Vinyl banner discoloration

Hello, rookie question here. Just posting to get some information on a recent job I did. I was cleaning the front of a store using %12.5 bleach. There was a vinyl banner with yellow lettering hanging on the store front and the yellow lettering turned into white/grey lettering. I've been using bleach a few years now but have never run into this. I thought vinyl would be unaffected by bleach? only the yellow lettering turned the rest of the banner was fine. I am trying to determine how to prevent this in the future. Am I wrong in thinking vinyl isn't affected by bleach? Thanks in advance for any comments!

Ps. (full disclosure) I did use a very hot (full 12.5%) for some very dark spots on by the sign. I usually try to avoid that but the marks just weren't lightening up.
 
From my understanding bleach would only effect organic materials, cause corrosion on metal surfaces and ruin the petina on brass and copper. Is it possible the banner was using organic dye or pigment?
 
From my understanding bleach would only effect organic materials, cause corrosion on metal surfaces and ruin the petina on brass and copper. Is it possible the banner was using organic dye or pigment?

Had to have been paint, probably was silk screened on.
 
Is this something you run into much? I guess what I am really getting at is do you have a system to avoid this type of damage or do you just know from experience what should be avoided?

Start out with dish soap. No SH and see what you get. Then go from there.
 
Vinyl can be affected by SH. My first question would be what type if stains were you trying to remove.


Doug Rucker
Clean and Green Solutions
Pressure Washing Roof Cleaning School
Call or Text 281.883.8470
 
Vinyl can be affected by SH. My first question would be what type if stains were you trying to remove.

Well at the time I believed it was just dirt and mold. There was dirt and mold there but under it was actually black caulking or paint residue from an old sign that I mistook as more mold so I ended up going much hotter than I needed to before I realized my mistake.

In what way does bleach effect vinyl?

Thanks for the replies. I need to expand my education on this subject.
 
Well at the time I believed it was just dirt and mold. There was dirt and mold there but under it was actually black caulking or paint residue from an old sign that I mistook as more mold so I ended up going much hotter than I needed to before I realized my mistake.

In what way does bleach effect vinyl?

Thanks for the replies. I need to expand my education on this subject.

SH is a wonderful chemical, but is also very powerful and can cause major damage. Too hot a mix will ruin vinyl siding, oxidize paint, pulp a wood deck, corrode metal, etc. So it must be used with care - meaning as sparingly as possible.

We clean a lot of vinyl and rarely need to go above 1%. The fence below was X-Jetted with Roof Snot and 1% SH.
 

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When using SH, I always look for the stain to begin to change colors and/or lighten, if it doesn't, then there really is no sense in going stronger. If it does, then you can go stronger if needed.
 
Rapid Hot Clean, That was one dirty fence! I'm still trying get my mix ratios more precise. Do you do any down streaming? If you do do you premix in a tank or do you use a metering valve straight from SH. I like using down streaming and I've been thinking of setting up something with a metering valve so I can more precisely control my mix, but haven't tried anything yet.
 
Rapid Hot Clean, That was one dirty fence! I'm still trying get my mix ratios more precise. Do you do any down streaming? If you do do you premix in a tank or do you use a metering valve straight from SH. I like using down streaming and I've been thinking of setting up something with a metering valve so I can more precisely control my mix, but haven't tried anything yet.

Pat, we never downstream. X-Jet only. A lot of guys take issue with that but hey, it's a dog and cat sort of a thing. Always has been and always will. lol
 
WARNING TO ALL!!! Most banners are now being digitally printed with different inks than have ever been used before. Most banners used to be vinyl cut letters. The new inks can and will react quickly to bleach. I also work in the flag and banner industry and know this for a fact. Digital print inks are taking over and I bet 70% of banners are being printed this way now and rising sharply all the time.
 
WOW!!!!!!!!!!
SH is a wonderful chemical, but is also very powerful and can cause major damage. Too hot a mix will ruin vinyl siding, oxidize paint, pulp a wood deck, corrode metal, etc. So it must be used with care - meaning as sparingly as possible.

We clean a lot of vinyl and rarely need to go above 1%. The fence below was X-Jetted with Roof Snot and 1% SH.
 
WARNING TO ALL!!! Most banners are now being digitally printed with different inks than have ever been used before. Most banners used to be vinyl cut letters. The new inks can and will react quickly to bleach. I also work in the flag and banner industry and know this for a fact. Digital print inks are taking over and I bet 70% of banners are being printed this way now and rising sharply all the time.

Jeff, that's good to know. Thanks for posting it.
 
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