Accelerating Oxidation of Steel Siding Panels
May 8th, 2011 by KTU | Filed under 5. Exterior Materials and Finishes, Park City Mountain Modern.The cold-rolled steel roof has oxidized nicely over the fall and winter. It looks pretty good. Most of the steel siding is starting to turn as well, but it is pretty well protected from water, and with temperatures mostly below 50F, the oxidation rate is slow. Still, I’m pretty sure that by the end of the summer, most of the steel siding will have a decent patina on it.
However, the steel panels on the front of the house are very well protected. They basically never get wet. By mid-Spring they were looking pristine. So, I decided I would accelerate the process. Here is the siding in that area before I did anything…
Steel siding on front of house. Because it is protected by the awning, only the very bottom had oxidized at all after a winter and spring.
I mixed 1/4 muriatic acid (standard stuff at Home Depot) with 3/4 tap water in a spray bottle. (Be very careful. Muriatic acid is, well, acid. It really does burn your skin and can destroy your eyes, too. Gloves and safety glasses/goggles are essential.) I simply misted the entire wall surface with the spray bottle. In 24 hours, as long as the temperature is above about 50F, the entire surface will be very rusted. You can see where you have missed spots and just hit those again. I’ll be curious to see how the accelerated oxidation compares in color to that of the naturally oxidized surface. You can already see that where water has bounced onto the wall, the surface is more orange. Anyway, I’m pretty happy with the results. I would be curious to know if an even milder acid would work (e.g., white vinegar). I bet it would, especially if the temperatures were a bit higher.
Same wall 24 hours later after application of diluted muriatic acid. The fireplace bump-out on the right had been done previously and you can see orange color near bottom where water has splashed.
Tags: cor-ten, corten, oxidation, oxidize, rust, siding, steel, weathering
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looks great Karl!
where can i get this steel siding ?
This is just 20 gauge cold-rolled steel. I think our panels are 2′ x 3′. Any steel supplier should have a coil of 20 gauge material and can shear up whatever you’d like. This should be very inexpensive. In my case, my roofer got it from his supplier and installed it. We used McFeely washer-head plain-finish steel screws with a 2″ lap on the sides and a 3″ lap on the top and bottom.
I’m so glad I found this blog. I’m loving it. A great mix of modern and traditional/industrial elements. I’m in the building process right now not too far from your house – actually about 50 miles north (Mountain Green, Utah). Though my construction budget is only about half what you had to work with, I’m finding a lot of great tips here. I just finished laying my own radiant tubing in the basement (concrete was poured today) and think I’ll do it on the main floor as well (it’s a rambler). I’m going for a modern farm/industrial vibe. Traditional shape with some industrial details. I love this steel siding. Thanks for all your work documenting the process. Your house is fantastic.
Thanks. Good luck with your project.
I was going to do the same thing to my house… was wondering if they screwed the steel straight to the wood substrate or planking? I want to put just a 1/2 inch of pink foam down first to knock out the thermal bridging… wonder how well that will work with the steel. Or did they have furring strips somehow?
I think a foam layer is a good idea. We did not add any foam. I didn’t want to have to trim out the windows to accommodate that foam, which would have been necessary where we used the barnwood siding. However, if you use only steel siding, you could add a foam layer and the windows would not need to be bumped out to handle the extra thickness. I think this would work just fine by just using a longer screw. I’d probably use the 1/2″ polyiso foam which would give you maximum r-value.
Thanks. Great looking building… good job.
Do you ever think about stopping the rust process to achieve a permanence with a certain color?