I guess there is no one to blame...
Will things ever be the same again?
It's the final [wash]down.
- Europe (Hair Metal Band )
Your masonry building has been built. The walls are plumb. The joints are struck. All that's left to do now is wash off all of those mortar smears and job site dirt that has accumulated during construction.
A laborer climbs up onto the scaffolding with a bucket of some un-identified cleaner and a power washer. Two weeks later, you see a brown, white or even green mineral deposits on your brand new building. It looked good a week ago. Now it's like someone took a blowtorch to your brick. What happened? Who is to blame? "Will things ever be the same again?"
This scenario happens every day when well-meaning professionals try to use a one-size-fits-all type of cleaner (or worse yet, muriatic acid) on their new building. That’s why I always recommend cleaning new buildings the right way, with a purpose-formulated cleaner for the specific substrate and stain.
As design styles adopted a more modern aesthetic, brick producers began introducing a variety of brick colors besides red. They would incorporate different clay blends, metal salts, and use lower firing temperatures to produce gray, brown and lighter colors of brick. These different colors were more absorbent, more vulnerable to damage from cheap cleaners than traditional red bricks.
For new construction clean-down, muriatic acid and other cheap cleaning agents are the wrong decision. That’s because they can stain and burn your masonry, etch mortar joints and cause premature biological staining from water penetration. Prosoco products like 600 and Vanatrol are quality-controlled formulations and have been used successfully all around Western PA and West Virginia.
Put the right cleaners in your specs by name! Don't leave this up for interpretation; don't settle for anything less than the best.
Prosoco has your back. Check the handy chart below to see what cleaners are appropriate for your project.
Don't get burned...it's the FINAL WASHDOWN!!!
