I was cleaning up a cupboard and discovered that a bottle of Clorox bleach leaked and some of it soaked into the painted wallboard and has dried. I'm afraid if I just clean it up with water there will still be some bleach left in the wallboard.
Is there a way to neutralize the bleach?
There are chemicals to neutralize bleach (visit an aquarium pet store). If the bleach has dried, any damage has already happened.
I might add that household bleach has a shelf life and slowly degrades over time. For that reason, it is best not to buy more than can be used in a couple months.
Hi Rhonda
Chlorine is a gas! In the case of bleach it is held in suspension in a liquid who's pH is a strong BASE.
If the wall is dry, you can be rest assured there is no Chlorine remaining in the wall. Your primary concern should be WHAT Base was used to hold the Chlorine in liquid suspension.
Bleach at one time used a lye base to hold the chlorine in suspension. I was told that other bases are used nowadays for this purpose.
The wallboard itself is an alkaline base, a base usually does not harm a base, so perhaps just resealing the wall with a sealer will prevent stains from leaching into new surface paint.
TTUL Gary
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