An insurance co. called me yesterday and wanted a quote on washing one side of a house with vinyl siding. The house has a direct vent for the furnace and the something went wrong-blowback or whatever. So i went to take a look and tried a test spot. First I used a sodium metasilicate cleaner. Needed something stronger so I used a mildly caustic non-butyl cleaner and did a little better. There's just a liitle soot stain left on the test spot. I scrubbed it with a brush and a little better again. So, on this test spot I'd say I got 90-95 percent of this stuff off. not good enough. I called my pw dealer/chem dealer and he said two step it. He said use an aluminum cleaner then wash with soduim metasilicate and it would work like magic. I've done some searches but came up with nothing definitive so I'm hoping someone could give me a tip or two. The insurance co. doesn't want to pay for this womans house to be sided so they are looking for a quick turn-around (if you can believe that) and actually said they don't have time to look for more estimates from other pw'ers. Any help would be appreciated.
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soot on vinyl
- Thread starter mark-b
- Start date
Sodium metasilicate is not a cleaning agent by itself. It may be used as part of a component in a chemical degreaser, where it would react with fatty acids (animal grease) to form a soap, which is then rinsed away.
It's a strong base (reacts violently with acids). The pH of a 1% aqueous solution is about 13. A major use is as a builder (a material that enhances or maintains the cleaning efficiency of a surfactant, principally by inactivating water hardness) in soaps and detergents.
I've used non-caustic butyl based cleaner (that contained Sodium Metasilicate) successfully to remove soot from vinyl siding. (I personally like SunBrite's All-Brite, but there are other choices.)
You may have to apply it as a pre-spray, use straight to diluted up to 1:10. I also add pool shock to the 1:25 mix when final washing. (The 1:25 is the final mix as it hits the substrate.)
or, ...You may just decide to go directly to "Two-Stepping":
Apply an acid based cleaner (such as a Hydro Fluoric acid, Phosphoric acid or Hydrochloric based cleaners), allow a few minutes of dwell time; without rinsing, apply you high pH cleaner - the sodium metasilicate will react with the acid and provide your cleaning action; allow dwell time; rinse thoroughly.
Don’t allow the acid based cleaner to dry on the surface, as dry acid will not give you the chemical reaction you’re looking. Also do not allow the acid based cleaner to stay on the glass too long, as it can etch glass. Do not allow the high pH based cleaner to dry on the surface of glass as it will form a film which is difficult to clean.
As always, use caution with acid based and all types of chemicals. Read MSDS sheets and keep them with you on each job.
Remember: "Safety First and Make IT Last!"
It's a strong base (reacts violently with acids). The pH of a 1% aqueous solution is about 13. A major use is as a builder (a material that enhances or maintains the cleaning efficiency of a surfactant, principally by inactivating water hardness) in soaps and detergents.
I've used non-caustic butyl based cleaner (that contained Sodium Metasilicate) successfully to remove soot from vinyl siding. (I personally like SunBrite's All-Brite, but there are other choices.)
You may have to apply it as a pre-spray, use straight to diluted up to 1:10. I also add pool shock to the 1:25 mix when final washing. (The 1:25 is the final mix as it hits the substrate.)
or, ...You may just decide to go directly to "Two-Stepping":
Apply an acid based cleaner (such as a Hydro Fluoric acid, Phosphoric acid or Hydrochloric based cleaners), allow a few minutes of dwell time; without rinsing, apply you high pH cleaner - the sodium metasilicate will react with the acid and provide your cleaning action; allow dwell time; rinse thoroughly.
Don’t allow the acid based cleaner to dry on the surface, as dry acid will not give you the chemical reaction you’re looking. Also do not allow the acid based cleaner to stay on the glass too long, as it can etch glass. Do not allow the high pH based cleaner to dry on the surface of glass as it will form a film which is difficult to clean.
As always, use caution with acid based and all types of chemicals. Read MSDS sheets and keep them with you on each job.
Remember: "Safety First and Make IT Last!"