Moving into metal building shop. The insulation is filthy but intact. Cleaning?

[N8sToolz]

It's even worse in person, phone makes things nicer than they are. Going to be moving into this shop soon and I really want to make this place presentable.

What options do I have to clean or brighten up the insulation above the walls. The ceiling is even worse that you can't see in the photo. Seems like just spraying paint over it, or covering it is pretty much it?

Also tips for floor scrubbing too.

 

[Youngandfree]

Degreaser, lots of it.

 

[AC-WC]

Yeah-that's pretty grungy...
Do you think you could do a pressure wash with a brush end like at a hand car wash? Electrical is the only concern doing that. Tape off the outlets since you have conduit? Other wise it's elbow grease, scrub brush, degreaser/simple green and time on the walls. Maybe a shop vac to help get the grungy water up on steel girts.

Once that's done then rent a walk behind floor scrubber. Should be <$250/day but it would be done in a day What's the basic size?

 

[N8sToolz]

Shop is 40x60, was welding shop and then a disposal company.

I don't know if I can wash the it with water because it's all basically fiberglass insulation.

 

[karoc]

If that’s vinyl, it will crack fall off as your trying clean. But try small area to see, maybe still has some flexibility. Another option is rigid foam board, say 2” thick. But that can get expensive, for me it would be.
But, nice shop love high ceiling

 

[kbuhagiar]

Are you renting or do you own the building?

If you are renting I would consult with the landlord before pursuing any remediation.

If you own the place any cash outlay will be an investment. And since any cleaning solution you pursue will require lots of time and labor or money - or both - I would consider spending a bit more to either replace what's there or maybe finding a way to cover it up.

 

[LXCam]

I highly doubt you’ll clean it without destroying it. Other then the standard degreasers, you might try a tire white wall cleaner followed by a gentle wipe down then I’d try out some spray on plastic dip to encapsulate the whole thing. You can buy it by the gallon and spray it, but I have no idea how much coverage you’ll get.

Honestly if it were me, I’d cover it all with new metal and be done.

 

[Adaylate]

New metal.

 

[finn]

Replace it or hide it behind new steel.

 

[mreisner]

Hot water and trisodium phosphate. It's not going to get it perfectly squeaky clean but the smoke should literally just run off and you lightly rinse it like with a low pressure garden hose. Pressure washer will most likely just blow through it.

 

[NUTTSGT]

A disposal company ? That insulation is probably going to get funky and stank when it gets wet.

I'd consider replacing or covering it up with metal.

 

[Lassen Forge]

If it was my building, as in I held the deed and title, and I really felt the need to "clean it up", I'd pull it and reinsulate, call it a capital improvement to the property.

If not - paint over it with an airless and let it go. Any attempt to pressure wash or steam clean that will end up a bigger mess than you got already.

My only question - if it was used as a refuse transfer facility, you're going to have to go through some serious remediation measures to get that stank outta there. Garbage us a hard smell to get rid of.

Floor? Steam cleaner and TSP, work Scrub with an industrial floor unit, or similar (or both)... but hey, it's all work. Depends how clean is clean enough? Is it going to be used as a shop, a kitchen or a storage facility?

 

[Model A Fan]

Shop is 40x60, was welding shop and then a disposal company.

I don't know if I can wash the it with water because it's all basically fiberglass insulation.

Do you own the shop or are you renting it? That would make a big difference in my decision making.

That lighting is also really depressing. I'd look to add high ceiling mounted lighting so you don't have the "cave" effect we see here.

 

[rsanter]

I would start with a broom to see how easy any of that comes off.
after that I think I would then try a soft wet scrub brush to see what happens

you don’t really know till you try something

 

[N8sToolz]

Yeah I suppose I left some details out of it. It's being purchased by a friend of mine, I will be leasing this section of the shop for automotive repair. So it doesn't need to be squeaky clean, but I need to make this space presentable from a retail perspective. We have 15+ years of working together, I pretty much have permission to do whatever I deem necessary to make this work for me. As far as a full gut out is not in the cards for either one of us, We are both consolidating our businesses to this property and the list of more pressing things is pretty long. So for the foreseeable future I really just am looking on how to polish this place up to make it suitable.

 

[JuncleJohn]

If you own it, I’d suggest covering it.

John

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Maybe some heat shrink poly screwed on with battens. Once shrunk it looks pretty good and smooth.

