Steve writes:
>><< John Leeke, Preservation Consultant wrote:
>> > Bryan writes:
 >>> >>test the
 >>> concrete surface for salt deposits. This can be done with a high range
 >>> moisture meter, some blotter paper and water.<<
 >>>
 >>> Could you describe the procedure for this test? >>
>>Geesh you guys!  The standard test for salt (NaCl) is taste.  And, once you
>>know what Thenardite, Epsomite, and Trona taste like, you can identify
>>those
>>salts too.  Discretion is advised if you suspect Urea.

I have long known and used taste and smell as the practical chemical analysis
tool. I learned to taste the difference between incipient brown cubic rot and
incipient white rot from a old sawyer here in southern Maine. On my projects
we call it the Farm Yard Fhysics and Kitchen Kemistry methodology: borrowing
from the scientific, but not getting distracted by it, relying on our
practical sence of the world around us.

None the less, I really would like to know Bryan's method of using these
simple materials for a salts test.

John Leeke