When you buy an brick and cement house in México, you will quickly get up to speed on Salitre. Salitre is kind of acne for walls, and it’s a fact of life here. I wrote about it before in the post Salitre 101.
It took us a while to be ok with living a little salitre here and there on the walls, our NOB (north of the border) perspective was hard to change. But finally we realized that you can’t love these old houses and be into perfection. It just isn’t possible. So in the year and a half since we painted our house we’ve watched as we got a little bit of salitre – then a little more – and finally it got to be enough that it was time to repair it.
Before scraping
We went to Comex and got their recommended sealer and patching material, one for inside, and one for out. I bought a wire brush and a putty knife. I bought a sanding block. And of course, more paint. At the grocery store we bought muriatic acid.
The process is this:
- Scrape with the wire brush and putty knife until all loose material is removed
- Apply muriatic acid (50/50 acid/water solution)
Wait one day - Apply muriatic acid (50/50 acid/water solution)
Wait one day - Apply muriatic acid (50/50 acid/water solution)
Wait one day - Seal with sealer (1 part sealer to 5 parts water)
Wait one day - Fill with appropriate filler. Wait until it dries
- Seal with sealer (1 part sealer to 5 parts water)
Wait one day - Paint. As many coats as it takes to cover.
Scraped and treated with muriatic acid
So as you can see it can take the better part of a week to get one area completed. I have pretty much made a mess of the entire house as I go from place to place with my little routine. The hardest part is that you need to turn off fans when you’re scraping in order to keep from spreading the dust, so it gets HOT. I think I might be done with most of this by the end of next week, just in time for Paul to come home!
For those of you who are contemplating just painting over the salitre, you can be guaranteed it will be back, usually before three months are up. And if you paint with dark colors, the white salitre is really obvious, so you don’t want it to come back!
American Mommy in Mexico
July 18, 2009New one for me. Thanks for informative post. Lucky Paul.
Jonna
July 18, 2009I wish it were a new one for me. I’ve got more will to live with it than you do, I don’t want to go through all that. Someone pointed at a Rorschach splotch on the kitchen wall the other day and said “what’s that?” Age I replied, it’s just house wrinkles. I’ve decided it adds character. Anything unpleasant adds character, at least the way my mother saw the world. I’m getting there.
1st Mate
July 18, 2009So that’s what that ugly stuff is. I have it in the bedroom.
lindalou
July 19, 2009I guess we don’t have it…. yet. If you have it, do you have to get rid of it? Is it unhealthy? Or just bad to look at? I went back and read your original post and will have to let Bill know about that. Thanks Nancy!
Jan Ambrose
July 20, 2009We have had a small amount of it in the past and never repaired it until we painted the whole house. Do you think it’s related to being an ocean community? Good to know how to fix it. Thanks
Jesus
October 7, 2009El problema del salitre lo resolvimos en casa cambiando los primeros 60 centímetros de ladrillo por tabicón (un ladrillo de cemento)…luego se enjarra y pinta normal., esto evita la absorción de humedad desde el suelo salitrozo de la costa…saludos