Well I’ve put in some solid time on the downstairs brick recently. I bought some wire brush attachments at the Depot for my drill and have been going at the brick with them. I haven’t touched it with any acid wash yet, but it looks like I finally have made some progress.
Before:
After:


Its getting there I guess. Scary that I have the whole upstairs wall still to do though. Hopefully I’ll track down a chemical to help aid the cleaning soon.