Can Owens Corning Basement Panels Be Cleaned?

July 2, 2007 11:49 AM

My basement flooded during the torrential rains of April and I need to really CLEAN the water marks on the Owens Corning Basement system panels in my basement. Everyone tells me that once stained, the panels can never be cleaned. Anyone have any other experience?

Replacing all 18 panels of the Corning stuff will cost $200 per panel. Fema gave me $200 for my dehumidifier and $400 more for the rest of the damage. A French drain to avoid any other future water is going to cost $4000 and then another $3600 if I simply replace the panels. If I can clean the panels and save the $3600 it would be great.

posted by suzeQ to Home & Garden (1 answer total)

This user review of the OCBS says that an owner cleaned permanent laundry marker a three year old used for drawing on several panels with laundry bleach. Before I spent $3600 on new panels, I'd thoroughly air out the existing ones, and try a solution of detergent and oxygen type laundry bleach (OxiClean) on at least one, as a test panel.

"...The fact that it looks nice and can't be damaged easily was a real bonus. My 3 year old already put that to the test by taking a permanent marker to one of the walls. In a few minutes we were able to wipe it off with some bleach and you can't even tell where it was. Contrast that to having to repaint that area with a dry wall basement. ..."

posted by paulsc at 3:14 PM on July 2, 2007