Quote:
Originally Posted by dadidoc
Wondering what lies ahead when you see this type of pitting and corrosion on the toe rails ? How best to slow it down ? I plan to put a bead of caulk to stop the moisture intrusion which i Toe Rail Aluminum Corrosion?s probably not helping !
Any of you seen this before ? How best to correct and slow it down ?
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What do you use to clean you decks with? Both low and high pH cleaners will corrode Alum. A nick etc in the metal will provide a place for the cleaner to concentrate. Chlorides in seawater will also accelerate corrosion and if it is getting to collect in a hole/nick you are going to get faster corrosion there in the form of a pit.
I doubt that putting the caulk down is going to solve anything for the a pitting corrosion. Where is probably is a general corrosion problem under the rail. The caulk could even make it worst as it is unlikely it will be total and once
water etc gets under the area you are going to get an under-deposit corrosion issue faster than the
current one.
I would look at using an Alum cleaner/passivator to clean the metal and provide a protective film back on the metal. Now that you have the pits/corrosion you basically need to seal them. You need to get this down under the rail and flush it very well afterwards.
As others have said; yes an
electrical problem would cause lots of corrosion. But normally it's going to be at location of
current in/out and not at a random section of the rail. So I doubt this is the problem.
In the end there probably is already a lose of surface protection under the rail that nothing short of removing and retreating/replacing is fully going to really solve.
PS - I make my living doing corrosion control and chemical treatment for it. If the "experts" want to tell me how wrong I am they are welcome, but I'm not going debate.