Our new siding was finished for all of a week when I cooked steaks on the grill outside. Apparently the grill was too close and mine looks just like your's. DH was not the least bit impressed.
Some plastics absorb chemicals, especially colorants *, and never get soft at all. If it was softened by a solvent, once the aromatics dried, it would become hard again.
*Rit dye works especially well with nylon.
Nobody has done any work outside of me staining the deck.
And, the grill is never moved near the house.
You know, when I say lightning, I don't mean a direct hit, but if the gutter took a hit then it traveled down the house to ground and in the process jumped from the siding to that deck railing or if hit the railing and tried to seek out the wiring behind that wall to get to ground it might have been diffused enough to do this.
Hey, I know I'm reaching here.
The OP did state (first thread) before, that he used a chemical in '06. The product he used did have Acetone (and trade secrets). He cleaned over spray of stain off the siding.
I'm not certain the OP cleaned off the product he used, but let it set and dry. It is clear, so and over sight?
-- Oren
"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."
Could the grill have been used 18' away and rolled close to the siding before it was cold?
It has taken my bride nearly 22 years to step up and grill outside. It is a "man world" :-))
-- Oren
"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."
But he also claims this wasn't this way two weeks ago so if that is indeed true, pretty much rules out the '06 application...
And, it just doesn't look look chemical damage to me from the pictures, but heat...
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What does the sheathing underneath the Tyvek show?
I'm still convinced it was a heat source and strongly doubt even indirect lightning.
I forget -- you got kids? Sure SO didn't do something while you were out of town on that last business trip or something else you don't know about occurred out there?
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I have asked myself; if there might be and "illegal" electrical box inside the wall that burnt, but it seems the OP has no breaker/electrical problems (unless I missed it) :)
I will really enjoy what the true cause is; given all the replies!
-- Oren
"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."
Oren wrote: ...
Yeah, I wondered similar thoughts but it seems too new for that to be likely -- of course, nothing can be ruled out of what _might_ have been done...
That's where I think until he at least cuts the Tyvek to see what the sheathing looks like in general there's nothing more to be learned.
And, unless the damage is then shown to be other than totally superficial (and it'll be obvious if it's inside-out instead of outside-in), I think the obvious has to be something put some heat out there in that location whether he knows what it was or not...the grill pushed out of the way after use of something similar is really still the most likely culprit in my view--
It's possible will never know. But, as you say if there were something untoward inside, looking at the sheathing will be able to show whether it came from inside and if so, then opening up the wall would be the answer.
Why he seems so reluctant to go ahead and dig in and uncover the mystery area directly instead of bandying about here is beyond my ken...the area needs to be repaired anyway, so it's not like he's doing anything drastic in cutting out an area of Tyvek...
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Yup... before other unknowns happen.
-- Oren
Hofstadter's Law - It [a task] always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
Raining.
Right:-\\ Would you? I think the OP is brighter than that.
-- Oren
Hofstadter's Law - It [a task] always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
"CraigT" wrote .........
== You are aware that older kids do all kinds of stupid stuff when their parents aren't home, right? Oh yeah, and they never ever admit it.
I think the chance of it being chemical related are close to zero. If it was a chemical that got on the surface of the siding there is virtually no chance that it would have any effect on the tyvek underneath.
Unlike what someone else said about the melt pattern in the tyvek doesn't appear to align with the siding pattern, even if it did, if where the siding was pressing the tyvek against the sheathing the tyvek melted that would indicate heat from inside to me since the joint section of the siding would be dripping goo before it transferred enough heat to melt the tyvek.
If it were me, I'd have that wall open in about thirty seconds to see what the hell is going on inside it, first since patching some sheathing is no big deal, and second since the melt pattern does seem to align with one of those electrical boxes. The back of the apparent melt area is mostly behind the counter so you may not be able to see if there is evidence of heating on that side.
I also note the double green washered nail in close proximity to the electrical box. It seems quite possible that one of those two nails is in a stud and the other hit a wire going to that box and has caused an intermittent short. With the counter on the inside of that area it's also possible someone used excessively long screws fastening the base cabinets and hit a wire from that side.
I'd consider it serious enough to warrant immediate opening of the wall cavity. It may be evidence of an actual fire in the wall that may have self extinguished.
Pete C.
Have you checked the melting point of Tyvek (polyolefin) vs. the siding (polyvinyl) vs. the temp required to discolor the OSB siding?
My take on it based on what I've seen is that either one of those green washered nails, or a screw from securing the inside counter has clipped a wire and at some point arced and caused a fire inside the wall that thankfully self extinguished.
I would immediately open up that wall cavity to investigate before it happens again and the whole house potentially goes up.
Pete C.
I agree with Pete. I would cut power to all countertop, lights with switches in area, and outside receptacle prior to ANY work on wall. Horizontal burn patterns similar to what is seen are common in nails/screws thru wiring fire incidents. Sheathing may be deeply charred on the inner surface without burn through.
Me too... :)
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I started recommending that from the first time he posted, too... :)
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You could neatly cut the tyvek and then reattach it with Pella tape sold Lowes or Home Depot in their Pella window/ door department. I'm not sure which one carries Pella but the one that does should stock the tape and it will last as long as the tyvek.
All right, I've been convinced by you guys to open up the wall.
Like has been said, little effort, great rewards.
Thank you to all of you. You all have been courteous in the face of my stubbornness and this is why I point people in this direction when they have a question.
I've been wanting to try out that saw blade I bought for my rotozip.
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