Cleaning Mildew From Vinyl Siding?

[lostcreekranch]

I use the Wet & Forget in a foam cannon with my pressure washer.

MATCC Foam Wash Gun 3000 PSI High Pressure Washer Jet Snow Foam Lance Foam Cannon Foam Blaster with 3/8" Connector https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071FQWRT7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_ADmPEbD2FMAAP

You spray it and walk away. As earlier stated, it has a residual effect that last for quite a while.

The foam cannon will reach the 2nd story .. from the ground. You can adjust it pattern from a fan down to a stream and also adjust the W&F / water mix as well.

I've used the method for about 4 years now.

 

[spitter]

H.D . has 1 gal of bleach for $6.58, 1lb. box of T.S.P. is $4.38, for $12.00 you can mix up about 36 gal . of cleaning solution and vary concentration to suit your job. Jomax is $20.00 a gal. , 36 gal. of Jomax will cost you $720.00:confused2::confused3::drink:

 

[EddieWalker]

H.D . has 1 gal of bleach for $6.58, 1lb. box of T.S.P. is $4.38, for $12.00 you can mix up about 36 gal . of cleaning solution and vary concentration to suit your job. Jomax is $20.00 a gal. , 36 gal. of Jomax will cost you $720.00:confused2::confused3::drink:

I buy the concentrate of JOMAX and mix it in a 3 gallon sprayer. I've never needed more then just that one conainter to cleann a house.

 

[Runner]

Just want to throw this out as a community service: The "30 Seconds Cleaner" stuff Doc references in this video actually works great. I used his method to clean my vinyl siding which has bad mold problems every year and got two sides of the house completely clean in less than half an hour from the ground with nothing more than a garden hose and the 30 Seconds Cleaner using their bottle with the hose-end spray applicator.

If you notice in the video, he says NOT to follow the directions on the bottle, i.e., spray one coat on, let it sit for 3 minutes or so, then spray it again with the chemical and let it sit 3 more minutes and then rinse with water. For me, that worked perfectly, but it is not exactly per the instructions on the bottle which say just spray on then rinse.

The only caveat is that I would recommend covering any shrubs, flowers, etc. with sheet plastic before spraying. It says it is "safe for vegetation" and for the most part that proved true, however the chemical burned the leaves off some gold barberries in front of my house. Did not seem to kill the plants because they are leafing out this spring as normal. I have several other types of shrubs and grass near the house that were not affected.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Vinyl siding manufacturers recommend that you do NOT use a pressure washer to clean vinyl siding. It has many small drain holes on the bottoms and a pressure washer has so much power it gets water in these holes and behind the vinyl siding where it can do damage.

I have always sprayed on a solution of 50/50 water and full power bleach. Let it sit and 90% of the mildew disappears. Then I spray what is left, wipe it with a broom or car brush and hose it off. This works for me and the bleach is so diluted after you finish that it never harms anything of mine.

Don't stand under it and spray up, and pressure washing will work just fine. All you need is a ladder that will reach the eves. All you need is water. I did my parents' house every year for 35 years with no problem.

 

[nyone]

I use chlorinating liquid from walmart. You typicaly find it in the pool section. I mix it 50/50 in a pump sprayer. Then just use the pressure washer angled down and far away to wash it quick.

Normal bleach really isnt strong enough.

 

[geteh]

I've neglected my vinyl siding above the house (I have a brick ranch with vinyl up to the roof). I have mildew on there pretty good. I've trimmed back and removed some trees last fall to hopefully reduce that going forward.

What do you recommend to remove the mildew? My brother has a power washer I can borrow.

My concerns are something that won't effect the brick on the house - the brick is fine and doesn't need cleaned.

Also, we have three, tiny 5 pound dogs - so I need something that is safe around them and my 2 kids. I looked at whatever Home Depot had last fall and the entire label warned about how terrible it is for pets, other plants, shrubs, trees, etc.



I was hoping to get some first hand experience from some people on here home remodeling kirkland.

