Behind the masonry and metal

The new apartment building in downtown Lawrence, 901 New Hampshire, gets its start in Spring 2011. Note the beginnings of the air & water barrier installation as seams between the Densglass panels are sealed with PROSOCO R-GUARD® Joint & Seam Filler, and covered with red R-GUARD FastFlash® liquid flashing.

Two years ago, 901 New Hampshire, Lawrence, Kan., was a vacant lot.

North elevation of 901 New Hampshire.

Now, a seven-story apartment complex, filled with customers for the bistros, jewlery stores and other specialty shops in this bustling college town, rises from a site formerly devoted to weeds and trash.

The design is “traditional – transitional,” said Project Architect Lauren Davis, Treanor Architects, Lawrence. It combines traditional limestone and clay brick with more contemporary building materials such as the dark metal panels beginning on the building’s third story.

Behind the masonry and the metal, an even newer material is at work. A custom PROSOCO R-GUARD® Air and Water-Resistive Barrier helps keep 901 energy-efficient and mold free.

The primary air barrier, tan R-GUARD MVP (Maximum Vapor Permeabiity) will cover the whole structural wall assembly. Pathways for air and water to leak in and out of the building envelope are sealed off permanently.

Rough openings are sealed permanently and water-tight with Joint & Seam Filler, covered by FastFlash® which will in turn be covered by the primary air barrier.

This photo shows a fabric-wrap air barrier on another Lawrence building, this one built in 2005. Note how completely the wrap has detached, probably due to wind. Even if re-attached before the cladding goes up before, it's doubtful it will do its job of stopping air and water leaks through the building envelope, as it isn't structural or durable - two important checkpoints for air and water barriers. Researchers developed fluid-applied barriers like R-GUARD to remedy these shortcomings.

Even when fabric wraps stay attached, wind can worry openings around fasteners as shown here. This creates entries and exits for air and water through the building envelope. One isn't a big deal, but where there's one, there's always more. That may have somethng to do with Department of Energy estimates that air leakage in commercial buildings accounts for up to 40 percent of energy costs.

Air and water leaks through the building envelope that can damage buildings and budgets both are stopped before they ever start with the durable, continuous, structural and vapor-permeable PROSOCO R-GUARD® Air & Water barrier. Restoration & Waterproofing Contractors, Topeka, installed the air and water barrier on the east-facing apartment complex.

PolishGuard named “Experts’ Choice” at World of Concrete

In this documented test a polished concrete test panel protected with PolishGuard easily withstood 15 minutes exposure to vinegar. The same solution and 15-minute exposure severely etched a similar but unprotected polished concrete panel.

Our great new protective treatment for finished concrete floors — Consolideck PolishGuard — got some nice recognition recently when a panel of industry experts named it an “Expert’s Choice” in the Most Innovative Product competition at World of Concrete in February.

Here’s the press release from Hanley-Wood, producer of the tradeshow.

At PROSOCO, we think PolishGuard is terrific because it gives you a window to clean up etching and staining spills on polished concrete. That’s handy for grocery stores with shiny polished concrete floors, especially in the dreaded Condiments Aisle.

Restaurants, grocery stores and other food-oriented institutions aren’t the only places where a stain-resistant top coat is useful. Any place with polished concrete flooring benefits from this insurance policy.

Pickle juice made this nice little etch. Could have been avoided if the floor had been treated with PolishGuard. Unfortunately, we hadn't invented it yet.

Polished concrete floors are wonderfully durable and low-maintenance, but accidental exposure to acidics — vinegar for instance — can easily leave a dull splotch right in the middle of the floor if someone happens to fumble a bottle of the stuff.

Plenty of other items we take for granted can do it too — ketchup, orange juice, pickle juice, even milk (yep, milk contains lactic acid).

How much time do you have on a typical polished concrete floor between the initial spill and the onset of damage? Let’s just say minutes count.

There are products out there now that can help floors resist acidic spills. But they have their own problems. I’m referring to solvent-based treatments that are increasingly restricted or even prohibited in many states throughout the U.S. for environmental reasons.

