[header] How to clean soot from brick [title] Put on rubber gloves to protect your hands during the cleaning process. [title] Place a drop cloth, tarp or plastic around your work area. [step] You may want to have some newspaper on hand to help absorb sloshed water, drips from the sponge or wet bottoms of buckets. 
[substeps] While you clean sooty bricks, some soot and ash can dislodge from the fireplace. If you don't put down a protective layer, you will have additional soot stains on your carpet to clean.