I have a client that wants me to power wash the north side of his house. He has vinyl siding and because it gets no sunlight, a bunch of mold has built up. Would you just pressure wash this with water or is there good solution that you would recommend that I can add to kill the mold?

 

[ponytug]

I have a client that wants me to power wash the north side of his house. He has vinyl siding and because it gets no sunlight, a bunch of mold has built up. Would you just pressure wash this with water or is there good solution that you would recommend that I can add to kill the mold?

If it is mold, I would add TSP and some bleach, unless the siding is dark colored. If it is dark siding, just use TSP. Prespray with that and let it soak for 20 minutes. Rinse, power wash, and you can follow it up with "Wet & Forget". If you have time, put on the Wet & Forget a couple of weeks earlier on a dry day, with dry weather in the forecast. It will kill things off, which makes them easier to remove.

All the best,

Peter

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I've neglected my vinyl siding above the house (I have a brick ranch with vinyl up to the roof). I have mildew on there pretty good. I've trimmed back and removed some trees last fall to hopefully reduce that going forward.

What do you recommend to remove the mildew? My brother has a power washer I can borrow.

My concerns are something that won't effect the brick on the house - the brick is fine and doesn't need cleaned.

Also, we have three, tiny 5 pound dogs - so I need something that is safe around them and my 2 kids. I looked at whatever Home Depot had last fall and the entire label warned about how terrible it is for pets, other plants, shrubs, trees, etc.



I was hoping to get some first hand experience from some people on here.

spray on wet and forget

 

[JethroB]

I bought some of the high price house wash concentrate from Lowes or HD. Can't remember which. It didn't touch the mildew on my siding. Total waste of time and money.

I had the same poor results with the store bought stuff. I gave in and hired a guy with a nice setup on a flatbed truck. Multiple tanks of chemicals, water, hose reels and he made his own hot water. They call it a ‘Soft Wash’. Low pressure and flood of water to rinse. My house & yard smelled of bleach for three days but he did an excellent job. It did damage the grass in a few areas.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Due to various plantings around the house, I'm afraid to use chemicals. Instead, I use this Turbo nozzle with my pressure washer:

Amazon.com

I use plain cold water, and it does a great job.

 

[ponytug]

Due to various plantings around the house, I'm afraid to use chemicals. Instead, I use this Turbo nozzle with my pressure washer:

View attachment 856185

Amazon.com

I use plain cold water, and it does a great job.

Just don't get too close. I've accidentally etched things with that nozzle, though I love it for tough jobs.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Runner]

Just want to throw this out as a community service: The "30 Seconds Cleaner" stuff Doc references in this video actually works great. I used his method to clean my vinyl siding which has bad mold problems every year and got two sides of the house completely clean in less than half an hour from the ground with nothing more than a garden hose and the 30 Seconds Cleaner using their bottle with the hose-end spray applicator.

If you notice in the video, he says NOT to follow the directions on the bottle, i.e., spray one coat on, let it sit for 3 minutes or so, then spray it again with the chemical and let it sit 3 more minutes and then rinse with water. For me, that worked perfectly, but it is not exactly per the instructions on the bottle which say just spray on then rinse.

The only caveat is that I would recommend covering any shrubs, flowers, etc. with sheet plastic before spraying. It says it is "safe for vegetation" and for the most part that proved true, however the chemical burned the leaves off some gold barberries in front of my house. Did not seem to kill the plants because they are leafing out this spring as normal. I have several other types of shrubs and grass near the house that were not affected.

Just an update on this post. One year later, I have not seen any of the mold grow back yet. Usually, the mold grows back on my siding EVERY year (and then I clean it off in the fall). So, it looks like there may be some residual effects from using this stuff. Will update again next year if I can remember....

 

[JeepHead]

So I own a power washing business and have professionally cleaned houses for over 34 years now. I have attended national conferences all over the country to stay on the leading edge of cleaning homes. There is nothing that works as well as sodium hypochlorite which is basically bleach. Most pro power washers buy this by the 55 gallon drum. It's diluted with water to around a 1.5% strength and cleans very well with no worries of hurting any vegetation in the area. If you are worried about hurting your plants then you can do a pre and post treat of plain water.

