DIY

1102 readers

1 users here now

For DIY - this is also a placeholder.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

Hareuhal

Acid? On wooden shelves in shed - how to fix? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by tobylemming to c/diy

3 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi, I am wondering if anyone could please help identify the white powder substance that is appearing on the shelves on my shed?

I think it may be some type of acid? It appears to be eating away at the metal of my shelves. I have previously brushed the shelves down to clear this before but it has returned, so I suspect I may need to use some sort of cleaner?

There was a leak in the roof for a few months and some tools became rusty as a result. The leak has been sorted but I wonder if it could be related to the powder substance.

top 3 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Hmm, this kind of stuff is usually a result of water acting as a solvent pulling salts and similar substances from a substrate and later evaporating, leaving the powder behind.

It is probably something that was used to treat the plywood or a combination of that with the zinc coating of the metal (zinc-sulfate?).

Edit: probably sodium-borate, as that seems to be prone to leaching from wood treated with it.

[–] carl_dungeon 2 points 2 weeks ago

Just looks like water damage- if you really think it’s acid, scrub it up with a baking soda and water solution. Once it’s dry, you could seal with some paint or leftover stain.

[–] tobylemming 1 points 1 week ago

Thank you both, great information. I plan to clean the shelves down over winter, I will try some baking soda, then give them a coat of whatever I have lying around to seal the wood.