How to clean vinyl siding

[bull]

I'm going to pressure wash my vinyl siding tommorrow and I'm wondering if that's all there is to it. I've heard you're not supposed to brush it with a stiff brush because it leaves dull spots but is there some kind of soap you can spray it down with first to loosen the crud? It's on the street side where all the lights are, across from a wetland area, so we've got lots of insect residue stuck to it. Any advice?

[Khyron]

I always just used the pressure washer.... always worked fine with just water for me.

[Telvis]

Pressure washer will work well. I use Wesleys Bleche White on mine. It's great stuff and very cheap. It's the stuff you use to clean whitewall tires. I use it on a lot of stuff. Get the trigger spray bottle. The pump spray will wear your finger out. Don't allow it to dry on the surface. Spray it on and maybe hit it with a soft brush then rinse it off. I have never had it discolor anything. When I was a Police officer we would have inspections of our cars about once a month. Those white cars are a pain to keep clean especially when they get a few years on them. I would use the Bleche White on my car and it would look like new. I would not recommend it on your personal car though. It was a city vehicle. I use it on swimming pool liners too. It's amazing at how well it cleans. I don't think anything cleans better. I have used it for at least 20 years. It seems to be pretty gentle too.

[MoparUSAF]

I use the siding cleaning fluid "no-name brand" solution from Home Depot. Works fine....One word of advise (only because I was not on point) remember to adjust the water pressure when moving from the top of the house closer to the bottom....it's real easy to lift the siding panels off!

[Silver R/T]

what cop said ^^^^^

[4402tuff4u]

I use pressure washer with spray nine soap. Does not leave film behind.

[HalfastAMX]

Do it the easy way Bull..................

[bull]

Torch it and collect the insurance money? Tempting.

[SeattleCharger]

  I use a mixture of regular bleach and water, about one to three or one to four, then power wash that off after five minutes or so.   You can put the bleach water solution on with one of those pump up garden fertilizer bottle/sprayers.  Make sure you rinse the bleach water off the windows well or clean them shortly afterwards, if that is a problem later you can put some ammanoi in water to clean the residue off windows if you couldn't get it off in a timely manner.  Put towels under your doors when power washing and watch the window sills, a couple of them might leak a little.

[Afflyer]

Yeah Bull,  .  Do it that way.

[bull]

Thanks for the advice fellas but I ended up just using water pressure only because I had too much stuff to do to be fooling around with cleaners. I did buy some ZEP vinyl cleaner from Home Depot but never used any. It really turned out great regardless. I ended up doing the house, the two front cedar gates, the driveway, the RV pad, the patio, two vinyl chairs and the picnic table. Took me 8 hrs. to do all that but it's totally amazing the difference it made. That cedar looks brand new now. My wife even gave me a kiss when she saw how good everything looked. Now we're talking about buying a pressure washer.

I had to shoot down a nest of yellow jackets too. One of them tried to sting me but I gave him the smackdown.

[Charger4404spd]

I did my concrete drive last year. Man you just dont realize how dirty it really is until you use a pressure washer on it. Now its on to the vinyl siding for me.

[Afflyer]

Charger440, just be very careful that your pressure setting isn't too high for washing the concrete, or you'll really do damage!

Bradley 

[andy74]

i used some cheap powdered dish soap,the kind for dishwashers,it worked awesome,and my house smelled like a lemon for a few days too!

[SeattleCharger]

  I have/had a business power washing and staining/oiling cedar.  Power washed cedar roofs, decks, fences, siding, etc., also comp. roofs, tile roofs, some concrete-driveways, walkways, sidewalks, etc.  Cedar restoration is a good business.  Pretty good money per hour, its amazing how old looking wood can be restored.  Especially in the northwest where there is lots of cedar used and lots of rain and green stuff. 
   I had a honda 13 hp with an 8 gal./min. Cat pump, and now a 13 hp honda with a 4 gal/min. Cat pump, also use an airless sprayer for oiling and staining and a honda 5.5 hp machine with a roller pump that sprays stain on roofs like a small power washer, mix it up in a 33 gallon plastic barrel.  Also did power washing/cleaning of houses for painting companies to prep the siding.  Now I just stick to fences and decks when I do this work, don't like the roofs now that I am getting a little older, too dangerous. 

   Home depot sells a decent 13 hp power washer, but if you can find a specialty store for hoses and wands and guns and tips, you can get a variety of stuff, and buying one in the fall and winter you can get a good deal at a specialty store, I got my honda/cat pump one for a little more than the home depot 13 hp, but the cat pump is much better and the wand and gun and tips and hose is better, prob. three hundred bucks more total.   

   You power washed a lot of stuff for not having that much time to mess around with it.  hehe

[911bear]

cleaned my house and garage about two weeks ago got out my trusty 2 gallon garden sprayer {available at any wal-mart 9.99} 1 gallon of greased lightining 1 gallon of water spray it on fire up the pressure washer and shazzamm you have a clean project!!!!!!! 

[bull]

  I have/had a business power washing and staining/oiling cedar.   Power washed cedar roofs, decks, fences, siding, etc., also comp. roofs, tile roofs, some concrete-driveways, walkways, sidewalks, etc.   Cedar restoration is a good business.   Pretty good money per hour, its amazing how old looking wood can be restored.   Especially in the northwest where there is lots of cedar used and lots of rain and green stuff.  

