So this guy reached out today. He swears we washed his house last year. I’ve got no record of him, or pics of it, so I’m guessing he has us mixed up with someone else… which is fine. If he had it washed last year, that’s one hell of a mess he’s got going for that time period. 
That said, if this were vinyl it would be a piece of cake decent work, but he says it’s cedar. Not really sure about treating that without issue. Anyone?
oxalic does take care of rust, and brightens wood… I’ve got nothing…
Therein lies the rub… not trying to do the whole house… Also, if it got that bad that fast, they need to fix the source first, obviously.
looks like an AC condensation line above the top window.
Ask the F9 guys.
Yeah, usually a rusty drip pan, but rare that it goes and rusts it up that bad in a year or 2… if the guy is correct on that.
Im with @Redjess on this. Thats the condensate line for the ac. Somebody cleared out that line and left a mess on the house or the evaporator coil has disintegrated and is slowly dripping down the house. Definitely not your problem but for x amount of dollars im sure you can fix it for him. Some people are always trying to blame someone else for their problems
I appreciate all the replies and the effort, but I know what the problem is… the question was
I’ll try F9, but usually the response is, “yeah, it will take care of rust”… which we all know. The question becomes what will it do to the cedar, lol
F9 is an acid, and the acid is what attacks the rust. You could try multiple applications of a weaker acid, or charge them through the roof to have someone soft brush with a weak acid solution and rinse.
When you do wood restoration, the last thing you do is the acid to neutralize the ph. Then you flush with water. The bigger question is the paint. My problem with using oxalic is that it IMHO based on my experiences* tends to leave lighter colored paints with a yellowish tint. I’m saying this, but you probably already know, I would say I am removing the rust, but it might discolor or remove some paint.
Those are my suggestions----not solutions. If it was me, I would soft brush with the weak solution then step up if it didn’t work. Just watch the windows, obviously, so the acid doesn’t etch them. The pic makes it seem like it is all over the trim and those vent covers. It looks like white washed/painted cedar or it is very grey/silver based on what the pics look like on my PC…
Walk away
I was contemplating running…
off he insisted you cleaned it, red flag from the start if you didn’t. sounds like there is blame plane looking to land somewhere.
When I say F9, I mean ask Craig on the Facebook group. I’m sure there is a process for it. I’d sift through the cookbook but too lazy.
Just hide it with Christmas lights and a big blow up Santa.
Now you want me to rejoin Facebook after nearly 10 years? I’ll just take Racer’s advice…
Now we’re thinking!! No Santas though. I may have a lifesized Nutcracker… or 8
There’s absolutely no upside to it. 1) He’s not going to want to pay you to send a couple of guys out there for a couple of hours plus the cost of chems. 2)At best you get most of it off but I’d be willing to bet that by the time you do, then that stained cedar will be a lighter shade. Then you’ll have to send a painter over there and hope they can get it matched close enough to so that whole side of house doesn’t need to be painted. At worse, you can’t get it all out of the wood and you’re still back at #2.
Tell him to get drain fixed and rec a good painter to him.
It sounds like you want to take this on lol
Like racer said
You can let him know upfront that that’s a possibility and that he may need to get a painter after. Be sure to word that in the estimate somehow that the stained cedar could lose it’s color, you’re not liable for that, and you recommend homeowner to paint cedar after.
You could run, which is what I would do or you just have him sign a waiver.
Honestly, I saw 1 of 2 outcomes when I posted this…
I was going to say no unless #2 happened. My last text with them said “I’ll see what our network of industry experts have to say about the cedar situation. I am afraid it’s not going to be a good result though.”
