Brick Seal Job Gone Bad (pictures)

[Sonlight]

Need some help with a brick sealing job that turned white. My customer was told by a contractor that she needed her brick patio sealed so she called her painter to do it. He apparently came out, pressure washed the brick and applied a sealer which proceeded to turn white in places. Now he says it's not his fault and he's dragging his feet in doing anything about it. She wants to know if there something that can be done about it, like just strip off the sealer and go back to natural unsealed brick. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[NJWashingGuy]

Find out what sealer was used, send the pics to eacochem with the name of the sealer used. I am sure that they will have a solution for you.

 

[Carolina Prowash]

It was most definitely his fault. He didn't let the bricks dry before applying the wrong sealer >:/

 

[Alexy]

water is leaching from the mortar.
There was a architect offering a $100,000.00 reward for someone to come up with a way to fix it...... but that was 124 years ago so you might want to verify the offer is still valid
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F20615FC395B10738DDDA00A94D9415B8584F0D3

 

[Diamond Jim]

Could be over application of product. Take some xylene and a 3 m pad and go over . If it comes off it is too much sealer. Otherwise, sealed in moisture pushing on sealer.

 

[Kory]

Looks like both bad sealer and efflo. Try a small area and poor xylene found at hardware or paint store poor or roll on till thick and kind of gooie then let dry. If that helps then you know what to do for the rest.

 

[jon chapman]

you can also try MEK from HDepot. Roll it on, let it dry. It will soften the sealer and let some of the moisture out before the sealer hardens again. you may have to do it several times. but if you dont see a difference with in the first hour, dont waste time on multiple coats. Strip it and reseal with a good brick sealer like vseal.

 

[PressureWashingStarkeFL]

Brick is very porous so it may be a pain for sure.

 

[TheCleaningDoc]

It may not be moisture because some sealers on brick turn white when they dry. Especially if it is a penetrating sealer because brick is not as porous as concrete.

 

[Sonlight]

Thanks for all the replies, I'm going to contact eacochem and see what they say and also test a spot with xylene or MEK and see what that does. I am waiting to do any work though until she has this settled with her painter because I don't want to get in the middle of it. I am just mentally preparing for the job and feeding her information so he can't keep bs'ing her about it.