 

[BurtEggley]

degreaser and push broom then hose off. I might consider doing the floor first then sealing it to keep everything that washes off from embedding in concrete, and making that job even harder.

 

[pima67]

Mix up a small but heavy dose of Oxyclean in water. Spray on a test area. I used this to get rid of orange soda pop spill on blue carpet and a reddish wood stain on white carpet. Worked but took a number of applications and running a carpet cleaner to remove mix before next application.

 

[BillK]

You can see spots where it is already ripped and it looks like very thin plastic. I think that any type of mechanical or pressure type cleaning is just going to tear it to shreds. You could try slowly cleaning it by hand but that will take forever. How tall is it from the top of the "walls" to the ceiling ?

 

[Sturgeon]

As other's have mentioned, remove all of it for obvious reasons and do a deep clean. Then start upgrading as funds become available. I think it would be money well spent in the long run.

 

[gregs]

If you try to paint it I suspect it would have to be super clean to stick and not flake off in a short time. If it was that clean then you wouldn't need to paint it. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Obviously clean and paint the lower walls. Maybe some white poly sheet that you could tape at the top and bottom of each section to cover whats there. Just trying to think whats cheap and quick since you don't own the building.

 

[gregs]

Another thought was to look into the places that sell old billboard vinyls. They usually advertise on FB. I am pretty sure the back side is white and there fairly heavy duty. You could probably screw them to the purlins and cover the whole area.

 

[mnfireman]

Build an office/waiting room with seating for customers who insist on waiting for their vehicle, put some sort of counter with a display of your retail products and have your POS/cash register in this area. Most of the shops in my area have this set up, it keeps the customers out of the work area and will allow you time to remodel while still being able to work.

 

[PWC Repair]

I would try some 'Awesome" cleaner in a 50/50 mix. spray in on a section up top around 4ft wide. Move on down the wall. By the time you get back up top the cleaner has soaked and done it's job. Then start at top with a pump up sprayer of water........low pressure and easy to direct. Wave back and forth, follow it down the wall or wipe off with old towels. That stuff will clean ANYTHING and is pretty safe.

 

[kwb]

Quick hit - rinse with garden hose and airless paint it especially up high.

Put up 8ft "wall" all around that looks intentional.

 

[Steve from Socal]

I have a much larger shop that was heavy welding/fab shop for decades with the same type of insulaton. It has a thin plastic that becomes brittle over time and just brushing it will cause rips. The only things you can really do are, replace it/cover it.

 

[KenC]

I

It's even worse in person, phone makes things nicer than they are. Going to be moving into this shop soon and I really want to make this place presentable.

What options do I have to clean or brighten up the insulation above the walls. The ceiling is even worse that you can't see in the photo. Seems like just spraying paint over it, or covering it is pretty much it?

Also tips for floor scrubbing too.

It's your money, my advice. I'd go price some liner panels for a metals supplier. Usually cheaper than the exterior stuff. IME, it will be very difficult to do later in a working shop, so if at all possible do it before moving in.

If the insulation is more than just a few years old that plastic will be brittle and hard to clean without damage.

 

[jeffro30]

You can paint it. Sherwin Williams make a product called Dryfall. Have painted many old factories that looked like this. Also what KenC said about doing Liner panels is a good option.

 

[no704]

1” foam panels shiny side out.

 

[N8sToolz]

So figured I'd give an update to this one for anyone searching in the future.

Ended up cleaning and painting everything. Was a lot of time on my end but happy with the outcome.

Went around with shop vac to pull all the loose dust and cobwebs down. Was 3 bags worth of dust doing that.

Then repaired the holes in the plastic with gorilla tape and spray adhesive, a bit of brake clean to wipe it down to make sure it would stick.

After that it was wire brush on a broom handle and went at all the plywood around the walls to knock down anything loose. Replaced some wood and insulation as needed.

Ended up using bonding primer from Lowe's with an airless sprayer, then a semi gloss light gray ( similar to the Lowe's gray they use inside the building).

Was about 15 gallons of each primer and paint. I'm really happy with the outcome.

 

[472scout]

Looks so much better. Nice job!

 

[tarbellb]

Impressive transformation, thanks for updating!

 

[NUTTSGT]

Looks good, came out better than I was expecting it might. Did it have any stank or have any odor now ?


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