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We all know this winter just hasn’t been the nicest to all of us out there over the last couple of months, with all the rain followed by small dry spells has left us with one our most unique winters to date.
 
Despite all this bad weather it’s important that everyone keeps their cool and makes the right actions about protecting their bricks from the elements during the brick laying process.  For those that don’t know; excess water that migrates through the bricks can often draw the water-soluble vanadium salts (that occur naturally in the kilning process) and manganese coloring to the surface of the brick when the excess water has dried away.
 
 
Vanadium and Manganese staining are neither permanent nor harmful and don’t indicate any defects in the block, however it is important that the staining is removed before any Hydrochloric acid is applied to the block work. If Hydrochloric Acid has been applied to the bricks before the salts have had time to surface or have been washed away they can become insoluble and very difficult to remove. 
 
 
When battling Vanadium and Manganese stains the best policy to ensure stain free bricks is prevention, keeping your bricks out of the rain, dry and covered up during the laying process can ultimately ensure minimal problems with staining. However things don’t always go as planned and there is no predicting the weather, so the next plan of attack is how do I remove this without ruining my block work?
 
 
The next section outlines the difference between manganese and vanadium salts. However people must remember that although staining of this can happen; it is quite rare and more common to a couple of types of bricks. Also because this phenomenon is a natural occurrence across the brick manufacturing industry it can effects all brands of bricks.
 
Click on the following Links for more infomation: Manganese
                                                                    Vanadium


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