Hello,

Just curious-

Water leaking on plaster wallboard always seem to stain a brownish color.

Doubt that the brown is from anything in the water directly, but perhaps ?

More likely it's some chemical reaction.

Anyone know what actually causes the brown color ?

Bob

Robert11 wrote:

Hello,

Just curious-

Water leaking on plaster wallboard always seem to stain a brownish
color.

Doubt that the brown is from anything in the water directly, but
perhaps ?

More likely it's some chemical reaction.

Anyone know what actually causes the brown color ?

The water dissolves various brown chemicals in the things it runs over:
shingles, dirt on the shingles, roofing tar, roofing felt, plywood,
rafters, nails, insulation, dirt on the insulation, paper on the
wallboard, dirt on the wallboard, nails or screws in the wallboard,
dirt in the joints.

Did I mention there's dirt on some of these things? :-)

--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX

On Aug 13, 4:06*pm, "Robert11" wrote:
Hello,

Just curious-

Water leaking on plaster wallboard always seem to stain a brownish color.

Doubt that the brown is from anything in the water directly, but perhaps ?

More likely it's some chemical reaction.

Anyone know what actually causes the brown color ?

Bob

Since wallboard exposed to clean water doesn't have any coloration, it
seems logical that the water has dissolved stuff in the roofing/
whatever materials on its way to the wallboard, hence the colored
stain.

Joe

Robert11 wrote:
Hello,

Just curious-

Water leaking on plaster wallboard always seem to stain a brownish color.

Doubt that the brown is from anything in the water directly, but perhaps ?

More likely it's some chemical reaction.

Anyone know what actually causes the brown color ?
....

Precisely what, no I don't. But, a piece of white typing paper tends to
discolor in similar fashion. I think it's more than likely salts
dissolved by the water, perhaps w/ some iron, but as noted exactly
who/what I'm not certain (and not inclined to really go digging altho I
suspect one could come up w/ some reasonable candidates w/ a little
digging).

--