Two-component epoxies and urethanes can also protect floors. But they have limited pot life which makes them hard to use, not to mention extremely pricey.

So PolishGuard set out to address that dull spot in the otherwise shiny reputation of polished concrete. It’s water-based and VOC-compliant in every state of the union. It’s fast and easy to apply. Its glossy finish even makes unpolished floors look shiny.

Most importantly, it stands up to acidic liquids — and other staining and soiling contaminants. Not forever, but long enough to give you a safety margin to clean up damaging spills in a reasonable amount of time. We know, because we tested it. Here’s the video — PolishGuard put to the test — which the judges of the Most Innovative Product competition at WOC also saw.

So that’s why we think PolishGuard is great, and why we entered it in the Most Innovative Products competition. Why did the competition judges select PolishGuard as the “Experts’ Choice?”

Here’s what I got from their spokesperson:

“We reach out to a wide-ranging group of industry practitioners to determine our Expert’s Choice Award in World of Concrete’s Most Innovative Product Award program,” said Rick Yelton, Editor at Large for Concrete Construction Product magazine, the award’s official sponsoring magazine. “Our experts provide an insider’s view on the products in the category in which their expertise lies. Thus the products who receive the Expert’s Choice Award present specific qualities, enhancements, or attributes that these experts believe will bring process improvement to the industry segment they represent,” said Yelton.

# # #

Put to the test

Tested — An independent contractor matched Consolideck products against their counterparts from other companies in a four-month test to see which one could stand up the best against time, traffic and nightly maintenance cleaning in a Portland, Ore., “Food for Less” market. This photo shows the winning shine.

We didn’t know it was happening, but Consolideck LS (Lithium-Silicate) Hardener/Densifier and LSGuard just got put to the test, head-to-head with the products of competitors.

Fortunately, our horses won, or you’d probably be reading about this on the Brand X blog.

Here’s what happened. Our Concrete Products Group Manager Kevin Sigourney told me to call a contractor in Portland, Oregon — John Fotheringham, of Pride Building Services. John grinds, polishes and decorates concrete floors. He also has a janitorial business called Northwest Services.

In a different life he was a commercial pilot, but that’s another story.

John’s “old school” and has no website or blog. I don’t believe he even advertises. He just does real good work, so people want him and don’t mind paying top dollar. Here’s what John told me on the phone.

He has a maintenance contract with a “Food for Less” market in Portland. The place has a 70,000 square-foot slab-on-grade hard-troweled floor. Four nights a week, John’s crew scrubs and high-speed buffs the floor. Once a month the floor gets a new coat of soft acrylic wax. After six coats (and six months) the floor gets stripped and the first of six new coats of wax goes on.

John thought grinding, hardening, densifying, polishing and sealing might be a better deal, since it would eliminate the waxing and stripping, and dramatically reduce the high-speed buffing. But which products to use?

“Everyone’s trying to sell me their stuff,” he says. “It’s a nightmare. Everyone’s got a better snake oil.”

The products all look good when they first go down, John said. The key is how do they look after 4-6 months of maintenance, foot, forklift and shopping cart traffic?

The only way to find out, John said, would be a controlled test on the same floor, where the products being tested all got subjected to the same maintenance and traffic.

“So I called up the owner of the Food-for-Less store. ‘Have I got a deal for you,’ I told him.” John’s deal — Food-for-Less gets a polished floor – FREE – in exchange for letting John evaluate several different finished floorng products. The owner agreed.

John decided to test PROSOCO’s Consolideck products after one of his clients recommended them. He chose similar products from a well-known manufacturer and from a small, local manufacturer.

John ground the floor up to a 200 grit finish. He hardened and densified nearly half the floor with Consolideck LS and nearly half with the well-known competitor. The small manufacturer got about 5 percent.

Then he took the floor, in stages, up to an 800 grit finish. He high-speed burnished LSGuard onto to the Consolideck section, and did the same with the competitors’ “guard” product on their sections. It all looked good and shiny.

That’s when the test started.

Four nights a week, the floor got cleaned with an auto-scrubber and plain water.

