Salt bursting through painted concrete block wall

[AMR]

Hi guys,

A unit I purchased has salt bursting through the painted concrete wall (on the inside).

Does anyone know how to fix it? I assume there must be some sort of special sealer that I can use.

Cheers
AMR

[Tan]

I don't think it's salt, it will be water pushing things through. Do you have access to the exterior of the wall?

[Maccachic]

Refered to as Efflorescence

[drelly]

Oh I know about this one alright! ...Efflorescence. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efflorescence

You can seal the inside but the problem is moisture getting into the blocks in the first place. There's a number of ways that it can happen. Can you explain the layout? Is it a block base with a second story? Blocks against the ground? Is it on the "wet" side of the house? Any water flowing anywhere?

[Maccachic]

Are the vents clear?

[AMR]

Thanks for the reply guys! I'll give the exterior a paint and then for the interior, wash the salt off, then seal and paint.

[drelly]

Thanks for the reply guys! I'll give the exterior a paint and then for the interior, wash the salt off, then seal and paint.

That could make your problem worse.

[AMR]

After thinking about it last night, probably be best to get an expert in. Need to identify the source of water and then stop that first.

[Tan]

Seal the outside.

[drelly]

Seal the outside.

That will only help if the water is coming from outside the wall.

[Ivan McIntosh]

Yep, could well be coming from the top down the middle.

[Vai-man]

Whats on the top? Parapit flashing? Timber wall with cladding overhanging? What is it sealed with? i am geussing mulseal, it should have a protective layer of hardies overtop.

[whitt]

Ok.
I have been in the same situtation as original poster but 10 times worse. It took me over a year of meddling to finally find a solid solution to fix a continual water leak thru basement block wall. ( puddles of water on floor during heavy rain)

Good news is if all you have is salting appearance and no major leaks then it could be simple to fix.

The products only need to be applied from one side and can penetrate up to a metre from memory. "Penetron" is a common product used and you can google it to read about it. Used on "The statue of liberty" and "Hoover dam" etc.

I finally found the Auckland supplier of the product and he was very reasonable at applying it. Contact me if you need the contact info.

I applied to wall and concrete floor plus they applied a fillet around edge after I ground a gap.
The "Penetron" product makes it's way thru the concrete pores and crystallizes over time with moisture contact. This will prevent future dampness working thru wall blocks. It worked amazing for me.

If you had a major leak then I would also look at reducing ground water forming on area outside by lawn drainage etc AMR sounds like you may just need seal inside block walls with "Penetron". Keep us posted.

[brendanmarkhall]

lime lock

Hi there,

My name is Brendan I am a building contractor in Auckland. The product you are looking for is call Limelock. It needs to go on the bare block before it is painted. you will need to strip the paint on the wall and paint this on. its like white paint but it seals the block and stops the lime from seeping out. let me know if you have any questions.

[One]

Thanks, Brendan. Do you have paint it both inside and out or will just inside do? And how do you strip paint off a concrete block wall??

We've got a wall we might need to treat too - must be a fairly common problem!