TL;DR
Efflorescence is the white, powdery crystalline deposit that forms on concrete, brick, and pavers when water migrating through the material dissolves soluble salts and leaves them behind as it evaporates at the surface. It is cosmetic on new masonry and usually weathers away within a season or two, but recurring blooms signal a continuing moisture path worth tracing.
What it means
Efflorescence is the white, powdery crystalline deposit that forms on concrete, brick, and pavers when water migrating through the material dissolves soluble salts and leaves them behind as it evaporates at the surface. It is cosmetic on new masonry and usually weathers away within a season or two, but recurring blooms signal a continuing moisture path worth tracing. It brushes or washes off; painting or sealing over an active source just traps the salts and pops the coating.
Where it sits in the glossary
Efflorescence is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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