After nearly 100 years of hanging out in Pittsburgh, our big old sandstone house was really dirty. Pittsburgh air is pretty clean these days, but the city used to be known for its smog and pollution. Originally a light sandy beige color, when we bought the house in 2003 it was a dark charcoal gray. The ceder siding and gutters were painted dark gray to match the dirt. When some of the mortar between the stones was repaired, it was repaired with black mortar to match the dirt. It took two workers eight days of acid washing and sand blasting to clean our house in 2004. Two workers returned several months later to spend another eight days cleaning and repointing our four chimneys.
