Oxalic acid

[higgledy]

I have read that deck cleaners are basically Oxalic acid. Being the cheap-skate that I am does anyone know where can I buy Oxalic acid to clean my deck?

[professorpaul]

My experience (and by the smell), is that they are nothing more than sodium hyprchlorite -- simple BLEACH. Just use that. I've used it in both as a spray with my power washer (best strategy), or with a bonnet scubber (for carpets). The issue is killing the algae off. I have found that once a year does the trick nicely. The power washer (Karcher) is the best investment I've ever made. Useful for all sorts of heavy cleaning jobs.

[Sacramento Dave]

I used pool shock to clean mine worked better than the deck cleaner I bought. But it did stink. I threw a bag in a 5 gal. bucket used a broom to ably it, scrubbed it in, let it soak then hosed it off.

[Richard J Kinch]

Paint store, or paint dept at Home Depot or Lowes.

Toxic stuff, so read and heed the warnings.

Entirely different mode of action from chlorine bleach others are suggesting.

[Stubby]

Your response is totally wrong. Just Google "Oxalic Acid" and you will see the difference from bleach.

professorpaul wrote:

[tinacci336]

Oxalic acid is a wood bleach and is toxic-posinios. Requires special handling. I would not recommend it. Go to a paint store they will carry a cleaner which I believe is called Tri-sodium Sulphate or phosphate. They will know which. It is an exellent cleaner.

[Stubby]

TSP was for many years the standard high octane cleaner. It worked fine. But then the environmentalists decided it might be harmful and it was removed from the market.

Oxalic acid is not as dangerous as the posters stated. It is the active ingredient in "Bartenders' Friend" and "Stainless Steel Cleaner" (spray). I use the latter to clean the permanganate ring on my toilets.

[e-mail] wrote:

[Salmon Egg]

IIRC from my youth, there was a product called okite or okonite or something like that that was primarily oxalic acid.

It is found in rhubarb. You can taste it. The leaves are trimmed in stores to get rid of most of it.

It is what used to be a common chemical. With the DEA, liability problems, and the general momma knows best Government, it is more difficult to get such chemicals.

Bill

-- Ferme le Bush

[nospamtodd]

You may also be able to get it at a drugstore. Oxalic acid can be run through your dishwasher to remove discoloration.

[J. Clarke]

You might want to tell Home Depot that.

[higgledy]

Stubby:

They did the same thing with clear kreosoot, used to preserve wood before painting. It was bad for the environment so they replaced it with vinyl wood. Makes sense, uh?

Stubby wrote:

[higgledy]

I swear HD, Wal-Mart, and the like remove such basic cleaners only so they can sell higher priced branded cleaners. In fact, I bet retailers are part of the environmental lobby in DC.

J. Clarke wrote:

[Ralph Mowery]

I just bought a box of TSP about 3 days ago from Lowes.

[Pete C.]

Are you sure that's what you bought? There seem to be a number of products that say in big letters "T.S.P." and then in very small letters "substitute". Might want to check to be sure.

Pete C.

[Abe]

[J. Clarke]

Now it might be that you live in the People's Republic of Leftcoastia or some other workers' paradise in which trisodium phosphate is banned, but that doesn't mean that the rest of us who live in the real world are so unfortunate.

[Ether Jones]

Oxalic acid is for cleaning cedar and redwood decks, not treated pine.

For treated pine, the standard chemical used to be sodium hypochlorite (common household bleach). Many people still use that, but a lot of experts are starting to recommend against it, because the chlorine can damage the wood. It attacks the lignin in the wood and weakens the wood surface structure.

A lot of the home improvement gurus now recommend sodium percarbonate, which when added to water turns into hydrogen peroxide (oxygen bleach) and sodium carbonate (washing soda - remember the old Arm and Hammer washing soda that you used to be able to buy in the laundry aisle?). The combination is an effective deck cleaner and brightener which does not damage the wood and is very safe to use.

You can buy 2-pound jars of pure sodium percarbonate at thechemistrystore.com for about two bucks a pound, plus shipping. Or you can buy a bucket of "Oxy Clean" at the supermarket - it's the same thing except its not 100% sodium percarbonate - it contains a large percentage of sodium carbonate filler which is a less expensive chemical.

You can also buy a bucket of Tri Sodium Phosphate (TSP) and throw a couple of ounces it in a bucket of warm water together with some household bleach to create a very effective deck cleaning solution, if you don't believe the warnings about using chlorine-based bleaches on wood.

You can also buy a bucket of oxalic acid there too.

Please note that oxalic acid IS a toxin to humans. It can be absorbed through the skin. Use with care.

[Jeff]

Easier solution, use dish washer detergent and add some bleach if you want.

[Richard J Kinch]

Difficult? I would say easier than ever. It's on the shelf at the retailers I mentioned.

The labeling of common chemicals with brand names that try to hide what is in the product is more of a reason that things like oxalic acid *appear* to have disappeared. You won't find a package of MSG in the grocery store, but you will find Accent.

[Doug Miller]

Why not just buy hydrogen peroxide and washing soda, and mix them? They're both readily available, cheap as dirt, and bound to be less expensive and easier to find than sodium percarbonate.

If you only "used to" be able to buy washing soda in the laundry aisle, either you're shopping in the wrong stores (e.g. Wal-Mart), or you're not looking very hard. I don't have any trouble at all finding washing soda in the laundry aisle of my neighborhood Kroger grocery store.