How to Clean Mortar From Cultured Stone
When performing work on cultured stone or any other kind of stone, you must clean up the material immediately after you finish. Of course, you might not catch everything, and you end up noticing a bit late that there's mortar blotted on the stone. To remove mortar without damaging the stone, you must use trisodium phosphate mixed with a large quantity of water. This kind of cleaner removes the excess mortar without eating up your cultured stone's color.
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Lightly tap a chisel into the unwanted mortar with a hammer to form cracks in it. Do this only if you have a lump of mortar on your stone as opposed to a mortar stain. Sand down the mortar until it's about 2 or 3 millimeters thick. Sweep off the dust after you finish.
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Open all the windows leading out from the room you work in, if you work in the interior of your home. Always ensure a properly ventilated workplace when working with strong cleaning substances.
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Add 1/2 cup of trisodium phosphate to 2 gallons of water and mix well.
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Apply the TSP mixture directly on the mortar with a paintbrush. Use just enough of the substance to moisten the mortar.
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Scrub the mortar off with a scrubbing brush to remove it. Repeat the application if all the mortar does not come off the first time.
Warnings
- Always wear gloves and eye protection when handling trisodium phosphate. This substance burns any exposed part of your body it touches.
- Do not use muriatic acid to get mortar out of cultured stone. This only works on cast stone and eats the color out of cultured stone.
Writer Bio
Mikhail Polenin has been working with computers since 1997. His experience also expands to astrophysics, masonry, electricity and general appliance repair. He's written about various different subjects regarding astrophysics and electrical circuits for various online publications. Polenin attended the New World School of the Arts and the University of Florida.
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