I have a property that had a wet basement wall for years. The source of the water has been fixed, and I plan on applying UGL or similar water-proofing coating. But I'd like to clean the surface of the white scaley stuff. The fluffy white efflourescence wipes or hoses off, but some of the white stuff appears more stubborn (doesn't appear to be affected by wire brushing, etc). Don't want to use any kind of calcium dissolver, as I'm afraid it might damage the concrete block. Any ideas?
M.B.
Its effloresence, you need to remove it before painting and repair any bad mortar. Muritic acid is what to use, but it fumes badly you need allot of ventilation and a real respirator.
and repair any
badly you need
Maybe a pressure washer? Say, one capable of about 2500 to
3000 psi & a wand with. say, a 15 degree fanout on it? That way it's only water and not a lot of water at that. I used mine to take paint off the garage floor & it worked fine as long as you keep track of what you're doing. If you aren't careful those bigger ones make great posthole diggers!Pop
No matter what you put on the walls, you want to put it on the concrete not the stuff that is on there now. You can try a power washer, but in the end I suspect you really should use Muritic acid. Be careful and you will feel a lot better about doing all the work knowing you did it right rather than quickly only to find out that you need to do it over and this time it will be even more work to get the UGL off first.
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