News, Newsletters, August issue What is efflorescence?
What is efflorescence?
Efflorescence most commonly occurs as a white encrustation on and around a grout joint. However efflorescence can also occur as a green or yellowish stain, or brown/grey marks, on the stone itself. There are two common factors that efflorescence shares: the way it's formed, and the fact that it requires professional assistance to remove. |
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Efflorescence on a basalt balcony “Efflorescence” refer to many different types of salt, and the affect that they have on your stone, tile or grout when exposed to water. The cause of efflorescence is water running under or through a surface, activating the salts that are either in the substrate, grout, or within the stone or tile itself. The salts dissolve into the water, which can travel to the surface through porous grout or micro-fissures in the stone, evaporating and leaving the salts to solidify on the surface. This makes them virtually impossible to remove using common cleaning methods. As grouting is often the most porous part of a stone or tile installation, it is usually the area where efflorescence starts to appear. With grouting as a primary source of efflorescence, every tile installation is vulnerable to this problem, even if the tile is completely non-porous. Efflorescence can also be a particular problem for tile that has been designed specifically for dry climate use, such as some terracotta or Saltillo tiles imported from warm, dry countries. |
After a De-Calcification treatment In some installations the combination of New Zealand's high-humidity temperate climate, the common use of unsealed cement screed and unwashed sand, and the typically rainy winter season releases the salts within the tile that were never expected to be activated. However efflorescence isn't selective - if you have the right combination of water and salts, it can occur anywhere, on any surface, indoors or out. There is a way to deal with this build-up; a system that not only eliminates the visible efflorescence, but also penetrates into the surface, tracks down as many of the salts as possible, and converts them to non-soluble form. This means that next time the surface gets wet the salts won't dissolve, and therefore can’t evaporate and form into efflorescence. If the winter weather has revealed efflorescence at your premises, contact your local Slique branch and ask about a De-Calcification treatment. |