Who doesn't love a warm, cozy fire? But the maintenance and clean-up that goes with hit? Not so much. And while chimney cleaning needs to be contracted out to certified professional (more on that ...

"White scum," or a more common condition known as efflorescence, is responsible for the whiteish staining seen on brick walls. White scum is a condition that surfaces if brick is cleaned too early ...

Q: A while back you had a column about what to do if inside or around your fireplace shows a lot of whiteness. My brickwork shows white; there is crud inside both upstairs and downstairs fireplaces.

Efflorescence is not a rock band. That’s Evanescence. Efflorescence is the white, chalky substance that appears on concrete, pavers, brick, and stucco. It is residue that is left behind when hard, ...

Those chalky white stains on your bricks could signal a big problem. It could be paint oxidizing and washing down off window trim and siding. If so, no cause for alarm. It’s just unsightly. Or it ...

Brick fireplaces may be cozy and charming, but they also blacken easily. Smoke and ash penetrate the brick during every fire and leave behind dark stains. Cleaning brick can be very challenging ...

If your brick needs a glow-up, there are lots of things you can do besides painting it white. In addition to being a run-of-the-mill choice, painting brick can cause structural damage to your home if ...

Whenever a new friend comes over, one of the first things they say to me is that I am "so lucky" to have an exposed brick wall in my apartment. This is true, for the most part, because it's pretty and ...