House Turned Orange

[Ed Thompson]

Never had paint turn orange. But it wasnt the paint. The house really needs to be repainted and had alot of sun damaged spider cracks. The solid parts of the paint were ok but where the paint was cracked it bled orange, like rust. We started with regular house wash mix of bleach, water and ammonyx. After it turned orange we used f-13 gutter whitener and added a heavy dose of sodium hydroxide with brushes to remove the orange stains (not fun, 4 guys 4 hours). Im pretty sure they were asbestos shakes. Walked away with payment but initially there was panic. I would post a pic but Im on an Ipad. I have no idea what caused this reaction to chlorine.

 

[A-PLUS]

It's prolly rust from the nails.

 

[A to Z Roofing]

Good thing you got out of that one Ed, nothing worse than when stuff like this happens.

 

[Ed Thompson]

As I was driving there I had already put a number together of what I was going to have to pay to get this house painted. So yeah, it was a relief to walk away with $400 instead of it costing me $2400. Washed more houses than I could ever possibly count and never ran into this.

 

[Michael DeRose]

Ed im glad to hear that it worked out for you. It sucks that you had to spend an extra 8 hrs. but im glad you handled it and was able to walk away with a happy customer.

 

[Guy Blackmon]

Had that happen too. When house dried color went away, no idea why.


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[Chesapeake]

I've had the same thing happen several times on a certain brand of vinyl clad windows. Also recently happened on a white washed brick home we were cleaning. If it happens again, try oxalic acid. We just downstream oxalic over the problem areas and it cleans right up.

 

[Diamond Jim]

The house had lead paint . When mixed with bleach it will turn orange. Hit it with ox. This will stop the action of the bleach and get rid of the orange.

 

[FullBlast]

Hey glad it worked out for you Ed. I know the feel of panic. Not fun!!

 

[A to Z Roofing]

Good to know that the ox will counter the lead paint issues.

 

[Ed Thompson]

The paint did not turn color except where there were cracks in the paint. It did not all uniformly turn orange. I dont think it was the paint. And I would love to know why certain vinyl windows turn orange.

 

[Diamond Jim]

The house mix enters the cracks and reacts with the old paint and leaches out.I work on a lot of historic properties. Many materials in construction react different with the chems we use. You have to be ready to counter the issue or do more research and come up with the answers. Any or most orange issues are fixable with acid. Any advice I give on the boards are facts and from experience.

 

[Scott Stone]

Orange is oxidtion of metals. It happens with fleets, too sometimes. If there is no scale in the coil because of using DI water, or because you have run acid through it, you will get the orange appearing on trucks and cars.

At least, That is what I heard...

 

[Ed Thompson]

MAkes complete sense Scott. When this happened there were parts of the house that was exposed to a solid 4 o'clock sun. It was looking like the orange on these exposed parts were fading. Just like when vinyl casings turn orange they will clear up when the sun hits it. I don't feel vinyl windows turn orange because of a metal reaction. Lead would be the only available metal present that could of caused this.

 

[Grouper]

I just washed a white washed brick home that had those orange stains present too. I pointed it out to the customer before I started and I thought about trying some oxalic on it but chickened out. I'm always learning new things here and I am so thankful to all of you that share your knowledge. I'll give the oxalic a try next time I run into it. Thanks again for sharing, and I'm glad you were able to fix the problem Ed. Scott if you don't mind me asking what is DI water?

 

[Scott Stone]

Deionized water. It is you used in fleetwashing for a spot free rinse. What happens is the water is processed to remove the minerals, which is were the hardness of the water comes from. Curious thing, water does not conduct electricity, it is the dissolved minerals in the water that conduct electricity.

 

[Grouper]

Thanks Scott

 

[Larry Millette]

You should have just told them you added highlights to the house at no extra charge. I usually get tips for stuff like that.

 

[Ed Thompson]

Truthfully, using f-13 and sodium hydroxide worked, but I think because it moved the paint around. Like buffing an old car. The house looked pretty good when done. Couldve gotten the roof but there were 2 dormers stickin out. It was 6pm at this point and I just wanted out.