dpb wrote:

Dan Espen wrote:
dpb writes:

Doug Miller wrote:
In article , "CraigT" wrote:
All right, I've been convinced by you guys to open up the wall.
My prediction of what you will find: absolutely nothing wrong.
I still think the cause is what I said the first time: solvent
exposure, either in the form of overspray from staining the deck, or
whatever was used to clean up the overspray.
Before opening up the wall, at least look at the back side of the
siding you removed. If the problem *was* a heat source inside the
wall, then the damage on the back side should be at least as bad as
the damage on the face. OTOH, if there is no (or only slight)
discoloration visible on the back side, that would be the strongest
possible indication that the source of the damage was on the outside
of the house -- with solvent exposure being IMO the most likely
culprit.
I gotta' go w/ PeteC on this mostly...the OP said the solvent/deck was
done in '06 and this damage didn't show up until within the last two
weeks -- that's pretty long incubation time for a solvent to act.

Looks like discoloration to me.
More than that, looks like the height and shape of a gas grill.
Looks like the heat rose from the grill and went to the left.
It spread out as it rose.
Move that grill up against the fence and see how well the outline
fits. Oh right, too late for that, the siding is gone.

Besides that, there's no need for name calling.

Definitely OP should find out what's going on inside the wall if only
to confirm conclusively it was all a surface damage on the outside...

From what I've seen, I wouldn't.

If I were there and could see it directly, I might not either, because
then I could conclusively judge the condition of the OSB and the siding.
Lacking that, since OP isn't sure enough on his own, I can only
recommend the safest course of action which is to exclude the
possibility of Pete's hypothesis.

The possible ramifications of being wrong are too serious to recommend
otherwise imo...

A point I've made several times.


If we're betting/guessing, I'm still on the side of somebody pushed
the still hot grill over there sometime...

Yep.

Or lit it over there to be closer to the door/kitchen and saw what
happened and moved it back real quick and kept their mouth shut!

Fits w/ kids very well, or even a neighbor or friend "helping out"...

Look at the original picture carefully. Judge the width of the wall
between the railing and the door based on the 4" wide outlet. Check the
width of most any grill. Now as yourself how radiant heat from a grill
parked there didn't damage the rest of the siding over to the door, and
how that radiant heat caused the damage to continue back past the
railing which clearly presents a radiant barrier.

Pete C.