I have quite a bit of brick and cement to seal from the elements - lots of freeze/thaw cycles around here in Winter.
Has anyone have a DIY formula for making up a batch to save on costs?
Otherwise, what are you using?
Thanks, Gary
G Mulcaster:
You should be aware that sealing brick or concrete MAY accelerate the damage. That's because a sealer will only stop moisture from getting into the masonary if it's getting in through the exposed side that you intend to seal.
Often, the moisture that comes OUT of masonary in the form of efflorescence gets into the masonary from inside the house. It's often due to warm moist air leaking into exterior walls and the moisture accumulating as frost all winter. Then, in spring, that frost melts and causes both efflorescence and potentially freeze/thaw damage at the exterior surface of the masonary.
In a case like that, sealing the masonary would only make the problem worse by preventing that moisture from evaporating to the outside as quickly as possible.
If you are bent on doing something to reduce spalling, you might consider painting the masonary with a "masonary paint". A masonary paint is a latex paint that acts somewhat like a check valve when it comes to water. It allows moisture inside the wall to evaporate out through the paint, but doesn't allow liquid water from the outside to migrate into the wall through the paint.
The way masonary paints accomplish this is easy to understand if you consider the plastic molecules they're made up of as long wires scrunched up into balls. There are spaces within each "ball" that something like sand could still pour through. That's because the sand particles are smaller than the spaces between the scrunched up wire.
In a similar way, the tangled molecule that comprises a latex paint resin has spaces between the various segments of the molecule. In masonary paints, the latex resin is chosen because those spaces are both larger than the diameter of a single H2O molecule, but smaller than the distance between H2O molecules in liquid water. Consequently, individual H2O molecules in the form of humidity can pass through the masonary paint relatively easily, but not liquid water. Thus, the masonary paint allows any water inside the water to evaporate out through the paint, but prevents liquid water (from rain or snow melt) to pass through the paint into the masonary.
If it were my masonary, I'd paint with a masonary paint before I used a sealer. The masonary paint will perform the sealing function you want, but won't prevent evaporation of any moisture already inside the wall.
------------------------------------- ..in solidarity with the movement for change in Iran.
You mean *instead* of using a sealer, I assume. The use of the word "before" implies that you are going to use sealer as the second coat. :p
Excellent overview.
Sort of related to this would be damp-proofing basements. I always thought paint "designed" for that purpose, to be put on the inside (living side) of the wall, was closing the gate ON the horse....
Yet truly damp-proofing from the outside can be a major excavation project, it would seem.
If the efflorescence is from water vapor passing through from the inside, please explain why the efflorescence is not even remotely uniform across a masonry wall surface.
Lots of words based on a bad assumption makes your post worthless. Paint has pigment. You're confusing the issue and assuming that the OP wants to cover up the brick and concrete. If you are recommending that he use a latex/acrylic sealer because of vapor permeability issues, just say so.
If the efflorescence is from water vapor passing through from the inside, please explain why the efflorescence is not even remotely uniform across a masonry wall surface.
Lots of words based on a bad assumption makes your post worthless. Paint has pigment. You're confusing the issue and assuming that the OP wants to cover up the brick and concrete. If you are recommending that he use a latex/acrylic sealer because of vapor permeability issues, just say so.
Ricodjour, it looks like you are an asshole to EVERYONE, esp. those who demonstrate some knowledge. You must be one gigantic bore at the dinner table.
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