Brick floors give a home a warm, rustic character, but that textured surface is a magnet for dust and grime. If you don’t stay on top of maintenance, dirt can get ground into the surface like sandpaper.
This abrasion damages the seal and eventually degrades the brick itself. Fortunately, cleaning brick isn’t complicated if you have the right tools.
We have compiled a straightforward guide to help you deep clean, remove stains, and seal your brick flooring so it lasts for decades.
Key Takeaways
- Vacuum or sweep daily to prevent grit from wearing down the sealant and mortar.
- Mop weekly with a mild alkaline solution like borax or baking soda; avoid harsh acids.
- Use a steam cleaner for deep cleaning grout lines without chemicals.
- Reseal when water stops beading on the surface, roughly every 2 to 5 years depending on the sealer type and foot traffic.
Brick floors offer a rustic, durable aesthetic that hides traffic wear well. However, the porous nature of brick means it holds onto fluids and odors if not properly maintained. The cleaning method changes depending on whether your bricks are sealed or unsealed. Sealed brick beads water and repels most spills, so you can mop with a little more moisture and cleanup stays quick. Unsealed brick drinks in whatever lands on it, so keep the mop barely damp, work gently, and wipe up spills fast before they soak in and stain.
Vacuuming or Sweeping Brick Floors
You need to vacuum or sweep brick floors daily. Grit acts as an abrasive that scratches the finish, while the low-lying mortar joints act as traps for pet hair and crumbs.
Use a regular broom with angled bristles to flick dirt out of the crevices. If you prefer vacuuming, select a vacuum set for hard floors.
Ensure you turn off the beater bar (the rotating brush). Beater bars can chip the sealant or scratch softer brick varieties. A soft brush attachment is the safest bet for sucking up fine dust without causing damage.
How to Mop Brick Floors
Once the loose debris is gone, it is time to wash the surface. Mopping brick requires a little more water than hardwood but less than tile.
- Time: 20 minutes
- Difficulty: Easy
What You’ll Need
Gather these supplies before you start:
- Mild alkaline cleaner (commercial or homemade)
- Bucket
- Warm water
- Spin mop or microfiber mop
- Stiff nylon brush (for grout)
- Old towels
1. Choose Your Cleaning Solution
Brick is often clay-based and held together by cement mortar, so you must be careful with harsh chemicals. A mild alkaline cleaner is usually best. Commercial options like Better Life are effective because they break down grease without eating away at the sealer.
If you prefer DIY solutions, try these recipes:
- Borax: Dissolve two tablespoons of borax in one gallon of warm water. This is excellent for cutting through grease on kitchen brick floors.
- Baking soda: Mix two tablespoons of baking soda into a gallon of water. Baking soda acts as a gentle abrasive that helps lift dirt from the texture.
- Vinegar (Use with Caution): A mixture of half a cup of vinegar per gallon of water disinfects and shines. However, vinegar is acidic. Over time, it can dull certain sealants or etch cement-based grout. Use this sparingly and rinse well.
2. Mop the Floor
Dip your mop into the bucket and wring it out until it is damp, not dripping. A spin mop is ideal here because it controls moisture levels perfectly.
Move the mop in specific sections rather than large sweeps. You want to push the fibers into the rough texture and down into the grout lines.
Avoid sponge mops. The rough surface of the brick will shred a sponge in minutes. A mop with microfiber strings is durable enough to handle the friction. For stubborn spots, use your nylon brush to scrub the area manually.
Quick Tip
3. Dry the Floor
Brick is porous, so you do not want water sitting on it for long periods. Use old towels to hand-dry the floor. This step matters for removing any residual dirt suspended in the water, and it prevents water spots or a white haze from forming as the floor dries.
Cleaning Brick Floors With a Steam Cleaner
If your brick floors are heavily soiled, standard mopping might not cut it. Steam cleaners blast hot vapor deep into the pores of the brick.
The heat emulsifies grease and kills bacteria without using any chemical cleaners. This is arguably the best method for reviving old, dirty grout lines. It also pulls out stale odors that might have absorbed into the floor over the years.
