Old timer in Pittsburgh taught me one trick about buttering bricks

3 comments

3 Comments

Mike's 1920s brick fireplace must have smelled like a dairy farm and a campfire had a fight to the death. That rancid butter smell is no joke, it seeps into everything. He probably could have just used a little bit of the butter on a rag to polish the bricks instead of the full Paula Deen treatment. At least the paint will cover up his fingerprint, but I bet the smell still haunts that chimney.

grace_knight192d ago

... so my buddy Mike tried that butter trick on his old fireplace and let me tell you it was a disaster. He was all excited about it after watching some video online and slathered butter all over these antique bricks in his 1920s house. Well, the butter went rancid after a few weeks and the whole room smelled like bad cheese mixed with smoke. He spent a whole weekend scrubbing with vinegar and baking soda trying to get the smell out. Last I heard he just gave up and painted over the whole thing.

olivermason2d ago

Hold up, I don't think butter was ever a real trick for fireplace bricks. That's more of a thing for cast iron pans or wooden cutting boards, not porous old brick. Mike basically just gave his fireplace a greasy coat that wasn't meant to absorb or seal right.