Efflock

Efflock is a liquid additive mixed into cement based materials such as screeds, renders, mortars, tile adhesives and grouts. It makes the set material water repellent right through the mass rather than just at the face, which limits the movement of moisture and the dissolved salts that surface as efflorescence and salt damp. Because the repellency is built into the material itself, it is not lost when the surface wears or hairline cracks open up.

Dosage is set as a proportion of the mix, so the amount you need depends on the volume of screed, render, adhesive or grout you are batching rather than on floor area alone. Work out the volume of every cementitious layer you intend to treat, then apply the recommended dose rate for each of those materials. The technical data sheet on the product page sets out the dose for each application, and our team can sanity check your figures before you order.

The initial bloom after construction often fades once the free lime in the mix is spent, but efflorescence that keeps coming back means water is still moving through the material and carrying salts to the surface. Cleaning the face treats the symptom and not the cause, which is why the staining returns after the next wet spell. An additive like Efflock targets the mechanism instead, making the cementitious material water repellent so there is far less opportunity for those salts to migrate.

It is used wherever damp moving through cement based materials causes problems: bathroom and laundry screeds, balconies and podiums, planter boxes and retaining walls, pool surrounds, rendered masonry and paving. Tilers commonly add it to the screed, the adhesive and the grout so the whole tile bed is treated as one system rather than leaving an untreated layer for water to track through. It is also used in mortar and render on brick and block work exposed to salt attack or rising damp.

No. Efflock is an admixture that reduces water absorption and salt movement within the cementitious layers themselves, and it is not a membrane. Wet area and external waterproofing work in Australia is still governed by the relevant standards such as AS 3740 and AS 4654, so the membrane specified for the job still has to be installed and detailed properly. Treat Efflock as added protection for the screed, bed and grout that sit around that membrane.

Efflock is a concentrate that is diluted and then used in place of part of the gauging water for each batch. Keep the total water content of the mix the same as it would normally be so the workability and strength of the screed or render are not affected. Mixing is otherwise unchanged, with no special plant, primers or extra curing steps required on site.

We stock Efflock and ship it Australia wide, and it is ordered from a single product page with the container size chosen at checkout. The same concentrate is offered in a small container suited to one bathroom or wet area, a mid size container for a house lot, and a bulk container for builders running an ongoing programme of screeding, rendering or tiling. If you are unsure which size covers your work, call the team with your screed and render volumes and we will match the right one to the job.