You can easily find sodium hypochlorite as it's commonly known as liquid pool shock. I can clean two 2K square foot homes with one $16 box of pool shock.

 

[Runner]

So I own a power washing business and have professionally cleaned houses for over 34 years now. I have attended national conferences all over the country to stay on the leading edge of cleaning homes. There is nothing that works as well as sodium hypochlorite which is basically bleach. Most pro power washers buy this by the 55 gallon drum. It's diluted with water to around a 1.5% strength and cleans very well with no worries of hurting any vegetation in the area. If you are worried about hurting your plants then you can do a pre and post treat of plain water.

You can easily find sodium hypochlorite as it's commonly known as liquid pool shock. I can clean two 2K square foot homes with one $16 box of pool shock.

Sodium hypochlorite appears to be the main ingredient of the 30 Seconds Cleaner product.

 

[EddieWalker]

Due to various plantings around the house, I'm afraid to use chemicals. Instead, I use this Turbo nozzle with my pressure washer:

View attachment 856185

Amazon.com

I use plain cold water, and it does a great job.

Several years ago we had a puppy that picked up Parvo from the vet. To make sure that none of our other dogs got it, we sprayed everything that he had been in contact with, with Swimming Pool Shock. It's the highest concentration of bleach that you can legally buy. It will make your eyes water and destroy your clothing the second it gets on anything.

I sprayed the fence, the lawn, the bushes, the flooring, and everything else that I could think of. I went through gallons of it to saturate everything. I didn't care if any plants died, my goal was absolute.

We expected a massive dead area in the lawn. We where sure that we would be pulling all the plants. And weeks later, nothing was dead, nothing had turned brown. The Parvo never showed up in any of our other dogs, and the puppy made a full recovery.

 

[JeepHead]

Sodium hypochlorite appears to be the main ingredient of the 30 Seconds Cleaner product.

It works amazing on cleaning roofs as well but needs to be a lot hotter mix. I mix it with Gain laundry detergent to thicken it up and help it cling to the roof better. I spray it on at a very low psi and let it sit and the rain and wind does the rest. It will make an old nasty roof look brand new again. It's a very hot mix though so you need to bag the gutter downspouts to catch any run-off. You also want to pre-wet any surrounding vegetation and also rinse afterwards to avoiding killing anything.

 

[Runner]

Several years ago we had a puppy that picked up Parvo from the vet. To make sure that none of our other dogs got it, we sprayed everything that he had been in contact with, with Swimming Pool Shock. It's the highest concentration of bleach that you can legally buy. It will make your eyes water and destroy your clothing the second it gets on anything.

I sprayed the fence, the lawn, the bushes, the flooring, and everything else that I could think of. I went through gallons of it to saturate everything. I didn't care if any plants died, my goal was absolute.

We expected a massive dead area in the lawn. We where sure that we would be pulling all the plants. And weeks later, nothing was dead, nothing had turned brown. The Parvo never showed up in any of our other dogs, and the puppy made a full recovery.

I had pretty much the same result, i.e., didn't affect the grass/shrubs, with one exception. It did burn the leaves off my gold barberry bushes. However they came back afterwards with no permanent damage.

 

[JeepHead]

SH will absolutely kill vegetation if enough gets on it. It doesn't take much if it's a strong mix to kill the leaves if not promptly washed off but they will usually just bounce right back. A normal house wash mix isn't strong enough to cause any damage but if a roof wash mix comes out of the gutters it will kill the grass in that area or if it blows onto area bushes/plants...

 

[Runner]

SH will absolutely kill vegetation if enough gets on it. It doesn't take much if it's a strong mix to kill the leaves if not promptly washed off but they will usually just bounce right back. A normal house wash mix isn't strong enough to cause any damage but if a roof wash mix comes out of the gutters it will kill the grass in that area or if it blows onto area bushes/plants...

Jeep, I meant to ask you: Has it been your experience that SH has a residual effect that keeps mold from growing? If so, how long could one expect that effect to last?