Cleaning Vinyl Siding
Cleaning vinyl siding may seem difficult but it's actually quite
easy if you have the proper equipment. If you don't have the
proper tools and experience though, it could take far more time
than you expected.
Some of the most common mistakes to avoid made by homeowners and
contractors when cleaning vinyl siding are:
Trying to remove the powdery coating called oxidation on vinyl
siding when washing a house. Removing this coating can cause
discoloration and in some cases cause the siding to look like a
completely different color.
Using too much pressure when cleaning vinyl siding can also
force water up behind the siding where it will cause mildew
behind the siding or in some cases, blow the siding off the
house!
Washing vinyl sided homes from the top down or letting chemicals
dry on the house, which may leave streaks on the siding.
Using a ladder when cleaning vinyl siding can damage the
aluminum siding or result in serious injuries and death from
slipping off the ladder.
These are just some of the types of mishaps that many people
have when cleaning vinyl siding on homes. If you decide to use a
power washer on your vinyl siding, here are some general
guidelines to use.
Make sure the power washer puts out a minimum of 4 gallons of
water per minute and less than 1000 PSI. Most homeowners or new
contractors will buy a machine from a hardware store that puts
out 1,000 PSI but only uses 2 gallons per minute of water. While
this machine may work, it will triple the amount of time to do
the job properly. Be careful if you're making your own chemicals
to clean vinyl siding, mixing bleach and ammonia can create a
poisonous gas.
We suggest using chemicals that were designed to properly clean
vinyl siding. Some contractors buy a house wash that's available
in most hardware stores and are unable to achieve the results
they were expecting. Most of the house washing agents
contractors need for cleaning vinyl siding can be purchased from
Sun Brite supply, these products are designed to clean vinyl
siding more effectivly and give better results.
The best way to clean vinyl siding is by using an X-Jet, this
tool can cut your cleaning time by 50% or more! if you don't
have one then use a power washer that has a chemical injector
built into the machine.
Using a chemical injector to clean vinyl siding will allow you
to pull the soap from the container, mixing it in the machine
with water and spray it onto the house using low pressure
starting from the bottom up. Make sure when using a power washer
that you don't shoot water or chemicals up under the vinyl
siding, this can cause significant mold and mildew problems.
Allow the chemical to dwell on the siding but not too long, it
may damage the vinyl siding your cleaning. Then using low
pressure, rinse the product from the siding. Make sure when your
rinsing the product off the siding that you start at one end of
the siding all the way to the end. Do not stop or vary your
distance from the siding, or it will cause the surface to be
cleaned un-evenly.