I recently helped a friend remodel their stone fireplace and I started by giving it a good cleaning. If you’re wondering how to clean fireplace stone like I was, it’s not nearly as hard as I expected! And I was shocked by how much of a difference it made to brighten it up. The process was super easy and didn’t take much.
How to Clean Fireplace Stone At Home
Fireplaces are usually the focal point in your room, so you want them to look their best. When my friend reached out about helping to remodel an old moss stone fireplace in a house he was getting ready to sell, I was admittedly intimated by the project.
I’ve never renovated a fireplace and I didn’t want to mess anything up. We weren’t totally sure how we wanted to update the fireplace, but knew we needed to start by giving it a good cleaning.
This particular fireplace had tons of natural moss and the rocks themselves were shedding dust. We could tell it hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. Looking back, the process to clean it off was incredibly easy. If I can do it, so can you!!
Tools & Materials
- Drill brush attachment
- Wire brush
- Plastic sheets to protect floors and walls
- Dust mask
- Goggles
- Optional: cleaning solutions like tsp, stone wash
- Optional: Bucket for water and a sponge/rag
Step 1: Prepare Your Space For Dust
I cannot emphasize this enough… prepare for SO MUCH DUST.
Tape off your floors, walls, and open all the windows in your room. Set a box fan in the window to help suck out the dust particles if needed. Be sure to wear a mask and goggles to protect your lungs and your eyes.
Step 2: Scrape Stones With A Wire Brush or Drill Brush
I started by scraping the extra dirty stones with a wire brush to knock as much dead moss and random debris off as possible. Next, I attached a round cleaning brush to my drill and slowly went over every single stone. Getting into as many crevices as possible, keep going over the stone until you don’t see much debris and dust coming off.
Step 3: Shopvac the Stone
Next, use a shopvac with a crevice attachment to clean up all the loose dust and debris on the stones.
Tip: Reverse your shopvac to blow air onto the stone to clean it off! I found that to be much more efficient than trying to suck it all up.
Bonus: Cleaning Solutions for Fireplace Stone
If you’re fireplace needs a deeper clean, try using a water and soap solution. This gets messy fast, so make sure you tape off your flooring to protect it from water!
Using a bucket, sponge or brush, and a spray bottle, spray down the stone with water or a cleaning solution. Wipe off with a sponge with clean water and repeat as needed. Use a smaller sponge or brush to get into deeper grooves. Continue around the fireplace until clean.
How To Clean Fireplace Stone in 3 Steps: Summary
I couldn’t believe how much difference this made before and after! It wasn’t perfect as you can tell, but it got us where we needed to be for our remodel project.
- Prepare your space for dust
- Scrape with a wire brush or drill brush
- Shopvac debris
- Bonus: use water and a cleaning solution for a deeper clean
Next up, we’re going to German Schmear the stone and give it a California Coastal upgrade. Follow along to see how it turns out!
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