“I know that’s not the best way to clean the floor,” John said. “But using proprietary cleaners, like LSKlean in PROSOCO’s case, just wasn’t practical for the purposes of the test. We’d have to spend too much time filling up and emptying out the auto scrubber with exact amounts of each company’s cleaners.

“So I said the floors would be on a water diet until further notice.”

It looked good at the start, but after four months of traffic and water-only maintenance cleaning, the major manufacturer's section of the floor looked worse than could be accounted for even by being in the notorious "condiments" aisle.

After four months, John said, the various areas of the floor all had different levels of shine.

The small manufacturer’s section over by the beer? “Not shiny,” John said.

Over by the check-out lanes, the well-known competitor’s section of floor lost quite a bit of shine, John said. Those products also got applied in the toughest area of all — the condiment aisle. After four months, the condiment aisle looked like nothing had ever been put down to begin with, John said. It didn’t even look polished — more like what you see after grinding with a 50-grit metal.

The Consolideck floors held a real high gloss, even in the Produce section, which gets almost as much abuse as the condiment aisle, John said. They cut a lot of acidic veggies in that area. Onions peelings for instance, get dropped on the floor, trod on, and cleaned up later when it’s convenient.

The floors stayed shiny, even so.

“That settled my hash,” John said. “I do premium jobs and I need the best products. PROSOCO is it.”

That’s what happened. True story.

# # #

Into the guts

Abandoned hulk to smart apartments -- The 1904 Poehler Building in PROSOCO's hometown of Lawrence, Kan., is getting a new life with the help of PROSOCO products.

Visited an aging hundred-year-old hulk of a red-brick building in East Lawrence recently — 108 years old, actually, built in 1904.

The Poehler Building, a wholesale grocery distribution center for its first 50 years or so, is getting a complete restoration — using PROSOCO products, natch. In its second hundred years, it’ll be snazzy rent-controlled apartments. MCM Restoration Company, Fort Scott, Kan., is handling the masonry restoration, inside and out.

Not much is happening outside in the frigid February weather. But inside is active, and MCM Restoration Company President Craig McKenney took me: our graphic genius and photographer Stephen Falls; and our boss Marketing Director Scott Buscher into the guts of the Poehler Building for a glimpse of the restoration action. Stephen shot all these photos.

They’re looking at a grand opening in July.

One of the main jobs right now for Craig and company is getting the dilapidated white paint off the walls. Some places it’s easy and can be mechanically removed. Other places it has penetrated somewhat over the decades and has a steely grip on the brick. Grip or no, it’s got to come off. The walls will stay exposed.

Restoration techs use pressure washing and Sure Klean Heavy Duty Paint Stripper to remove the decades-old paint from the building's interior walls. Note the dam set up to catch the spent cleaner and dissoloved paint.

PROSOCO’s Sure Klean Heavy Duty Paint Stripper gets brushed on, breaks the bond, then is pressure-rinsed off. The rinse gets caught by dams of roofing roll and plastic sheeting, and is pumped into vats. There, the solids settle to the bottom. The spent cleaner and water get neutralized and pre-treated, then pumped into a truck which carts it off to our local certified wastewater treatment plant.

The solids dry out into a “cake” (yum) and go into the dumpster.

Sand blasting got an audition for paint remover of choice, but didn’t make the cut.

Here's the test panel done for the sand-blast method of paint-removal.

Same with crushed walnut shells, another abrasive blast media.

Crushed walnut shells also got a look as an abrasive blast media for paint removal, but that method wasn't chosen either.

MCM Restoration is also cutting the Poehler Building some new windows in the upper stories. On the top floor, the walls are three brick courses thick. On the first floor of the load-bearing masonry building, the walls are seven courses thick.

MCM Restoration masonry technicians salvage brick from a newly cut window in the top story of the Poehler Building.

More than a century old, these clay brick, salvaged from a newly cut window in the Poehler Building's masonry fabric, will be used again in repairs to the building exterior.

When the weather gets warmer, the building exterior will get a complete masonry restoration, Craig said, including 100 percent tuckpointing and cleaning and grafitti removal.

