Hi. I just finished a new Fireplace & Pizza Oven combination. The exterior of the Fireplace & Oven are finished with a Stone Veneer. Using the Oven the stone directly above the Oven Door is becoming discolored and or stained from the smoke escaping from the oven. What can I use to clean this area of the smoke discoloration & staining?
Welcome to the BrickWood forum!
Congratulations on finishing your project. The soot is going to be a fact of pizza oven life, but with your veneer you will want to stay on top of it.
You can try two things:
- Try a very dilute solution of Muriatic acid and water, followed by a gentle scrub and a good rinse. Wear gloves. Keep the solution off your hearth! (Cover it first.)
- Try a solution of 1 part white vinegar to 7 parts water, use it as above. You can skip the gloves, though you might still want to wear them to keep inky wet soot off your hands.
As I say, soot just comes with the territory with wood-burning appliances. One of these should work for you. Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.
+1 to placing a towel or tarp or something on the firebricks/hearth to catch any drips while you’re cleaning of the arch. This will protect your hearth and save you from cleaning the soot up twice. I found that out the hard way.
Making a paste from baking soda and water. Put it on bricks and leave for 15 minutes then wash off.
This does a good job for me and may be a better start before using the heavy duty stuff.
Hey Brian, good to see you here and thanks for the tip!
Thanks Brian. I will definitely try this out. I’m getting some hardwood next week, that should help as well
Thanks for your response. I will definitely try your two suggestions, starting with the vinegar.
Great suggestion, thanks
Leave it, it adds character to the oven IMO.
That’s true! I have exposed firebrick, not veneer, and I don’t mind the soot because it shows the oven is being used. I don’t know how I’d feel about it if I had stone.
I also have a copper plaque that I intended to mount on the chimney, but I’m sure it will get sooted up pretty quickly, so I’ve held off.
But there is a lot to be said for character!
One other trick that will help when you clean the veneer or stone. I knew that soot was going to be a factor so I sealed my stone with a sealer. I used a paver sealer. Now I clean it with vinegar solution and it cleans much easier. Over time it will get more permanent. The character of the soot on it is just fine.
Add me to the list that think it’s much better to embrace the added character than fight the inevitable…