Always vacuum thoroughly before steaming. When you are done, wipe the floor with a towel to pick up the moisture and lifted dirt.
Why Is My Brick Floor Dusty?
New homeowners often panic when their brick floors seem to generate dust constantly. This is usually caused by one of two things.
First, unsealed brick naturally sheds tiny particles of clay and mortar as you walk on it. If the sealer has worn off, you will notice a fine red or grey dust accumulating.
Second, if the floor is new, it could be efflorescence. That is a white to grey powdery bloom of crystalline salts, left behind when moisture moves up through the brick and evaporates at the surface. It can also follow the muriatic acid wash used during installation.
The instinct is to wash it away, but water is the wrong tool. Rinsing redissolves the salts and draws even more of them to the surface, and a pressure washer pushes them deeper, so the bloom returns worse once the floor dries. Instead, wait for a warm, dry spell, brush the crystals off with a dry stiff brush, then vacuum them up.
Efflorescence is really a moisture signal, so track down and fix the damp source, whether that is a leak, a damp subfloor, or high ground moisture, rather than only cleaning the surface. Do not seal over an active bloom either. Sealing traps the moisture underneath and can cloud or lift the finish, so let the brick fully dry and stop blooming before you apply any sealer.
Dealing With the Grout
The grout is the weak point of any brick floor. It is lower than the brick, so dirt settles there, and it is highly absorbent.
If your grout is stained, make a paste of baking soda and water. Apply it to the lines and let it sit for 10 minutes. Scrub it with a stiff toothbrush or grout brush, then wipe it clean.
For maintenance, you should seal the grout lines annually. This prevents oil and dark liquids from soaking in permanently.
Cleaning Outdoor Bricks
Outdoor brick patios face harsher conditions than indoor floors. Algae, moss, and mud are common issues.
For outdoor cleaning, you can use a stronger cleaner, such as a sulfate-based cleaner or a dedicated outdoor moss remover. Always wet the bricks with plain water before applying chemicals to prevent them from soaking in too deeply.
A pressure washer is the most efficient tool for outdoor brick, but the settings matter. Use a wide fan nozzle (25 or 40 degrees) and never the zero-degree needle tip, which can carve grooves straight into the mortar. Keep the wand 12 to 18 inches from the surface and stay in the 500 to 1500 PSI range. Push it higher and you risk blasting the mortar right out of the joints, especially on older brick.
Does Brick Floor Need to Be Sealed?
Yes, practically all indoor brick flooring requires sealing. Without it, the floor feels gritty, stains instantly, and is impossible to keep clean.
There are two main types of sealers:
- Penetrating Sealers: These soak into the brick and dry with a natural, matte finish. They offer invisible protection against water and oil but do not change the look or texture of the floor.
- Film-Forming Sealers: These create a coating on top of the brick (like polyurethane or wax). They often provide a “wet look” or glossy finish. This makes the floor much easier to mop because it smooths out the rough texture.
Decide Carefully
How often you reseal depends on the sealer and the traffic. A penetrating sealer usually needs a light top-up about once a year, while an acrylic or polyurethane film coat lasts longer but has to be scuffed and recoated roughly every one to two years once it starts to wear. A simple water-drop test tells you when. Splash a little water on the brick, and if it soaks in and darkens instead of beading, the seal is due.
Before sealing, the floor must be 100% clean and dry. Trapping moisture under a sealer can cause it to turn cloudy or peel.
FAQs
Keeping Brick Floors Clean
Most brick floor problems trace back to two things: grit and moisture. Grit gets walked into the surface and sands away the sealer, so a daily sweep or a beater-bar-off vacuum pass does more for the floor than any deep clean. Moisture is what feeds efflorescence and dulls the finish, so keep the mop damp rather than wet and dry the floor by hand when you are done.
Stick to mild alkaline cleaners, borax or baking soda, and keep the vinegar occasional. Run the water-drop test every so often, and reseal as soon as the water soaks in instead of beading. Do that and the floor stays easy to clean for years.
