Masonry Cleaning and Sealing in Skaneateles

Skaneateles Lake is the City of Syracuse's drinking water supply and the watershed carries its own rules. A project located in an environmentally sensitive area that disturbs 5,000 square feet or more of land is required to submit an Erosion and Stormwater Control Plan, and the guidance states that this applies to most of the Skaneateles Lake Watershed. Copies of the plan must be submitted to the City of Syracuse Water Department at least ten business days before any land disturbance activity, and anyone building a project that needs a local building permit, another land disturbance permit or a shoreline permit must also send copies of the application to the City of Syracuse Water Department.

Source: The Skaneateles Lake Watershed Website, Soil and Erosion Plans, published by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County with support from the City of Syracuse, under the Skaneateles Lake Watershed Rules and Regulations, accessed 2026-09-14

The Town of Skaneateles is the exception to the stormwater regime that covers the rest of this metro. Its annex to the county hazard mitigation plan records that it is not a regulated Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, has no stormwater management plan and is not a member of the Central New York Stormwater Coalition, though it does have a stormwater management ordinance. The Village of Skaneateles records that it is a regulated MS4 but has neither a stormwater management ordinance nor a stormwater management plan. Every other municipality in this metro, including Clay, Cicero, Camillus, Manlius, Salina, DeWitt, Onondaga, Lysander, Marcellus and the villages of Baldwinsville, Liverpool, Solvay, East Syracuse, North Syracuse, Fayetteville, Manlius, Marcellus and Camillus, records MS4 designation, a stormwater ordinance, a stormwater plan and Coalition membership.

Source: Onondaga County, New York, 2025 Hazard Mitigation Plan, Town of Skaneateles Annex and Village of Skaneateles Annex, Onondaga County Department of Planning, accessed 2026-09-14

In the Town of Skaneateles, 12.9 percent of the mapped soil area is classed poorly drained, somewhat poorly drained or very poorly drained, and 41.8 percent is classed well drained. Honeoye silt loam covers about 19.7 percent of the town on 3 to 8 percent slopes and about 9.2 percent on 8 to 15 percent slopes, Lima silt loam about 12.4 percent, and about 12.7 percent of the mapped area is open water, which is Skaneateles Lake.

Source: United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil Survey Geographic Database for Onondaga County New York, survey area NY067, queried through the Soil Data Access service, accessed 2026-09-14

Median owner-occupied home value, owner-occupancy rate and the share of housing that is single-family detached vary widely across this metro. Skaneateles village reports a median value of 647,100 dollars with 75.5 percent owner occupancy, the Town of Skaneateles 457,800 dollars, Radisson 313,600 dollars, the DeWitt census place 297,600 dollars, the Town of Lysander 288,400 dollars, Manlius village 263,300 dollars, Fayetteville village 258,700 dollars, the Town of Manlius 253,600 dollars, the Town of Marcellus 245,700 dollars, the Town of DeWitt 243,500 dollars, Marcellus village 225,600 dollars, the Town of Cicero 221,200 dollars, Baldwinsville village 219,900 dollars, the Town of Camillus 209,000 dollars, the Town of Clay 205,900 dollars, Liverpool village 189,600 dollars, the Town of Van Buren 169,600 dollars, Camillus village 164,200 dollars, North Syracuse village 163,000 dollars, the Town of Salina 160,500 dollars, Solvay village 150,000 dollars, the City of Syracuse 138,400 dollars and East Syracuse village 126,200 dollars. The county median is 200,200 dollars.

Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table B25003 Tenure, table B25077 Median Value, and table B25024 Units in Structure, accessed 2026-09-14

Efflorescence needs three things at once. Technical Note 23A states that soluble salts must be present within or in contact with the masonry, that a source of water must be in contact with the salts long enough to dissolve them, and that a pore structure must be present that allows the salt solution to migrate to a surface where the water can evaporate, driven by a temperature or humidity gradient. It adds that the assumption that the brick causes efflorescence is usually incorrect, because the soluble compounds most commonly originate in the materials in contact with the brick, such as mortar, grout, concrete masonry, concrete or soil.

Source: Brick Industry Association, Technical Note 23A, Efflorescence: Causes and Prevention, accessed 2026-09-14

The hardscape equivalent of the same problem has a named failure mode. The sealing guidance lists the conditions under which a sealer or liquid stabilizer will whiten on a paver surface: the surface and joints are not dry, the pavers have not had an adequate period of exposure to moisture, there is a source of efflorescence under the pavers in the sand, base or soil moving up through the joint sand or the pavers, or the sealer is not breathable, meaning it does not allow moisture to move through to the surface of the paver and evaporate. It adds that if the base under the pavers drains poorly, the sealer is applied to saturated joint sand, or it is applied too thick, the sealer can become cloudy and diminish the appearance of the pavers, and in that situation the sealer must be removed or re-dissolved.

Source: Concrete Masonry and Hardscapes Association, PAV-TEC-005, Cleaning, Sealing and Joint Sand Stabilization of Interlocking Concrete Pavement, accessed 2026-09-14

Sealing is a recurring appearance choice, not a one-time structural upgrade. The guidance states that sealers are applied to add further protection from stains, oils, dirt or water, that most sealers change the appearance of the paver surface by darkening it and enhancing the surface color, and that sealers normally require reapplication after a period of wear and weather, with the interval depending on use, climate and the quality of the sealer. It separately notes that joint sand stabilizers and sealers are two distinct products with overlapping functions, the stabilizer's primary job being to keep joint sand in place against flowing water, wind, aggressive cleaning, tire action and the intrusion of organic matter, seeds and insects.

Source: Concrete Masonry and Hardscapes Association, PAV-TEC-005, Cleaning, Sealing and Joint Sand Stabilization of Interlocking Concrete Pavement, accessed 2026-09-14

A sealer can make the problem worse in a specific, documented way. Technical Note 23A states that applying a coating to brickwork that has a tendency to effloresce, without stopping the mechanisms causing that efflorescence, may lead to degradation of the masonry, and that applying a coating that inhibits evaporation may also lead to degradation. As water and dissolved salts travel toward a coated surface they may be stopped at the inner margin of the coating, usually 1/8 to 1/4 inch below the surface, where the water evaporates through the treated zone as vapor and the salts crystallize inside the masonry. That is called cryptoflorescence or subflorescence, and the Technical Note states these salts can develop tremendous pressures which may result in brick spalling. For that reason, coatings are not recommended as the sole treatment for efflorescence problems.

Source: Brick Industry Association, Technical Note 23A, Efflorescence: Causes and Prevention, accessed 2026-09-14

Masonry should not be cleaned during freezing weather or when freezing weather is expected, because most cleaning methods saturate the wall with water and that water can freeze on or inside the masonry and damage it. Technical Note 1 recommends that water-based cleaning methods be used only if the ambient temperature will be 40 degrees Fahrenheit or above and will remain so until the brickwork is dry.

Source: Brick Industry Association, Technical Note 1, Hot and Cold Weather Construction, accessed 2026-09-14