usually decades ago. Brick is porous, so the film is in the wall, not on it — and removal is slow work, not a pressure job.
Method · Poultice or peel system, staged
06 — Urban
The dark deposit on street-facing brickwork from exhaust and diesel soot. Uneven, so a partial clean is worse than none at all.
Method · Whole-elevation soft wash, no spot cleaning
02 — The method
We look at the brick type, the mortar, the extent of the residue, access and height, and what needs protecting. On construction sites we confirm your program dates and induction requirements.
A small area is cleaned so you can approve the finish. The method, concentration and pressure get locked in against that result.
Windows, frames, doors, fixtures, landscaping and any finished trades are covered. Water capture is set up where the site requires it.
The wall is saturated with clean water so the cleaning solution works on the surface rather than drawing into the brick.
Solution applied top-down in controlled sections, given its dwell time, and agitated by hand where a stain needs it.
A full pressure rinse at a pressure matched to the substrate, working top to bottom so nothing runs back over cleaned work.
We walk the job with you or your site supervisor, deal with anything missed, and leave the area clear.
03 — Damage
A brick wall is a fifty-year finish. Undo it and there is no touch-up — the elevation gets rendered, painted or rebuilt. These are the failures we are called in to assess, and none of them are cheap to reverse.
Acid too strong or left too long. The surface of the brick is etched away, exposing the coarse body underneath. It reads as a permanent lightened patch and cannot be put back.
Pressure driven into the perpends until mortar is washed out. Beyond looking wrong, it opens a water path into the cavity, which becomes a damp problem inside the building.
Overlapping passes with a narrow jet, leaving a permanent zebra pattern across the elevation. Visible in raking light from that day on, and only fixable by cleaning the whole face harder.
Chemical applied to a dry wall, drawn deep into the brick, then rinsed only at the surface. It reappears as a brown or yellow bloom weeks later, usually after handover.
04 — Indicative rates
Rates per square metre of elevation, ex GST, for work over 150 m². Access, height, water supply and the state of the wall move these — which is why we attend before we quote.
| Scope | Includes | From |
|---|---|---|
| New build handover clean | Mortar haze and snots, full elevation, wet and dry inspection | $9 – $14 / m² |
| Efflorescence treatment | Dry brush, acid-free salt treatment, rinse, 12-month position | $11 – $16 / m² |
| Facade wash, low level | Soft wash to 2 storeys off ladder or scaffold, biological growth | $7 – $12 / m² |
| Facade wash, EWP access | Above 2 storeys, EWP hire, spotter, traffic management if required | $14 – $24 / m² |
| Overpaint removal | Poultice or peel system, staged, waste capture and disposal | $45 – $95 / m² |
Indicative only, for comparison. Not an offer. Minimum call-out applies under 150 m².
05 — Brick Cleaning FAQ
It depends on the substrate, the type of residue, access and height rather than floor area alone. A straightforward new-build clean at ground level sits at the lower end; multi-storey facade work, heavy staining, restoration cleans and anything needing scaffold or an EWP sit higher. We quote on site or from photos and dimensions, and the price we quote is the price you pay.
Generally two to four weeks. The mortar needs to have cured properly before acid touches it — clean too early and you soften green joints and risk pulling sand out of them. Clean far too late and the residue has hardened and weathered on, which makes it slower and more aggressive to remove. We are happy to work backwards from your handover date.
Not when it is done correctly: pre-soaked wall, correct dilution, controlled dwell, and a rinse pressure matched to the brick. Damage comes from dry application, over-strength mixes and excessive pressure. Where a brick or stone is not suited to acid at all, we will tell you and use a non-acid method instead.
Efflorescence is soluble salt inside the brick and mortar being carried to the surface by moisture, where it dries as a white powdery bloom. We can remove what is on the surface, but it will keep returning until the moisture source is dealt with — usually poor drainage, a failed damp course, or simply a new wall still drying out. New brickwork often stops on its own within the first year.
Yes. Most of our work is on live sites. We are inducted, insured, carry SWMS, and schedule around other trades so the clean lands where it belongs in your program rather than holding it up.
Usually, yes. Paint removal from brick is a different process to a standard clean — it uses a poultice or chemical stripper, needs longer dwell times, and often takes more than one pass. It is quoted separately after we see the paint system and how many coats are on the wall.
Related services
Concrete, pavers, walls, car parks and hard surfaces cleaned at the right pressure for the material — not simply the highest available.
Facades, shopfronts, car parks, warehouses and strata buildings — scheduled around trading hours with full compliance documentation.
Free, takes about twenty minutes, and you see the finish on your own wall before there is a price on the table.
Or call (03) 9000 0000 · Monday – Friday, 7:00am – 5:00pm
info@vastexcleaning.com.au