“After more than a hundred years, it may not look as good as when they built it,” Craig said, “but it’s going to come close — and be water-tight.”

By default, the Poehler Building will also be green, because as Washington, D.C. Architect Carl Elefante wrote in his famous “green” manifesto — “The greenest building is… one that is already built.”

Craig McKenney, President, MCM Restoration, takes a minute to smile for the camera. And all that grafitti? It's going away.

Pledge of perfection

Methodist Women's Hospital, Omaha, was cleaned inside and out by Sparklewash Construction Services, Omaha, using PROSOCO new construction cleaners. The project is a 2011 PCI co-award winner for "Best Healthcare Facility." photo courtesy Craig Christensen

Project Superintendant Jim Fleissner of MCL Construction, Omaha, Neb., admitted he was concerned.

Hardened gray concrete smeared and spattered the cream-colored precast walls of three of the entryways of the new Methodist Women’s Hospital in Omaha, the construction of which he was overseeing.

The spatters and smears landed on the walls of the entryways during installation of the concrete sub-floor. They reached about 4 feet up the walls, and had hardened and cured for two months.

Somehow, the messy splatters escaped notice until after installers laid brown and blue carpet in the entryways.

Removing jobsite staining and soiling, including excess mortar from newly constructed buildings is a routine part of construction – when it’s on the exterior. Cleaning exteriors involves hundreds, sometimes thousands of gallons of water to pre-wet the surface and then to rinse off the spent cleaner.

It’s fairly simple when you’re outside. It’s fairly simple when you remove the excess mortar before it’s had time to fully develop its hardness – 14 to 28 days.

But when the concrete is on the inside, and it has hardened like rock, and the only solution that will dissolve it may also dissolve what it’s on, and will also eat the carpet and nearby drywall, you are right to be concerned.

You can also add the customer to that list of concerns.
“Methodist Health System is one of our best clients,” Fleissner said. “But they’re very particular. It’s like they’re buying a new car. They don’t want a scratch on it.”

Fortunately, the A-team was already working on site.

“I’ve worked with Craig Christensen (SparkleWash Construction Services, Omaha) many times,” Fleissner said. “He’s knowledgeable about the surfaces that need to be cleaned and what it takes to clean them.”

Methodist Women’s Hospital was not the first hospital MCL Construction called on Christensen’s crew to clean.

Sparklewash Construction Services, Omaha, used PROSOCO products to remove hardened concrete smears and spatters from these concrete walls at Methodist Women's Hospital -- AFTER the carpet was laid. photo courtesy Craig Christensen

They’d previously worked together on Lakeside Hospital, Bergan Mercy Medical Center and Immanuel Medical Center, all in Omaha.

“So I was comfortable I had the best guy for the job,” Fleissner said.

While cleaning Methodist Women’s Hospital’s eight stories of precast concrete and inset clay masonry; its sidewalks; and even its exterior metal surfaces was routine, Christensen put his own “best guy,” Foreman Hector Hernandez, on the entryways. Hernandez has been cleaning masonry and concrete with SparkleWash Construction Services since 2001.

“The project super gave his word to the owner that this would be perfect,” Christensen said. “And I gave my word to him.”

Hernandez and his crew started by developing tactics – prime considerations being the protection of the carpet and nearby drywall from water, rinse-water and the cleaner, and protection of the precast concrete walls, while still achieving 100 percent removal of the concrete splatters.

They covered the carpet with sheet rubber. Over that went a layer of polyethylene sheeting. They taped off the drywall with blue painter’s tape.

The team brought in shop vacs to suck up pre-wetting and rinse water as soon as it came off the walls. They tested to find the highest dilution rate of the mildest cleaner that would dissolve the offending concrete, without etching or discoloring the pre-cast walls.

Confident their plans and precautions were enough to back up their pledge of perfection, Hernandez and crew went to work. First step – mechanically removing as much of the built-up concrete as they could with metal hand tools.

Even here they had to balance the force needed to detach the hardened concrete with the care needed to leave the precast unscathed, Christensen said.

