Effects of salt air

[mridgeelk]

Since I have lived at 6000' or greater and 800 miles to the sea most of my adult life I need some advice on our recently completed place in Jamaica from someone about controlling corrosion. The hinge shown is solid brass and is corroding after two months exposure. Our Jamaican staff says that the sea air is causing the same effect on our potted palms. I think the palms have not been watered properly and/or need to receive less sun. Do the brass hinges need to be routinely polished or oiled? The last picture is to give you an idea of the exposure, the wind comes generally from the east. The home is about 95% concrete. Thanks, Ed

Click to Enlarge

15.15 KB

Click to Enlarge

13.82 KB

Click to Enlarge

60.14 KB

Click to Enlarge

41.36 KB

[kurt]

I lived and worked in the Caribbean for a year on various construction projects (St. John, USVI).

Everything goes to blazes in a day if you aren't prepared. For me, that twice a day oilings of chisels and planes, and any steel tool. It means coating table saws nightly with machine oil, or they would be a mass of rust in the morning.

All nails have to be stainless, even interior finishing nails. Window screen has to be bronze; the plastic stuff goes to blazes in the UV. The only things that work are solid bronze, brass, or stainless steel.

There's a reason marine hardware is so darn expensive.

And, those hinges aren't solid brass; they look like cheesey Stanley butt hinges. Those babies will disappear in a year or less. I mean literally disappear.

Have no idea about the palm.......

[RobC]

Ed,

I'm thinking you've move down there to get away.

So, if you are looking for advise, here's mine.

CHILL!

As Kurt mentioned those look like cheap fake brass butts.

And in the end it don't matter if they bleed all over the house. You've got bigger thing to worry about.

Send us a picture of your brand new washing machine and dryer after a year down there............and your car and your whatever.

I toured Jamaica for a month back when and I'll tell you, park it or you'll end up a basket case in no time. Get used to the time warp and the corrrosion....LOL

Good Luck,

[fqp25]

Window screen has to be bronze; the plastic stuff goes to blazes in the UV.

How does aluminum react with salt air?

Frank

[kurt]

If it's aircraft or marine grade, it's OK. Anything like cheap aluminum siding or aluminum hardware pits and turns to crust in a few months, and is gone in a few years.

The folks I worked for explained what it was like, but I didn't believe how crazy it really was. You live with WD40 coating everything. I lost a couple nice block planes because I went off island for 2 days without dipping them in oil first.

Termites are the most extreme I've ever seen. We'd have bets on how long it would take for a 4x4x4 block of untreated wood to be eaten completely. We'd toss the block into the weeds, come back in a few hours, and the termites would be all over it. It'd be gone in hours, not days.

Stainless steel, pure brass or bronze, and that's about it. That's why everything is concrete.

[mridgeelk]

Aluminum gets a form of leprosy when exposed to salt air. Plants seem to be affected by the salt air, some seven-leaf plants are growing in what I thought was our scotch bonnet pepper patch.

Window screen has to be bronze; the plastic stuff goes to blazes in the UV.

How does aluminum react with salt air?

Frank

[hausdok]

Hmmm,

"Recently completed?"

You didn't happen to notice if they used any Chinese drywall did you?

OT - OF!!!

M.

[mridgeelk]

I can find only what appears to be a date of manufacture and possibly a product code, but no Knauf anywhere. The picture is of what the salt dew has done to my Dewalt compound miter saw as Kurt mentioned. The hinges came from a Wisconsin company marked as solid brass.

Click to Enlarge

55.78 KB

Hmmm,

"Recently completed?"

You didn't happen to notice if they used any Chinese drywall did you?

OT - OF!!!

M.

[mridgeelk]

There is also the mind warp/Escher factor in these stairs pictured. (not at my place) I have been visiting Jamaica since 1987, these are unique, even for Jamaica. This home was built all at once, the stairs are not a result of a remodel/addition.

Ed,

I'm thinking you've move down there to get away.

So, if you are looking for advise, here's mine.

CHILL!

As Kurt mentioned those look like cheap fake brass butts.

And in the end it don't matter if they bleed all over the house. You've got bigger thing to worry about.

Send us a picture of your brand new washing machine and dryer after a year down there............and your car and your whatever.

I toured Jamaica for a month back when and I'll tell you, park it or you'll end up a basket case in no time. Get used to the time warp and the corrrosion....LOL

Good Luck,

Click to Enlarge

53.05 KB