Should I Treat Rusted Floor in Winter

[mtrobertson]

Just got the bus, so I have a long list of items to work on. I was planning to focus on treating the floor rust as I have seen on lots of posts, but I was wondering if I need to wait until spring due to temperatures. I live in KS, and the lows this week are going to be below freezing. Reading a couple of the bottles I was looking at indicated 40 degrees and another said 60 degrees, so I figured I better ask.

Has anyone had success treating the floors in cold temps like this? Is there a specific brand that does better in the cold?

thanks

Matt Robertson, Sr.

 

[nikitis]

Temps didn't really matter. It's more about moisture saturation in the air.

Fall and winter time tend to have more moisture in the air in some places because the sun isn't as strong to dry things out well and remain damp.

If you have a really dry climate that's the best time to treat rust. You don't want to lock in moisture under your primer/paint or it'll rust through eventually. Do it on a day when humidity is low

 

[Albatross]

Do it on a day when humidity is low

This.


Also, follow the directions on the bottle. If you've got questions on the particular product, DON'T BE AFRAID TO CALL THE MANUFACTURER. Most of these kinds of products are still made in civilized places, unlike most of the stuff sold via Amazon, and they take pride in their products, and they want people to have good results with them. You can actually call them up and ask them questions on how to best apply or use the product, and they are almost always happy to help someone out like that. And if they aren't... Well, perhaps you should take the product back and use something else made by a different company.



I cannot recall the number of times I've done something like this, and liquid chemical products that have to be applied in a certain way are actually some of the best I've ever had with answering questions. And I'm also the kind of guy that will look them in the face and ask things like, "so I don't have a HPLV spray gun system here where the work is happening, if I get one of those little pneumatic bug-poison spray bottles fresh and clean from the store, do you think that would work better than using a brush?" There's usually some kind of crazy engineer answering those kinds of questions at the shops that will give you a straight answer.

 

[skydawg]

When you mention "treating the rust", do you mean with a rust neutralizing primer or with phosphoric acid?

In my experience, the phosphoric acid products work far better (or at least faster) when temps are high, but Ospho says you can use it down to 36F.

 

[AlphaHare]

100% on calling the manufacturer, or minimally following the directions on the can. Note that some products (POR15 for instance) require humidity to cure, and only suggest that more than 80% humidity will cause it to cure too fast.

I wrapped my bus in a plastic skirt and put a MrBuddy heater under it. This got the floor to the mid 40's and warmer after a while, but my ambient was only about 25. It also took a few hours to get there.... This is a short bus, and diesel. Longer bus could be problematic, and a gas bus would be a non-starter (for me anyway.)