How to remove artwork from these screens?

[MrsABC]

Hi 🙂 How do I remove chalk from these screens? As you can see by the photos, the young lad did some awesome artwork…but didn’t think about it becoming permanent 🙄 Is there some kind of chemical product or paint??? TIA 

👍🏻

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @MrsABC. It's fantastic to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about restoring rusted screens.

Just to confirm, this is chalk on a rusted screen panel? Or have you removed the chalk already with some type of cleaning product, and this is the result? I'm struggling to see any chalk on the screen, more so lightening of the rust effect. Has the chalk been on there so long that there is rust coming through it? I can't imagine what would be in chalk that would cause this type of effect on a rusted panel. The only time I've seen rust lightening like that is if phosphoric acid is sprayed on it. Can you tell us why does the chalk look like it's running?

A couple of options I can think of are flipping the screen over to hide the discolouration or scrubbing the chalk off and spraying the area with a vinegar and salt solution to encourage rust to form.

It's a bit hard to tell what's going on here, and any additional information you can provide would assist our members in offering advice.

Mitchell

[MrsABC]

Hi Mitchell,

thanks for the follow up. It was just normal everyday kids chalk. I never washed it off, just let the rain do it’s job. I haven’t used anything (no detergent or chemical - just water) on it, so can’t say why it looks like it has ‘ran’. It’s really done a job on it though.

I’ll happily give the vinegar and salt a try. Cheers.

[MitchellMc]

That's unusual and interesting @MrsABC. If anything, it looks like the chalk has cleaned some of the rust away. I can find a few home remedies for rust that include calcium carbonate (chalk), but I'm not sure if that is to create a paste or that it somehow reacts with the rust. 

If you fail to assist the rusting process, have a check to see if this panel can be easily flipped around. I know our rust effect panels are pretty light.

Please keep us updated.

Mitchell

[MitchellMc]

Hi @MrsABC,

I apologise, but I've just remembered that we have the Dulux 1L Design Rust Effect Paint and Dulux 500ml Design Rust Effect Solution if you wish to repaint the whole panel. I'm not sure how effective it would be as a spot treatment, and you'll likely need to do a coat on the entire area.

Mitchell