fire damaged rock

[Tomas Lipps <tmlipps@zzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

hello all, I just had this query.  I'm unable to provide any answers
myself and wonder if anyone has any ideas of what can be done here?

if so, thanks,

Tomas

"in 1972, my father became a self-taught stonemason because he
wanted a stone house and couldn't afford to pay someone to do it for him.
Since then, he used red "glade" rock from our area of southern Virginia and
built three stone fireplaces and put stone on the entire exterior of our
house.  It is beautiful.  One of his additions to our house has an interior
wall that is an exterior wall of the original house.

On December 18, 2004, there was a wood stove/oxygen fire at my parent's
house and my father died.  The stone walls and roof survived and although
only one room burned and the adjacent one melted (the kitchen), the entire
house has to be gutted and rebuilt before my mother can move back in.

The interior/exterior den wall and the fireplaces are black with smoke
damage.  The contractor who is doing the rebuilding told my mother that
they might have to tear these stone elements down if they are not able to
clean them by sandblasting.  This is extremely upsetting to my mother as my
father gathered the stones over years from the countryside and built these
stone structures himself.

Do you have any advice about cleaning stone that is heavily fire damaged?

Thank you in advance for any advice you can give us."