No idea if it’s stucco or dryvit, my understanding it’s pretty much the same thing
My process I thought would work 
- Dry brush
- hit it with a 50/50 vinegar, even did straight on the tough stuff.
Brushed some more, reapplied total dwell 10minutes for vinegar
- Rinsed then hit it with ammonia immediately. 10min dwell (Read this instructions from stuccos website)
It worked a little on the light stuff but not the tough stuff, I’m thinking it is calcium efflorescence. I tried blasting it with water and it did nothing.
All that did pretty much jack
A friend told me to try Zep bathroom cleaner for limescale, that did take out the thinner lighter stuff but not the heavy duty caked on crap.
Any opinions or advice on how you guys would go about this would be appreciated. I’ve been reading people use hydrochloric/muriatic acid, I’m nervous to try it because this stucco is fog painted I think and don’t want to take the color off the wall
Any advice is appreciated, thank you!
Stucco is the real thing. EIFS and Dryvit are very similar but that’s not efflorescence. Looks like it’s been damaged and the base coat has been exposed to the elements & cured to the finish coat. It’s a job for somebody that installs / repairs EIFS / dryvit.
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Yeah, it’s all leeching out from the cracks. I know they build these boards with lime/calcium, so I thought it was calcium carbonate or Calcium efflorescence. They wanted it all just blasted off with the pressure washer but at the pressure that is required to remove that I’ll peel the surface right off. My original plan was if I could get it looking halfway decent tell them to get the cracks repaired when I’m done so it doesn’t come back. But it doesn’t want to come clean.
I appreciate your two cents wizard
I just realized you gave it a go already. I’m a bit slow. Experimenting on customer homes will get you in a pickle real quick. Learn from the mistakes and experience of others before ever placing a bid. I still use the search bar all the time. I wouldn’t mind washing that but they need to know up front you can’t wash off damage or imperfections. It’s okay to stay inside your comfort zone when it comes to these things.
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I was there today to look around and quote the job and also do a small test spot to see if I can even do it. Do you think it is possible to wash it off with another chemical?
I am learning about efflorescence, I do want to do this type of work 
I’ve been reading as much as I can, a lot of people use f9 but $50+ a gallon is bonkers but I guess if it works I got no choice lol
It needs a repair if they are concerned with it. I’ve never bought anything F9. I’d rather wash a doublewide & go celebrate at Waffle House. I like simplicity.
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I’m the same way but this site has 90 of what I put a picture of, if I can figure this out I can make some money before my normal season starts 
Are we sure they didn’t do a crap patch job on some cracks in the substrate, and that is bleeding out? It might be efflo if it’s portland cement, but I used to see a lot of Dryvit in the commercial construction biz, and I can’t see how it would ever look like that. That said, a quick Google yielded these (NOTE: at first glance some of the options appear to require refinishing after treatment!!)
http://eifscouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Tech-Efflorescence-V1_2.pdf
https://www.dryvit.com/fileshare/doc/us/Powers/Efflorescence_of_Cementitious_Base_Coat.pdf
This building is only 6 months old, brand new build
I’m going to try a test spot of Muriatic acid, if it works, give them the bid and tell them it has to get refinished after
or
Do I tell them to get it refinished, they may peel off all the surface anyhow and redo the bottom 4ft
I use f9 Efflo and price accordingly to pay for chemical I use.
