Brick work

Let me try this post again. The way it was written before made sound like I just bought me a pressure washer from Wal-Mart. I actually have about $50,000 tied up in equipment. So I just need to know how to use it to clean a soft face brick. I'v been doing brick work for 4 years now, 2 for someone else 2 for myself, and have never seen this type of brick. You can rub your fingers across it and actually get stuff to come off of it.Should this come off when cleaning or is it part of the look of the brick? Please help! The drought has made work hard to come by and I can't afford to turn this job down, although thats what I would normally do. I'd like to post a picture of my set-up but I don't know how.

call or e-mail
www.eacochem.com and/or www.prosoco.com

You might post the exact name of the brick so that I may give a more precise response (if I happen to know the brick). Generally, you will need to double your efforts in the prescraping process, and lower your pressure to less than 1000 psi. If mortar is not colored (ie. standard gray) then leave your acid based detergent on for a few more minutes than normal and/or a stronger solution. If there are a lot of mortar smears on the brick face, you have a lot of work ahead. I usually explain to the customer the tradeoff between the amount of mortar removed and the integrity of the brick so that he understands that he won't get a perfect job. Good luck.

If you are talking about red brick with white glaze, then you're correct - the glaze will come off (it may come off easily or not - depending on the type of brick).
The process we use would be the same/similar to what Bill described and in this case we would not wait longer than 7-10 days after the masonry work is completed to start cleaning.
We wet the surface with high volume and very low pressure (under 1000PSI) and only to rinse not blow mortar tags off.
After softening the tags we would scrape them off.
I would test any acid solutions like Vana Trol or Vana Stop in a small area as they will remove some of the glaze also. And as Bill said you may need to adjust the dwell time.
If it's a heavy white glaze the red brick will show thru when wet, but will turn white and whiter as it dries.
For smears you may want to also try a very soft brush if the dwell times fail to accomplish good results.

Have the customer buy off on the test area.

Also check with the brick supplier to see what they may recommend.

turned job down thanks for help though. When in doubt back out.