Does anyone know how water damages props?

[Surgeoen]

Can anyone tell me how water damages foam latex props? Or does anyone know of where there is a site or such that describes how water deteriorates props? I was looking for an outside source on this matter. Thanks for any help!

[xtremecreator]

What I do if they are outside is make sure they have shade and then I use Original Armorall inside and out on my creatures every 6 months. I have creatures that are 10 years old that do not have a single crack.

on another note the creatures were only outside for 6 weeks.

Thanks,
john

[Surgeoen]

Do you know how water generally affects latex props or why it does? Thanks for the reply!

[xtremecreator]

Well depending on the type of foam it would absorb water like a sponge which weakens it and makes it very very heavy and thats where it starts tearing the latex and such.

John

[Bradenton Haunted Trail]

What I do if they are outside is make sure they have shade and then I use Original Armorall inside and out on my creatures every 6 months. I have creatures that are 10 years old that do not have a single crack.

on another note the creatures were only outside for 6 weeks.

Thanks,
john

Thanks for the tip on the Armorall. I will try this out.

Shawn
http://bradentonhauntedtrail.com

[Allen H]

Latex is a natural compound, like wood. Its actually fortified tree sap. Water will break it down. Latex is soluable in water, it takes a long time but the water will destroy it. Sunlight is actually much faster at breaking down Latex than water. Latex has many enemies, sunlight, moisture, petroleum, and toluene (actually any propellent). If you inflate a baloon and spray it with spray paint it will pop almost immediately SO NEVER SPRAY PAINT PROPS TO TOUCH THEM UP!
This is from a rug site, but the info is about latex
http://www.abcclean.com/FYI-commrugld.htm

Back to your question Water-
Water simply pulls the elasticity out of latex, after staying wet for a length of time the oil in the latex leaches into the water and when the latex dries it is brittle.
I hope that helped,
Allen H

[HordeOfUndead]

What I do if they are outside is make sure they have shade and then I use Original Armorall inside and out on my creatures every 6 months. I have creatures that are 10 years old that do not have a single crack.

on another note the creatures were only outside for 6 weeks.

Thanks,
john

I am currently doing mobile auto detailing for a living here in Phoenix. Do you just use regular consumer brand Armorall to spray on and work in the latex props to keep them moist/healthy?

Guess that makes perfect sense. I don't use Armorall, but that's the same concept you keep conditioning leather seats, vinyl, and dashboards periodically.

Nice!

[Allen H]

Yes, original formula armorall, works great. If they have a UV protectant version try that one for outside props.

[lonewolfmage]

Hello All~

This thread got me thinking, about water protectants and such.

When I was working, at one point at a car wash (for those of you from NY,PA,or Illinois no it wasnt Delta Sonic it was a locally and privately owned business) , we used some stuff (I unfortunately don't remeber the name but know the company) for the Tire Dressing (kinda like Armor all) to give the tires a shine to it and protect them. It's made by Castle (Link to thier main page) of course with the ammount of cars we would do for the dressing we would by it by the 55 Gal. barrels.

However that being said, you can get it, most areas, at your local auto parts store (like Advance Autoparts or Auto zone, or sometimes even at Wal-mart) in the small spray bottles size. Like the size of a windex bottle.

It has a "silicone base" and DOES have a tendancy to be a bit on the greasy side.(DON'T spray on glass-MAJOR STREAKS and tough to get off- OR or concrete or asphalt- it makes those surfaces EXTEREMELY slippery unleess you thurougly clean the surface afterward).

But this stuff works. We could acctually tell if a car had tire dressing applied or not when they came up to get thier car washed again.(mind you close to a week later) Until we hit it with the power hose or put our "Wheel bright" cleaner (which was a citrus acid base also made by Castle) on it .

The only issue that might be, at least in a haunt setting, is that our stuff ( not sure exactly if consumer grade products have it) that we used had a kinda of "fruity" (like strawberry-ish) smell to it. But other wise it worked REALLY well for protecting the tires and the other car areas that were treated with it. Such as dashboard, wheel wells, ect. ( basically anything they that it would give a shine or lustere to).

And if I'm not mistaken some of thier stuff is also Enviro-Friendly. AND a little goes along way with the stuff. We would only have to fill a "windex size bottle", once every few days, and considering how many cars we treated with the stuff on a DAILY basis (number close to a couple hundred) thats not to terribly bad, if I do say so myself.

Considering in a haunt setting , depending on how long many days your in operation and what your storage conditions are this stuff could potentially last MONTHS for preserving, and keeping the "just new look" on masks.

Just my thoughts .
And something to think about.
~LoneWolf

[lonewolfmage]

Hello again~

Seeing as though I can't seem (for some reason) to do the editing (forum keeps bouncing me about) I'm supplying links regarding the Castle products I mentioned in the above post ..

Vinyl Protectant(aresol spray SILICONE BASE) Product link

Vinyl Protector ("windex type" spray bottle SILICONE BASE) Product link

Vinyl Protectant (aresol spray NON SILICONE BASE) Product Link

Enjoy~
LoneWolf