Woa, just a warning!

[911boost]

I finally finished my summer deck project, and after wiping down the last coat of stain Thursday night, I placed the rubber gloves I was wearing on the ground in a shady part of my yard and forgot to dispose of them properly.

Fast forward 24 hours to last Friday when I get a phone call from my wife panicing. Apparently the gloves spontaneously combusted, which then smoldered in some left over wood stacked near by. After hours of smoldering the siding on the outside of the house caught on fire. Luckily someone walking their dog spotted it, and ran to the front door. My wife called 911 and put the fire out with a hose. It took the two fire trucks less than 2 minutes to get to our house, and determine that the fire was out.

I built the deck out of Brazillian Redwood, which probably saved the house. Since my wife had only been home a short while, the fire department said that if it had been any other less dense wood, the house would have caught fire sooner during the middle of the day. The corner of the garage was what was on fire, not too far from the motorcycles, the Mustang and all the related chemicals that are needed for each (gas can's etc.).

I just wanted to post this as a reminder. I have stained a ton in my life, and this one little mistake that ended up not too terrible, could have turned out significantly worse!

Bill

[RickM]

Glad it wasn't worse. What type of stain?

[911boost]

Messmers Natural Deck Stain....

Although I am guessing that a lot of chemicals would do the same.

Bill

[juanbenae]

i know mineral spirits are very able to do that. glad someone caught it. BBQ burquets will do the same too if they get wet, you seal/roll up the bag and put them in a dry place.

[gr8fl4porsche]

We finished a staining project at a customers warehouse a couple of years ago. Throughout the day we tossed the stain soaked rags into a bucket. At the end of the day we placed the bucket in their dumpster. Returned the next day to find the dumpster full of ashes (cabinet shop dumpster full of wood scraps). Figured it was spontaneous combustion. Did an experiment later in the week using the same stain, rags, bucket, etc. Could not get it to happen again. I believe conditions have to be just right - such as in the sun perhaps?

[911boost]

The firefighters thought it was the sun, but it is a shady part of the house, so who the heck knows.

I had a contractor come out and do an estimate to repair, and it doesn't look too bad, so atleast that is good.

Bill