caustic soda damage questions

Somerset

We had a sink blockage which backed up to the dishwasher which overflowed. O/H undid the sink u-bend to check if there was a blockage. There wasn't. He partly redid the u-bend, I put a saucepan underneath to catch any drips, and he said he'd look at it the next day.
The next day ( I was out ) he tried caustic soda to clear the blockage. He left the saucepan where it was. Result :eek:

The saucepan was an anodin one ( spelling ? ) coated with black something that you shouldn't use scratchy implements on. Anyway the black coating has been burned off in places. Plus underneath, where it sat in the caustic water, it got all scummy and when I cleaned it off, the finish is burned off. Is the saucepan knackered ?? It was part of an expensive set :eek:

The sink unit is pine. The caustic puddle the saucepan sat in has created a damaged ring. I've cleaned it off ( had sort of crystalised scum ) with washing up liquid and warm water. It's still not dry so I can't see what it will look like dry but .... there's obviously a substantial 'ring' damage to the wood. Is there anything I can do when dry ? wax ? danish oil ? Anything to restore the wood/ disguise the ring ?

Bloody men

bigdic

Bad news about the pan, I know the ones you mean they're REALLY good but I'm afraid yours will be off to the kitchen in the sky .

You "may" be able to save your cupboard, try searching for a liquid polish or a "ringaway" type of thing, if this doesn't work then maybe a wax but the caustic soda will have burnt your wood so don't expect miracles.

In the future get your hubby to try "soda crystals" instead, they don't burn but are brilliant at clearing drains and are dirt cheap.

greyteam1959

Caustic soda etc is never a good way to clean a blockage.
I would always take things to pieces carefully and clean them by hand then replace them.

Somerset

mervyn11 wrote:

Caustic soda etc is never a good way to clean a blockage.
.

I let O/H read this because he looked over my shoulder and said ' you didn't bloody write it down there ? '

His response .... ' it was what the DIY store told him to do ' and apparently it was a female employee who told him :rotfl:

Anyway. saucepan is gone - I'd kind of thought myself it wasn't safe. I'll wax the pine unit. At least it won't be seen as it's the base of the unit under the sink i.e. where you normally keep your cleaning bits and pieces.

swampduck

if this might help or not. But years ago, my ex-hub and I had a problem with scorch marks (presumably from hot cups placed directly onto the furniture) on a solid dark wood Bookcase that we inherited.
Someone suggested that we use cigarette ash and olive oil mixed together and apply it as a paste and leave for 24hrs before cleaning and then polishing as usual (and daft though it sounds it actually works!!) to remove the white marks caused by cups etc.
We repeated the procedure until the marks were virtually gone.

Swampy