Wall efflorescence cause by basement leaking problem

Wall efflorescence cause by window-edge leaking problem

Wall efflorescence treatment: grind off the old paint layer and trowel the S11-Superior Waterproofing Cement Resin

1. What is wall efflorescence?

"Wall efflorescence" is a common household issue; almost every house has such problem. Lacking for correct knowledge of "wall efflorescence", most chemical engineers and waterproofing constructors gave it a wrong name called "wall cancer" simply by seeing the problem of leaking, oxidation and peeling on the wall. Later on there were chemical engineers who collected sample from the "wall cancer" and analyzed it. They discovered there were no cancer cells in the "wall cancer" actually, but it simply contained highly sodium, potassium and the mold. Since then, the market has been occupied with countless treatments for wall efflorescence, and most of the treatment contains chemicals such as diluted-acid, resin, bactericide and so on. However, most consumers did not find any effect with those products, and the difficulty of cure just veiled wall efflorescence with mystery.

"Wall efflorescence" is a phenomenon that water or humidity penetrates the leaks or holes on the wall or even to the construction of the building, causing oxidization and efflorescence interaction which lead to severe peeling problem to the wall. Most constructors do not carry out waterproofing work or choose cheap and ineffective elastic cement, especially on the place where are highly-contacted with water such as the exterior wall, bathroom, basement, balcony and the garden. Therefore, within 3 to 5 years, wall efflorescence comes along and leads to serious paint or plaster peeling problem on the wall.

2. "Wall efflorescence" can be prevented and cured.

Since the essential problem of wall efflorescence is caused by humidity penetration, what we have to do is simply checking on the efflorescent part, finding out the source of water or humidity and cut it off. For example, there is serious efflorescence on the top floor ceiling, from which we know it is caused by the rain that constantly penetrates and oxidizes the plaster as well as the RC structure, so the capillary action occurs and the paint starts to peel. You only need to choose climate-tolerant, waterproof, plaster-compatible, and strongly adhesive waterproof materials, then the efflorescence problem on the top floor ceiling could be solved easily.

3. How to deal with common "wall efflorescence"?

1. How to deal with paint peeling problem on the exterior wall and downstairs ceiling of the bathroom?
When you find the efflorescence problem is serious on the exterior wall and downstairs ceiling of the bathroom, the first thing you need to do might be tearing off the original bathtub, floor tiles and wall tiles (1.8M). Next apply the waterproof, strongly adhesive and plaster-compatible S11 Superior Waterproofing Cement Resin before tiling. Do not forget to check out if there is any leaking problem on the pipeline of the bathroom at the same time. If yes, please repair the pipeline before the waterproofing construction.
2. How to deal with interior wall efflorescence?
Interior wall efflorescence is normally found on the windward side of a building. In addition to applying two layers of S1 Superior Waterproofing Cement Resin plus three layers of F1-C Elastomeric Waterproofing Cool Resin on the windward exterior wall, if oxidation and efflorescence is serious, the affected area must be completely grinded out before troweling two layers of S11 Superior Waterproofing Cement Resin and finishing with paint, or the paint could not stick to the will and would come off over again.
3. How to deal with the wall efflorescence on structural leaks?
Just cut, reinforce and seal up the leaks and the work is done.
4. How to deal with the wall efflorescence caused by the leaks of the pipeline?
From the leaking location, water amount, and the leaking time, we could tell which kind of pipeline is leaking. Once the pipeline is repaired then the problem is solved.

4. Wrong treatment for wall efflorescence.

1. Demolish the old plaster to cover a new layer on the wall, or paste the new tiles directly on top.
2. Use the "wall efflorescence" prevention spray.
3. Cover up the wall with wood boards, which fasten the process of oxidation instead.
4. Cover up the exterior wall with steel sheets.
5. Use cheap waterproof materials such as paint, elastic paint, and elastic cement.

Once the waterproof work of the bathroom was not carried out properly during the process of house construction, "wall efflorescence" will show up on the exterior wall and downstairs ceiling right under the bathroom easily in the near future. What's worse, the room decoration on which you have spent large amount of money might be ruined by severe leaking problems. To solve the problem, all tiles and the bathtub must be knocked off before applying waterproof construction and end up with retiling, which would be a really huge job to do. Therefore, when you are buying a house or repairing the bathroom tiles, it's very important to ask the constructor to do the waterproofing job well in advance. Now we are going to talk about the correct performance of bathroom waterproof construction.

1. Check the cold and hot pipelines and see if there is a leaking problem. Fix the hot one first if both pipelines are broken. It is suggested to replace the pipeline with stainless steel one if it is made of iron.
2. Check on the floor tiles of the bathroom. Any crack must be reinforced and sealed up thoroughly in advance.
3. Add the curtain or sliding door to separate washroom and bathroom, or choose a walk-in bathtub instead.
4. The toilet must be fixed tight when installed. Using the S11 Superior Waterproofing Cement Resin to advise strong adhesion. The sewer pipe must be aligned to the toilet's.
5. To prevent the tiles form bulging and cracking in the future, use the S11 Superior Waterproofing Cement Resin for waterproofing material which is water-resistant, anticorrosive from long-term of soaking in the water, strong adhesive, and plaster-compatible.
6. Addition to waterproof construction on the floor, the application should be done over the wall for 180 cm high.
7. Inappropriate waterproof materials:
   • PU resin (Defect: water-intolerant and poorly adhesive.)
   • AB elastomeric glue (Defect: water-intolerant, low-density and poorly adhesive.)
   • Epoxy resin (Defect: ineffective as interface so would lead to bulging and cracking problems easily.)
   • Elastic waterproof paint (Defect: water-intolerant and ineffective as interface.)
   • Waterproof blanket (Defect: lead to bulging problems and the joints are split easily)
   • Mix the grout into waterproof paint (Defect: low-density)

As there has been great improvement made on waterproof coating for the past few years, the waterproof function, climate tolerance and even the heatproof function of water-based waterproof coating has been highly advanced as well. Therefore, without covering any protective layer on top, the life time of waterproof coating has prolonged from 2-3 to 15-20 years.

Without covering additional protective layer, traditional waterproof materials such as the asphalt felt, PU resin and the waterproof blanket which are extremely inefficient on climate-tolerance would not sustain for more than 3 years. To prolong the life time, most construction companies would cover the plaster or cement for protection, not realizing such engineering method is doomed to failure. One reason is these materials all have high water absorption rate, so the water-intolerant PU resin, elastic cement, and waterproof blanket are easily hydrolyzed. The other reason is these materials are not anti-seismic. Once there come the earthquakes or the thermal expansion/contraction that acts on the building, the tension and the shearing force would cause cracks on the structure and tear the waterproof layer on the original crack easily and the whole waterproof engineering would be totally in vain. To solve the problem thoroughly, it needs a comprehensive excavation and finding out the leaks so that the cutting, reinforcement, anti-tension, and anti-sheering waterproof engineering could be carried out, which is really a huge working process. Since most public offices of construction in Taiwan are still adopting the traditional covering-type waterpoof engineering method, tragedies are putting on stage over and over again.

Today, Tropicalfish Coating Co. is proud to introduce our water-based waterproof coating which has taken 21 years of development, the one with 15-20 years of life time without any coverage on top, would sustain long-term soaking in water, and contains extraordinary both heatproof and anti-seismic function. Under such great progress on waterproofing coating being made, the "open-type waterproof engineering method" would replace the traditional one completely with its superior qualities of quick maintenance, easy to carry out, and low cost.