Retaining Wall Rust Stain 2

[ee90]

Good Afternoon

I am a long-time reader first time posting, I was doing an inspection in a 5-year-old house and saw this, they are rust stains in the foundation walls but the look uniform and I can’t see any spalling or cracks.

Have no idea of what’s happening in here, humidity is super high in the house.

any idea?

 

[JoshPlumSE]

Have they been there a long time, or is this new?

It's hard to tell from the picture, but it doesn't look like rust to me. Looks more like dirt or a paint problem.

 

[rowingengineer]

Need more info as the cause can be may different reasons, in my local area we have deep draw bores that pull up a lot of minerals from the clay which cause this issue. However it could just as easily be the type of brick on the house having a higher iron content behind the surface finish.

My suggestion would be to plot out the affected areas, I can see a deck, does it happen under the deck? Is it only occurring where sprinkler systems hit the wall or rain water. I would also find out the type of brick masonry and see if it has rust type base. Once you have this info we can probably get to the root cause.

 

[EdStainless]

Fe in the water + lawn sprinklers = red walls
Is this FL?

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[dauwerda]

Agree with EdStainless. This looks exactly like every house in my parents neighborhood. Everyone is on well water and the water is very high in iron, many people have orange tubs and toilets as well.

 

[ee90]

Good Morning

thank you all for the response.
JoshPlumSE the house is 5 years old and it has had 0 maintenance, not a speck of fresh paint.
When you pass your hand thru the surface of the wall it comes back orange, exactly like touching rusted rebars.
This part should be poured concrete according to plans, unless the EOR changed it on site and didn’t record it on red lines (big possibility because of the levels) and if he did, he used concrete, cinder blocks, Brick is not common nor allowed for structural proposes in my country.
This is the detail on plans.

A colleague thought as well as rowingengineer and EdStainless. Some gardening chemical or iron in the water, but the water is not from well, Therese a drinking water plant about 1.5km “upstream"

 

[LittleInch]

Is it something to do with the window opening?

Is the concrete or render corner strip washing particles onto the walls? There is no lip or window sill here which might allow water t pond on the flat bit in front of the window frame?

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[EdStainless]

My D&SiL live in the Palm Beach area, on city water.
He uses a special cleaner on the house, sidewalk, and the cars to remove rust staining.
High Mn levels in the water make this worse.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed