Another Brick Question

Does this look like efflorescence? The owner swears it just came up randomly… It never had those white marks before…

To me it looks like “white brick” style…

But I can be wrong.

Anyone? Wanna take guess lol

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if you mean bird droppings no lol, that stuff is hard like cement

I was just kidding. If it’s not efflorescence look into lime run or white scum. I always thought efflorescence was almost powdery and can be scraped off but maybe baking in the sun can cause it to harden up like that?

Efflorescence can turn crusty given enough time. It starts powdery but slowly turns hard if continued exposure to moisture and wicking of salts. You might ask the homeowner if they use ice salt in the winter on their patio. Test an area first, but my go to would be Prosoco 600 and muriatic diluted 4 or 5 / 1. Wet brick, brush on chems, let dwell 15 minutes (don’t let dry, rinse).

Upsell sealing the brick after it has been cleaned to help prevent future efflorescence. Sealing is not guaranteed to prevent but will aid. Make sure homeowner is aware of that before pushing to seal the brick.

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Taste it!:laughing:

Ask the owner what they treat the pool with. That will give the answer. It either salt water or chlorine

Update

Did a test/demo area for them today using some Muriatic acid mixed 4:1 left it to dwell for 5 minutes and it removed it… Right away the white stuff started to bubble and dissolve right before my eyes lol.

I didn’t see it cause any harm to the mortar joints…

Cleaned up real well…

Sending the bid over on Monday, I commented to him on doing a seal after and he wasen’t interested… is sealing a must after an acid wash? Or is it ok if he declines it?

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Sealing isn’t a must after muriatic acid. That’s how bricklayers remove the mortar splatter off of bricks after laying them and most houses or buildings aren’t sealed.

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