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The concrete walls in my dad’s basement are parged with a white sanded plaster. In several locations where there had been water infiltration problems the plaster has a very pronounced pink hue. I am guessing that this is some type of effloresence effect… the salts from the concrete reacting with the plaster. The plaster is intact and not flaking, just pink. I would like to paint the walls white to clean them up. Any ideas on what this pink stuff is? Any advice on cleaning, surface prep, priming/stain killing, and type of paint? THANKS.
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Tom, maybe there's iron in the water. Try priming with rustoleum rusty metal primer.
*Use shellac-based Kilz first, then paint as usual.
*The pink stuff was a continuous band, about 12 to 18 inches high from the base of the wall, around the entire basement wall, worse where there had been leakage from a crack. Washed it off with a stiff brush, tsp, and plenty of rinsing. It seemed to dissolve off the surface. Other stains (dirt, rust) wouldn't budge from the rough surface. Wonder what it was?