Charring on pavers

Got a referral call, person’s neighbor had a fire in their backyard, the fire caused their deck to go on fire, charring some pavers. Did a little bit of research and found 1)there is actual chemical designed for soot and soot only (which i refuse to buy because its highly doubtful i will ever be asked to clean charring off of pavers again), 2)others have used gutter grenade and degreasers (purple power) with some luck, both of which i carry.

Has anybody had any recent experience with this? I told them id do a small test spot and go from there, and i could not guarantee the color of the pavers would remain or that they wouldnt be lightened as a result of the cleaning, or the burning for that matter…Their other option is replacing the pavers, which will be more cost prohibitive.

This is my first attempt at uploading an image, i hope it works…

Their deck was already replaced, hence the brand new lattice.

I don’t have an answer for you, but search fire or smoke and EBC keeps popping up. I would think that a degreaser would work in general. As I read on here 1000 times, do a test spot in an inconspicuous area. Try your product at different strengths and dwell times if you are testing.

There is another member here that tackled some smoke damaged soffits and gutters and lost. Someone on here is also fond of saying “walk away”.

Just try a little spot and hand scrub it. Not like you can hurt them.

In the past I’ve purchased a 16 oz. bottle of oven and grill cleaner from a big box store. Applied and scrubbed with a stiff bristled brush, then rinsed with my yellow tip to remove soot and burn marks off brick. Be careful it will remove paint also

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EBC does it!

A good degreaser should do the trick no problem. The degreaser I use for restaurant flatwork (and most other jobs, it’s good stuff) is made to clean commercial smokers and kitchens. It cuts through grease and soot like no other that I’ve used. If it were me I’d get some EBC because that’s what I’ve seen proof of working well for soot removal on here.

HCS400 for the win. Bring big fella degreaser to a big fella job. None of that box store purple power crap

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Thanks for the replies. Although im a few months late, ill finish the story. I showed up there prepared with degreasers, but it was worse than the pictures showed. There was already major color removal from a lot of the charred bricks and melted plastic all over them too. i told them not to waste their money on me even trying, and get them replaced. I thought it was a small fire next door, but it was huge. It burned up some pine trees, melted siding on the backs of two houses.