Next came a thorough soaking of the walls with clean water. By filling up the microscopic pores in the precast, the “pre-wetting” keeps the cleaner on the surface where it does its job of dissolving the concrete residues left from the scraping.

Another view of one of the cleaned entryways. photo courtesy Craig Christensen

Hernandez and crew hit the gray concrete residues with Sure Klean® VanaTrol®. The specialty cleaner was developed for cleaning mortar smears off light-colored clay brick that get their color from metallic vanadium salts in the clay.

If not used with total care and attention to detail, even traditional proprietary masonry cleaners can react with the vanadium in the bricks to mobilize ugly green and brown stains.

VanaTrol® – its unique name a contraction of “vanadium” and “control” – allows for safe and quick cleaning of these sensitive masonries.

Since its introduction in 1960, contractors have found VanaTrol® to be effective for safely removing excess mortar from other surfaces requiring utmost care, such as the new limestone masonry installed at the Pentagon following 9-11.

Hernandez and crew diluted the VanaTrol® one part cleaner to three parts water, and applied it with hand pumps. They scrubbed gently, and cleaned the entire wall surface, Christensen said, for a uniform appearance.

They let the VanaTrol® dwell three to eight minutes before rinsing, Christiansen said, depending on the stubbornness of the concrete smears.
“We got about 80 percent of the residue off with the VanaTrol®,” he said.

For the rest, Christensen said, Hernandez personally spot cleaned with Sure Klean® Custom Masonry Cleaner, which is a little stronger than VanaTrol®, but made specifically for cleaning excess mortar off architectural concrete.

“Cleaning those entryways was nerve-wracking,” Christensen confessed. “We worried every minute that somehow the water was finding its way to the carpet. Thankfully, it never did.”

The exterior presented its own challenges. Along with general grit and grime from new construction darkening the precast walls, contaminants included glue and rust.

Glue smears got on the walls where inset thin bricks had fallen out and had to be glued back in place. Rain water dripping off metal exteriors put small rust stains into concrete sidewalks.

“They weren’t huge problems,” Christensen said. “But we’d promised a perfect job.”

The SparkleWash Construction Services crew restored the intended appearance of the precast exterior with Sure Klean® Light Duty Concrete Cleaner.

Light Duty Concrete Cleaner got the nod, Christensen said, because it’s safe for use around the architectural metals prominently featured in hospital’s design.

The glue came off with spot application of Sure Klean® Fast Acting Paint Stripper.

“The building looked nice before, but after Craig and his team got done, it was really something special,” Fleissner said. “It was the difference between seeing a car in a parking lot, and seeing that same car, brand new in the showroom.”

Methodist Women’s Hospital has since been named a co-winner (with St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, Mishwaka, Ind.) for Best Healthcare Facility, 2011, by PCI (Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute).

“Our client was extremely pleased,” Fleissner said. “I was too.”

# # #

Masonry cleaning’s most unwanted

Masonry, done right, is among the most sustainable and most beautiful of construction substrates. The unexpected can occur, however. If problems do occur, the first step is to correctly diagnose what’s wrong, even if that means calling in outside help.

The wrong “solution” can make the problem much worse. Grafitti is a prime example. Some cleaning methods will only result in making the vandalism permanent.

In the 62 years PROSOCO has been making cleaners and protective treatments for concrete, brick and stone architecture, we’ve run across a host of interesting stains and problems that can occur on new masonry construction.

Here’s our rogues gallery of masonry construction’s toughest, most troublesome stains. Recognize any of the characters on this “Most Unwanted” list? When these fugitives from cleanliness show up, they blight even the best designed and built structures. Stain, scum or efflorescence — they all spell trouble for masonry construction professionals.

First commandment for preventing or fixing: Know thy enemy!

Vanadium staining

Muriatic acid, used to clean excess mortar from these light colored bricks, reacted with metallic vanadium salts in the masonry, mobilizing these characteristic green stains.

