Help with red brick

[mike40]

Hey guys, can someone help on how to clean this brick, looks like e-flo but I tried cleaning with an acid cleaner specific for e-flo, didn't work. The picture is before I tried the acid but the after picture didn't come out. The acid cleaner didn't work, even at its full strenght. The owner said its from the water sprinklers???? Tried to upload pictures but it said file was too big, What do I do about picture uploading?

 

[JzJONATHAN]

resize it with a photo editing program. i specialize in brick pavers here in florida. I may be able to help you out.

 

[mike40]

red brick

Here is the brick, the upper left part by the electrical box is the color of the brick.

 

[mike40]

red brick

Here is another picture, above the left window is a little clear, the rest of the wall is covered with this white stuff, it won't wipe off by hand.

 

[mike40]

red brick

The owner washed this with muriatic acid a few years back, he said this was the only side he tried washing with the acid????

 

[Micah]

What was the name of the acid cleaner for eflo that you used? What was the active ingredient?

Micah Kommers
We Wash Windows
Greenville, SC
Member AUWC

 

[mike40]

reddish brick

The acid I used was sure klean 800 stain removal, it called for a 1:4 dilution which didn't work. I also tried it straight and it still didn't work.

 

[JzJONATHAN]

Did the home owner put a sealant on it at anytime? Does it dissapear when wet?

 

[Micah]

Sure Klean 800 is a hydrofluoric acid, which I may be wrong, but I've never seen that been used for Eflo. I would suggest using a phosphoric or a hydrocloric acid. For starters, I would try the Calcite Presoak followed by NMD80 from EaCo chemicals.

 

[mike40]

reddish brick

I don't know about the sealant but it does disappear when wet.

 

[bkel]

Ok, without going out on a limb too much as your substrates etc are different to ours over here, but to me it looks like a calcite stain.
Most brickwork (mortar) has a degree of silica and calcium residue in it which can form calcite staining when too much MURATIC acid is used to clean the brickwork originally, and the wall being incorrectly rinsed after cleaning.
Huge pain to clean, but Hydrofluric acid will remove it, phosphoric can shift it, but MUST be followed up with a neutralizing rinse, as it can continue to react even though you think it's all rinsed off.
As I said that's the usual treatments over here, hope it is off some use.