Yellow Wall experiment

ALANSD · 07-10-2006, 11:10 AM

My 78 Sovereign project has been held up by the yellowed bedroom area walls. The po painted the front living area ( yucchy off white, being redone), but the bedroom is amazingly disgustingly yellowish brown. When we pulled off the pad on the mid-wall to redo it, the contrast was strong, between the original (covered up) silvery-grey and the exposed yellow mess.
I have read tons of posts on this and nothing worked. Sorry, a combination of age, cooking, maybe smoking although no odor was detected, and the leeching thru of felx agents made this a tough job.
Determined as I am not to paint or strip, I tackled this using a line of cleaners starting with the mildest and going to the strongest ...see photo, though not in order in the picture, I used
Orange Cleaner, Tuff stuff upholstery/vinyl cleaner/ windex/ Grease Lightnin'/ Awesome ( a great cleaner for 1.00 from the Everythings a dollar store).
Then graduated to Armstrong Vinyl Floor stripper/ Hot Shot / Zep Cleaner/ Castrol Super Clean ( now sold as Super clean no Castrol name anymore...purple and strong stuff)
Lastly after some improvement, very clean and shiny but still yellow walls, I got a spray bottle and filled it with Outdoor Clorox Bleach ( for plastic furniture) and about 10%-20% water.
The results are in....finally most ( not yet all) of the yellowing is gone.
I soaked, scrubbed with a stiff brush, washed it off with a wet cloth, soaked and started again three times so far.
It is a noticeable improvement.
If you are going to tackle this job, I suggest you start with a good cleaner like the Super Clean, then go roght to the outdoor bleach, being sure to cover or remove everything you don't want this stuff on.
Rubber gloves, mask, and good open window fresh air is a necessity.
The photo shows the "before" .... I will post the after later....

dmreilly10000 · 07-10-2006, 11:23 AM

My 2 cents:

Do use a respirator if you use bleach or some of the other stronger chemicals inside your trailer. I made myself sick one time when I cleaned the whole interior of my 1953 Cruiser with bleach.

Don't just use a dust mask, use an "organic vapor respirator" like the one at this website: http://www.probuy.net/products/MKIT1.html

Minnie's Mate · 07-10-2006, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmreilly10000

My 2 cents:

Do use a respirator if you use bleach or some of the other stronger chemicals inside your trailer. I made myself sick one time when I cleaned the whole interior of my 1953 Cruiser with bleach.

Don't just use a dust mask, use an "organic vapor respirator" like the one at this website: http://www.probuy.net/products/MKIT1.html

Unfortunately, unless Alan has got rid of his beard since the last time I saw him, this type of mask won't work. I have a beard and have to use a full face SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus). The full face mask will run a couple hundred plus the tank and back pack. Or if you are a diver, just use your dive tank and regulator with a close pin on your nose.

Seriously though folks, the beard will allow vapors to enter among the facial hairs since there is less resistance than the filter has. Same with a mustache.

juel · 07-10-2006, 01:18 PM

Try Marine Clean from the Por15 folks. Balrgn suggested it to me and I used it on the inside and outside of my 78 Argosy. It's wonderful. The only drawback is that you must rinse it off with a wet rag; however, I no longer have sticky yellow walls and ceilings in my trailer. I think it will, at the least, give you a clean surface on which to work if you decide to paint inside or put up vinyl wall coverings.

InsideOut · 07-10-2006, 01:29 PM

What about Dow Scrubbing Bubbles...I didn't see them in your list of cleaners tried.

Shari

ALANSD · 07-10-2006, 04:20 PM

Did not try the Dow Stuff. The first cleaners took off the stickiness, Super Clean did just that! But as for the yellow, only the bleach spray worked.
I understand this is not good for aluminum, so I have been careful to only get it on the vinyl, covered all below with plastic and washed down with a wet cloth when done. So far it looks 90% back to original.
Good ideas on the respirators,,to be safe. I have all windows open, a/c fan only on, and a mask, recommended for chemical fumes, hopefully that's been enough ....

airstream4 · 07-10-2006, 06:02 PM

I ran thru a long list of products that others claimed worked great! Apparently every trailer is a little differant!
Out of frustration I used SOS pads and that produced some results, I then used Krud Kutter available at Ace hardware and Home Depot and like magic my walls cleaned up! My walls were very sticky and full of Nn-see-um bugs. After five years the stickness came back , but washed right off with Krud Kutter.
Good Luck
Paul

stagecoachbill · 07-10-2006, 09:33 PM

In your picture of cleaning agents the forth from the right appears to be Awsome Cleaner. If so it worked well for me, spray 2 square feet and wipe with paper towel. The other cleaner that worked great was Krud Kutter available at Wal-Mart in the paint Dept.. Use it the same way spray 2 square feet and wipe clean with paper towel.

ALANSD · 07-12-2006, 07:17 PM

the cleaners all worked well on the stickiness, its the yellowing that I could not get rid of. It is much better after using the bleach, but still somewhat yellow. I can live with it after the curtains and pads are reinstalled.

Dano57 · 07-26-2006, 08:05 PM

OK, so I want to get this straight, clean with super clean first. Do you need to rinse it too?

Then dilute Clorox outdoor bleach about 20% with water and spray on surface. How long did you let it sit? Then rinse with water (damp sponge). Is that correct?

Also, did you use this same process on the plastic end caps?

Thanks,
Dan

ALANSD · 09-02-2006, 06:23 AM

I used this on the vinyl areas only, (sorry for the delayed answer). For the plastic cabinets and caps I used spray cleaner and then water, as I had to repaint where they were done with latex.
I also used a green scrubby pad on the vinyl, and now a month later it looks ( and smells) good in there, still a mild shade of yellow ( did the po smoke maybe?) but generally shiny and clean. New curtains on the way, and the wall pads are now burgundy cloth covered.
I will post some photos.

**wahoonc** · 09-02-2006, 06:38 AM

Alan et al;
The "plastic" endcaps apparently always yellow, from age, heat or whatever. They only way to make them close to the orginal color is to paint them. Wall panels can be bleached to a point. Depends on what discolored them. They are a vinyl that is adhered to the aluminum. Quite a few people have attempted to strip them to the bare aluminum...too much work for lazy old me. My 75 PO was a smoker, I have been using Krud Kutter from Home Despot. I spray it on, let it sit, scrub with a bristle brush and wash off with hot water (at least the panels I have removed) they look like new. The plan for the ones still in place is to spray with KK, brush and wipe off using a lot of rags soaked in hot water. And keep a wet/dry vac handy to suck the water off the floor as I make a mess

Aaron

juel · 09-02-2006, 10:29 AM

You really are missing out if you don't try the Marine Clean from the POR people. It will do the job for you. I have tried everything else and this stuff really works. You have to order it, but I'm still on my first jug because it's so concentrated. It puts Krud Kutter in the shade and can be used inside and out.

ALANSD · 09-02-2006, 03:12 PM

sounds like its worth a try..next time around. We are already doing curtains and wall coverings.