What's this, chaps?

[Cozzer]

Inside cellar wall....it's like the crystal maze.
If it glints any more under torchlight, I might open it up as Santa's grotto in a few weeks...
The walls have been "painted" - with what? - over red brick at some time (previous resident, more than 25 years ago), but this white fluffy stuff is taking hold wherever brick is visible.
It's not wet down there...nothing metal is rusting...but it does tend to get a bit sweaty/humid if you're down there for very long.

Anything good I can slap on the wall to stop it?

 

[Agent_zed]

Salts coming out of the bricks https://etbricks.co.uk/brick-articles/efflorescence-on-bricks-the-causes-prevention-and-cure/

 

[duke]

Efflorescence as Agent_zed posted.

 

[Richard_C]

Chaps? Is it not possible that a non-chap might know what it is? Cultural fast rewind to 19th century perhaps.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Don't know what salt coming out of brickwork looks like - but in a cellar it suggests the walls may be 100+ years old and any salt should have dispersed decades ago.

I would be more concerned that it is a fungal growth due to moist, relatively warm conditions and limited air flow. Could be health issue. Or I could be wrong but is it worth taking the risk.

 

[duke]

It is the salt in the moisture which travels through the brick wall.
Exterior to interior.

 

[Cozzer]

Chaps? Is it not possible that a non-chap might know what it is? Cultural fast rewind to 19th century perhaps.

Oh dear...

 

[Cozzer]

I would be more concerned that it is a fungal growth due to moist, relatively warm conditions and limited air flow. Could be health issue. Or I could be wrong but is it worth taking the risk.

Hmmmm.....
Good point, and well made, Terry - Somerset.
No heat source down there. Couple of air bricks that I can see through. Constant temperature, I'd think. A fridge freezer and another small fridge. Come to think, both have been down there - and running - for almost 20 years, so I'm assuming they're both OK with the environment....
So... effloresence or fungal growth.
How to find out which?

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Hmmmm.....
Good point, and well made, Terry - Somerset.
No heat source down there. Couple of air bricks that I can see through. Constant temperature, I'd think. A fridge freezer and another small fridge. Come to think, both have been down there - and running - for almost 20 years, so I'm assuming they're both OK with the environment....
So... effloresence or fungal growth.
How to find out which?

Could look at this site Mould. If not sure and it needs sorting it can do no harm to use a mould/fungus remover just to make sure.

 

[Jason Wheeler]

If it’s crunchy it’s salt - if it’s soft it’s not….

If it is on the dry crunchy side scrape some into a pot with some water to dissolve it then put a multimeter in set to resistance - if it’s a saline solution the resistance will be way lower than water - or drop in a shiny copper coin and see if it tarnishes it…

Or be brave and put on chips….

 

[Stigmorgan]

As above, crunchy/crispy it's salt, soft/furry it's fungal/mould, if it's mould do NOT use bleach to try remove it, you'll supercharge it and it will rapidly spread everywhere.

 

[stuart little]

Could well be salt, from when salted pork, for example, was hung, in the days of no fridges. In the scullery of my childhood home, a Victorian {or older] lodge, we could never get wall paper to stick. Salt crystals used to form, it was from hanging salted sides of pork before our time, which was the general consensus.

 

[okeydokey]

Is chapess or chappete helpful?
Or is folks best to use

 

[Fergie 307]

Folks is a pretty safe term I would have thought

 

[dizjasta]

The image suggests a mould. First test for a remedy would be white vinegar sprayed on to contaminated surface. Start with a 1 to 1 dilution of white vinegar and warm water.

 

[thanos999]

it could be saltpeter its normally found in cellars used to make gunpowder is the only use i no its used for and i mean proper black powder gunpowder

 

[BC'er]

Whatever it is, it is a clear sign that you need to dig down outside to the bottom of the wall or pad/footings, pressure wash and then when dry, waterproof the wall through which the seepage is occurring with a roll-on tar water-proofing. There really is no other solution and better drainage may also be required.

Of course it could be "wicking" upwards as well, so remediation might be more involved that that.

If it's mold there is a Canadian product that will kill it dead. Thymol is the active ingredient about 2-3% IIRC. The stuff can be sprayed onto almost any surface and simply allowed to dry. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Benefect-Cd33Gl-Botanical-Decon-30/dp/B00F17QMN6

Non-toxic to humans and very good for moldy cars too.

 

[dickm]

it could be saltpeter its normally found in cellars used to make gunpowder is the only use i no its used for and i mean proper black powder gunpowder

As a kid 70 odd years ago, my family used to "salt down" a side of bacon from time to time and pretty sure saltpeter was used in the mixture for that. A cellar would be a likely place for that to be done?

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Saltpetre is potassium nitrate and the original (I think) "chemical" used for curing all kinds of meat products - bacon, beef, salami etc.

It stops the meat going grey when cooked and (I assume) prolongs its shelf life.

Nothing to do with growth on cellar walls!!

 

[Croolis]

Saltpetre is potassium nitrate and the original (I think) "chemical" used for curing all kinds of meat products - bacon, beef, salami etc.

It stops the meat going grey when cooked and (I assume) prolongs its shelf life.

Nothing to do with growth on cellar walls!!

I once made salt beef with sodium nitrite. This is not saltpetre, which is, as you say, potassium nitrate. I am just having a read 'cos I forget and am seeing that food needs nitrites to cure, so in a salptetre cure the nitrates become nitrites over a long time, so some meats that had very long curing time used saltpetre, whereas corned beef etc. used nitrite and so got a quicker cure 'cos didn;t have to wait for the transformation.

Which is why salpetre is not recommended any more for health reasons (nitrates bad).

Boring but true