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Take out wood mould stains


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The first winter we had our boat I covered the hatch (inside) doors with plastic to keep out the drafts, covering the plastic with a curtain. Nearly had a fit when the plastic was removed, mould had gone berserk behind the plastic, and the wood on the metal hatch doors had turned black in places. 

 

After drying the wood, sanding it back, and trying to take out the black mould stain out of the wood with mould remover, bleach, white vinegar, bicarb of soda... the result was better, but not good enough. 

 

Is there a magic trick to get rid of the black mould marks in the wood? The wood is oak I believe, but it could be ash. 

 

It's a shame to paint the wood dark mahogany :)  

 

Appreciate any advice.

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If it is oak and it has got wet then the stains might be from any steel the wood touched and it might be right through the wood.

 

If its mould then oxalic acid (i think) or wood stain remover/wood bleach might get rid of the stains. I am sure the woodworkers here will be along with better advice.

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

If it is oak and it has got wet then the stains might be from any steel the wood touched and it might be right through the wood.

 

If its mould then oxalic acid (i think) or wood stain remover/wood bleach might get rid of the stains. I am sure the woodworkers here will be along with better advice.

 

 

Thank you Tony - wood bleach, didn't know there was such a product. We'll be passing a DIY store sometime next week.

 

The wood looks like it's firmly stuck to the metal some how, can't see any nails. 

 

image.png.8b1f3303ce4bc67ceb346cf8ab4f6261.png

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The choices for bleaching wood that I’m aware of are Oxalic Acid (Barkeepers Friend is widely available), a 50/50 mix of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and hydrogen peroxide, or a 50/50 mix of ordinary household (chlorine) bleach and oxalic acid. 

 

Liberon Wood Bleach as suggested above is, I believe, the second of those three and is very effective. 

 

There’s a a very good article about bleaching here: https://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/finishes/get-the-color-out-with-wood-bleach

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7 hours ago, Cheshire cat said:

All of the suggestions come as liquid which will just run off your vertical surfaces. The suggestions do work but they have to be in place for at least a few hours which requires a horizontal surface,

Ahh now that's going to be a problem. Perhaps this will be a continuous painting job for a few hours in the hope the liquid soaks in... but first of all, is to get the chemicals. Thanks for the warning.

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10 hours ago, Cheshire cat said:

All of the suggestions come as liquid which will just run off your vertical surfaces. The suggestions do work but they have to be in place for at least a few hours which requires a horizontal surface,

Barkeepers Friend is more like a cream so might work better. 

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6 hours ago, WotEver said:

Barkeepers Friend is more like a cream so might work better. 

Bought a pot in B&Q today and had a go. Mixed it into a paste and painted it on with a brush, eventually I started putting a bit more effort into cleaning the wood, working the powder into the grain with an old nail brush and scrubbing. Think it's made a difference. I'll give it another go tomorrow.

 

When it's dry, I'll sand the wood, and give it a couple of coats of yacht varnish.

 

Thank you @WotEver, and everyone, looks like Barkeeper has done the trick :) Knew someone on here were know some 'magic'.

 

image.png.82801a6a26d56afaa74bf39955d74430.png

 

 

Edited by Jennifer McM
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I've been looking for something like this for few minor black stains in wood and, judging by Jennifer's experience, it sounds like this might be the answer.

 

I've also got a couple of rust spots outside (now treated) where the paint below has become stained from water running down from the rust spot above (before it was treated). I've tried a couple of things, including T-Cut, but haven't managed to shift it. Would Bar Keepers Friend work for this?

 

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39 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

I've been looking for something like this for few minor black stains in wood and, judging by Jennifer's experience, it sounds like this might be the answer.

 

I've also got a couple of rust spots outside (now treated) where the paint below has become stained from water running down from the rust spot above (before it was treated). I've tried a couple of things, including T-Cut, but haven't managed to shift it. Would Bar Keepers Friend work for this?

 

I wouldn't use Bar Keepers on paintwork, it's got the abrasive consistency of Vim/Ajax (remember those :) )

 

For once I can help here, take a look at https://www.owatroldirect.co.uk/marine/narrowboat-maintainance/

 

We've just bought a sample bottle of Awatrol Net-tol for £5, delivered the next day. It's a wood cleaner (it didn't work on the wood above), and colour restorer. My husband spoke to their 'chemist' who said the wood cleaner could work very well to clean paintwork stains.

 

Our problem is our boat is off white, and we wanted to use 'Owatrol Paint Restorer' on it, the restorer restores pigment in the paint, but because there's not much pigment in white, the restorer could cause our off white paintwork to go dark - not what we want.

 

Can I just say, we've only just bought Net-tol wood cleaner last week, and like @sharpness we've not yet tried Net-tol yet :) 

Edited by Jennifer McM
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1 hour ago, WotEver said:

Yes that's the one, the 'chemist' said this would clean paintwork. Will try and have a go tomorrow as we've got a few stains on the paintwork. I'll report back :) 

4 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

Thanks Jennifer, I'll remove that from my list (of one)!

 

Re the Owatrol product, thanks for the tip. I'm not sure which product you are referring to though, did auto-correct strike?

Sorry, I confused you. There are two Owatrol products I was talking about. The Paint Restorer isn't recommended on white/off-white paint. But was told to try Net-Trol wood cleaner to clean the off-white paint 

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 I have used bar keepers on some black spots which on removal of the vanish were very bad on a vertical surface. Mixed it to a paste left it on for a couple of hours and have a 100% success. Thanks to the recommendations of barkeepers on here.

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1 hour ago, chevron said:

 I have used bar keepers on some black spots which on removal of the vanish were very bad on a vertical surface. Mixed it to a paste left it on for a couple of hours and have a 100% success. Thanks to the recommendations of barkeepers on here.

Now that is interesting. The sales of Barkeeper's Friend may increase by quite a few boat owners as a result of this post. I may be slapping it on some wood pretty soon myself too. Luckily, I already have mine so I won't get caught in the rush! :D

 

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1 hour ago, Jennifer McM said:

Yes that's the one, the 'chemist' said this would clean paintwork. Will try and have a go tomorrow as we've got a few stains on the paintwork. I'll report back :) 

Sorry, I confused you. There are two Owatrol products I was talking about. The Paint Restorer isn't recommended on white/off-white paint. But was told to try Net-Trol wood cleaner to clean the off-white paint 

My paint on the outside of the cabin isn't white or off white so presumably the paint restorer is going to be ok. I assume that would be Owayell which I see is available in a 100ml sample pot for £5. Not sure if there's delivery on top.

 

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2 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

My paint on the outside of the cabin isn't white or off white so presumably the paint restorer is going to be ok. I assume that would be Owayell which I see is available in a 100ml sample pot for £5. Not sure if there's delivery on top.

 

Didn't pay any delivery, just the £5.

 

Thanks to @rustydiver for the introduction to Owatrol - you might be interested in this forum link 

 

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1 hour ago, Jennifer McM said:

Didn't pay any delivery, just the £5.

 

Thanks to @rustydiver for the introduction to Owatrol - you might be interested in this forum link 

 

Thanks.

It still seems to be shining still and I no longer get green hands when i touch the paint.

One side I did using a brush that went on much better than the other side where I used a cloth not so good, I may have a go at redoing it soon.

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