Description: Yellow, green or green/brown stains in the heart of light-colored brick units common in new or water-saturated construction.
Cause: Water-soluble vanadium salts dissolve in rainwater, construction water or muriatic acid. As water evaporates, salts form on masonry surface to create unsightly stains.
Removal: Let masonry dry thoroughly. Apply Sure Klean® 800 Stain Remover following label instructions.
Prevention: Protect wall cavities and brick cubes from rain during construction. Let masonry dry thoroughly before cleaning with Sure Klean® Vana Trol® masonry cleaner. Protect the cleaned bricks with Weather Seal Siloxane PD or Siloxane WB concentrate.

White scum

Most conventional cleaning agents won't begin to touch this rock-hard insoluble stain.

Description: Uneven white or gray stain on brick face or mortar joints. Often appears as vertical run marks. Does not disappear when wet.
Cause: Inadequate prewetting or rinsing when cleaning with muriatic acid or other acidic solutions. Mortar dissolved by the acid is absorbed by the dry wall surface to produce insoluble silicate salts commonly referred to as “scumming.”
Removal: Use Sure Klean® White Scum Remover following label instructions.
Prevention: Clean with the appropriate Sure Klean® new brick cleaner.

Lime run

Lime run is the same process that forms stalactites in caves -- and some parking garages.

Description: Hard white or gray surface crust concentrated along a mortar joint or running down from a hole or fine separation crack between brick and mortar joints. Does not disappear when wet.
Cause: Water deposited or collected in the wall during construction or as a result of inadequate waterproofing dissolves water-soluble calcium compounds. Over a prolonged period of time, the water migrates through openings in the wall surface. As the water evaporates, the dissolved calcium reacts with the atmosphere and crystallizes to produce a hard calcium carbonate crust on the masonry surface.
Removal: Use Sure Klean® Custom Masonry Cleaner following label instructions. Repeated controlled applications and agitation may be required.
Prevention: Protect wall cavities from rainwater during construction. Clean with the appropriate Sure Klean® new brick cleaner. Protect the cleaned bricks with Weather Seal Siloxane PD or Siloxane WB concentrate.

Efflorescence

Efflorescence may eventually go away on its own, but I wouldn't try selling that to an architect or building owner.

Description: Loose, powdery surface deposit that disappears when wet and may reappear as drying continues. Seasonal.
Cause: Water-soluble salts dissolved in rainwater, construction water or groundwater. As water evaporates from wet bricks, it leaves the crystallized salts on the surface.
Removal: Let bricks dry thoroughly. Use the appropriate Sure Klean® new brick cleaner at the highest possible recommended dilution with water. Follow product label instructions.
Prevention: Protect wall cavities and brick cubes from rain during construction. Let masonry dry before cleaning. Protect the cleaned bricks with Weather Seal Siloxane PD or Siloxane WB concentrate.

Acid burn

The good news - saved a couple bucks by using muriatic acid to clean the masonry. The bad news - Cleaning with muriatic acid caused thousands of dollars in damage.

Description: Uneven yellow or gold stain on brick face and in mortar joints. Stained areas may also exhibit severe etching or discoloration of mortar color.
Cause: Cleaning with muriatic acid. Acid and impurities in the acid are rapidly absorbed by porous masonry and cannot be thoroughly water-rinsed. As the acid attacks the bricks and mortar, soluble and insoluble salts are mobilized to create unsightly stains.
Removal: Use Sure Klean® 800 Stain Remover following label instructions.
Prevention: Clean with the appropriate Sure Klean® new brick cleaner.

Brown manganese staining

Manganese staining is actually a form of efflorescence, in which salts from the brick's manganese oxide colorant, mobilized by acid solutions, including acidic rain, migrate to the surface. There they react with the alkaline mortar joint, precipitating the brown stain.

Description: Tan, brown or gray staining concentrated along mortar joints of brown gray or other manganese colored brick.
Cause: Manganese dioxide dissolved in rainwater, construction water or muriatic acid. As water evaporates, manganese reacts with the alkaline mortar joint to create an insluble brown stain.
Removal: Let masonry dry thoroughly. Apply Sure Klean® 800 Stain Remover following label instructions.
Prevention: Protect wall cavities and brick cubes from rain during construction. Let masonry dry thoroughly before cleaning with Sure Klean® 800 Stain Remover® masonry cleaner. Protect the cleaned bricks with Weather Seal Siloxane PD or Siloxane WB.

