White powder on concrete foundation blocks

[Guy Noir - private eye]

My house is just over 2 years old. I have noticed on the cinder blocks in the inside of the garage that there is a white power on a few of them. Also, on the front of the house there are some rough-faced concrete blocks that make up the front stoop that also have white powder on them. I have heard this is a moisture related issue, but my house is not in a low area and there are no drainage problems. What's going on?

[Roger T.]

It is indeed due to moisture, but it may not be fatal. Search the last few weeks of this newsgroup for the word efflorescence. That is what you have, and it has been fairly well wrung out as a topic in these groups. Also look it up in google groups, and google web search. Also a good discussion in

a brick industry group.