Recently soft washed my the side of my buddy’s vinyl house was getting grimy and green, everything turned out good and looked great rinsed and washed off all the sh and surrounding vegetation, a few days later he messaged me and said the painted cinder block wall turned greenish? not sure if this was dude to a reaction with the paint or me not rinsing enough? I’m new to this and I’d like to know if anyone out there has any suggestions, would like to know if this is something that can be fixed. thanks
What color was the paint before?
It was just a grey/concrete color, you can see the original color in the picture compared to the greenish areas around it, I do know it was painted with Sherwin Williams paint
Probably bleached out or oxidized how hot was your mix? Did you use a surfactant if so what type? Also is the siding green above it?
I was using just household bleach for that one job he’s a buddy of mine so it was 6%, I used about maybe two gallons in a 13 gallon tank. I normally use 12.5 and never have any issues with it, I did not use any type of surfactant this was after the wash
I would think you might’ve bleached that out or caused some sort of reaction with the paint then, don’t know why it would be so uneven like that if you washed that part aswell, maybe one the more experienced guys knows something I dont
as you can see in the picture I took right after the wash it almost looks like it was already a little greenish? I’m wondering if that’s just how it is or if another soft wash or even a pressure wash would help it or make it worse, or any chemicals that may help as well, thanks for the feedback
Doesn’t take long to bleach paint, whatever happened definitely already happened in the post wash pic
I had no idea something like that could
Happen so quickly, even after rinsing. I’m thinking maybe my mix was too hot even though I was using regular household bleach and I maybe didn’t rinse good enough? Now I have to figure out how to fix it, he’s a good friend of mine. Really kicking myself in the butt over here
And the main thing is how can I prevent this from happening on future jobs
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That is strange. I’ve hit painted foundations with straight SH in a pump sprayer before and never seen that happen. Try treating it again. Any chance it still has algae on it? Either way it’s an easy fix to paint it. Better the foundation than the siding.
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Yeah I’m over here scratching my head, not really sure what to do, I figured bleach would lighten and brighten the paint if anything, not turn it greenish
Bleach acts on paint just as fast as it does on algae/ mildew, were you downstreaming the sh?
Chlorox has some sodium hydroxide in it. I was just reading a thread where someone had a customer come out and wipe the oxidation streaks off their gutters with Clorox bleach. I’d suggest not using household bleach but I have no other guesses as to what may have caused your issue.
You’ve got nothing to lose now, go back and hit a section with a pump up with about a 3-4% mix and see what happens. Use your regular 12.5% instead of the Clorox.
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I used my 4gpm 12v north start soft wash system, I was out of my regular 12.5sh so I figured I’d just use some household 6% bleach, I’ll probably go back and try a test spot and see what happens using my normal 12.5 sh and see what happens, I just don’t Want this to happen again for future jobs luckily he is my buddy and is being cool about it. I wouldn’t want this to happen on an actual clients house and Be liable. someone told me Sherwin Williams paint has been known to not do well with bleach? Any one else heard this?
SW organic pigmented paints can cause issues.
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Maybe there was something in the bleach you used that caused it. Maybe it was Sherwin Williams paint on the foundation.
I’m going back out tomorrow to re treat it with normal 12.5 sh and see what happens, I’ll give an update and take some pictures If it works out, thanks for all the support
Some Sherwin Williams paints use organic pigments. We all know what SH does to organics. See if you can find out the name of the Sherwin William’s paint that was used. If anything we can at least eliminate it as the cause.
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