That’s our rogue’s gallery for new construction. There’s plenty more villains out there for restoration cleaning — like algae, carbon staining and bird droppings, to name a few.

Existing masonry (I’ve always had trouble with that term — doesn’t all masonry “exist?” Supposedly refers to masonry that isn’t new, but isn’t old enough to be historic ) has its bad guys too — graffiti chief among them.

But those are stories for another post. Thanks for visiting!

gary

###

New masonry cleaning: does one size fit all?

This partially cleaned brick and block wall shows the difference proper new construction cleaning can make. This masonry was cleaned with Sure Klean 600.

I saw an ad the other day by another manufacturer of new masonry construction cleaners. These specialized cleaners are used for the final cleandown of newly constructed masonry buildings.

Final cleandown is important, as you can see from the photo. It rids the wall of mortar smears and clarifies the mortar joints. Though it’s one of the least expensive parts of construction, final cleandown is crucially important to the building’s final appearance.

The ad contended that the product it promoted was all that you need to clean any type of new masonry – burnished concrete block to clay brick – one size fits all.

At PROSOCO, we recommend — and make — specific cleaners for nearly every type of masonry on the market – burnished concrete block to clay brick – the right tool for the right job.

Who’s right?

As a PROSOCO employee, you might expect me to be biased toward my company, and so I am — a little. But as a writer on construction issues, I have to be honest.

The fact is, IF you can get to the masonry cleaning soon enough — within seven to 10 days of the masonry going up, before the excess mortar has had a chance to really harden, just about any masonry cleaner will do the trick.

And in any masonry cleaning job, you always want to use the gentlest cleaner possible especially with your more acid-sensitive masonries, like concrete brick or artificial stone. And you will want to clean early as possible. Not before seven days though — earlier than that and you risk damaging the mortar joints, which are still setting.

After 10 days, or so, the mortar will be harder and will need a tougher cleaner to break its grip on the masonry. So PROSOCO looked at the different types of masonry, and tested them to see what they could withstand.

Then we made cleaners that were tough enough to get the hardened mortar off, but without damaging the specific types of masonry. Because masonry varies so much, the cleaners also had to vary.

For instance, red clay brick is acid-insoluble. So we recommend our strongest cleaner for that — Sure Klean 600. On the other hand, many light-colored bricks take their distinctive appearance from the addition of vanadium — a metallic salt — within the clay.

Of course we all know what happens when acid meets metal; big trouble. And so the acid content for vanadium-containing bricks — most light colored bricks — must be specially harnessed and buffered.

The wrong kind of cleaner reacted with the vanadium salts in this masonry to mobilize these ugly stains. There are specialty cleaners to repair this damage, but it isn't cheap. Sure Klean VanaTrol was designed to prevent this kind of damage.

The result — Sure Klean VanaTrol (Vanadium + Control).

IF you are really careful, and IF you do plenty of testing, and IF you have decades of experience with masonry cleaning — you MIGHT be able to get away with using a masonry cleaner on a substrate for which it isn’t intended.

But in most cases, your results will vary — from not getting the best results, at a minimum; to inflicting expensive damage on the masonry.

The point behind making precision cleaners for specific masonries is to eliminate that unpredictability. With today’s construction schedules, there’s barely time to do it at all, let alone to do it again.

When you use a cleaner that’s made for the specific masonry you need to clean, you’re already starting with a significant safety factor. And with the relatively unskilled labor that often does the cleaning — you NEED all the safety factors you can get!

It’s a fact — different masonries have different characteristics. There is no one cleaner suitable for all of them under most circumstances.

Whatever cleaner you use, though, you should always protect yourself by testing before you clean. Try the cleaner on an out-of-the-way area under the same conditions you plan to clean under — including dilution-rate.

You may have to do some adjusting of dilution-rates and dwell times, but in the end, you’ll have a beautiful, successfully cleaned building.

Short answer: In masonry cleaning, one size doesn’t fit all, and never has. And always test before you clean.

# # #