That cedar turns gray real fast down here in Oregon too. What's the process for doing a cedar fence if you want to seal/stain it? I did the front side of a double wide gate (probably 12' wide overall) and it took me probably 20 minutes to do just that. I can just imagine how long it would take to do 100' of it. So do you just pressure wash it, let it dry and then shoot on the sealer? We want the natural look so what do I use?

[SeattleCharger]

   For fences I usually used a water based stain.     Colorant and a product brand name of DeMoss for the binder.   Colorant and DeMoss (I found a place that sells the DeMoss equivalent for a fraction of cost if bought in bulk).   It was thirty bucks a gallon, but mixes 20 to 1 with water to DeMoss.     Colorant is twenty to one also.   So two quarts of product in a five gallon bucket, rest water.     This will cover a lot of fence, and last about five years.   It is semi transparent and can be mixed to a natural color.     These products might be hard to find.   The colorant is actually the paint tinting concentrates the paint dept. at Home Depot or paint stores use.   Mix a combination of mostly yellow oxide, a little red oxide, and a little raw umber.   Start with the yellow, then add a littlle brown, then a little red.   Mix this up as your colorant concentrate.   The DeMoss product I got at a roofing store.   This process might be a pain to do just once.  

     The other way is to use oil based products.   Home Depot sells Bear product or Pennafin, a Brazilian Rosewood oil.     Pennafin costs more but is a great product.   It soaks in deep and helps preserve, but you can't really tell you put it on.     The Bear products at Home Depot, the semi-transparent oils, they last about one to two years, they have different shades from clear to redwood etc.      The best oil is probably Cabbot's, it is nasty stuff, was banned for a while, smells like gasoline, but that's why it works so well.   Cabbot's can be bought at specialty paint stores like Kelly Moore.   It costs more but lasts about two to three years.  

    If you use the water based stain, let the fence dry and spray on a lot, so it is running down the board.   The stain will soak in the wood and turn out even.   The water in it helps the colorant and DeMoss penetrate.      If you use oil based stains, put the oil on much thinner and put it on evenly.   It will soak up as much as you put on pretty much, and will use a lot of product, so don't soak the wood.   Spray it on about like you would be spraying on paint.        
 
    I would recommend Cabbot's oil.     Ask the paint store for a natural cedar color, I think I used something like 1901, can't remember off hand.   Wear a respirator and don't put the product on in direct hot sunlight.   Use an airless sprayer if you can, no back brushing necessary on a fence.     Hopefully you can get it on sale and you might consider buying five gallons at once, but this stuff covers a lot of area.   You could use a garden/fertilizer type pump sprayer if you have one that sprays a nice even fan out of the tip.     You will have to keep the pressure in it pretty constant, might be a little bit of a pain to be able to spray consistently with that, but you could make it work.     


    -this pic is the water based stain I use, lasts like this about four or five years, it is still a little wet, will dry a little darker, they wanted it to sort of match the pressure treated boards that didn't turn silver and held their color. But I think what you want is more the oil look, a lot more clear looking, more like a a light hardwood floor type appearance,   and oil, although it doesn't stay looking newer as long and will have to be done sooner, is prob. a better preservative for cedar than water based stain.  

[SeattleCharger]

    Alright, I found some photos.   These show the water based stain I described, looks more natural the way I mixed these colors on a couple of these fences and a roof.   Another pic shows the difference of dirty and clean on the power washing of the cedar roof.  

[SeattleCharger]

This house I eventually power washed the roofs of the garage and house and stained them, power washed and stained the small fence you can see, and bleach treated and power washed the house for a pre-paint prep.   You can really see the difference the power washing makes on the old cedar.  That is just plain cedar cleaned, no stain on it yet.  I think I charged them 1900 bucks for that job.   Had a couple guys do the power washing for ten bucks an hour, I stained it myself.   I bleach treated and power washed the house myself I think.   This was about seven years ago.   Dang, makes me want to get back into this again looking at these old pics.   I rarely do a fence job or a house wash, now and then, for friends or something.  

[bull]

Thanks for all the info. Just wondering though, why use a nasty oil based stain that lasts three years when I could use a water based stain that lasts five? Does it look that much better? The fence in your first picture looks pretty good to me.

[SeattleCharger]

   I have used the Cabbott's many times, upon request of customers usually, but I prefer the water based one, it is less expensive and looks good a lot longer and is way, way friendlier to work with in regards to the cleanup, smell, fumes, etc.   Oil is a great wood preservative though.   And they look a little different put on.   Sorry I can't find pics of an oil fence or deck I have done.  The waterbased product I use, you have to buy it in parts and mix the colors and then mix it all together in ratio.  Also I don't know if you can buy DeMoss anymore, or something similar.  I buy the equivalent in five gallon buckets from a different company that calls it "roof treatment".  It is basically a fatty acid/ soapy like substance.  The concentrated colorant can be a little messy.   If you use the water base, remember to keep stirring your treatment in the five gallon bucket as it will seperate.  I use a fish pond pump that I just set in the bucket with the hose on it, keeps it stirred up, otherwise stir it about at least every five minutes.  Spray on a lot of product until it is running down the wood, go from board to board, you can go back over spots if you need to as long as it is all wet still.  If it dries and you go over it again, it will make that spot darker. 

[Charger_Fan]

Wow, those are some impressive looking before & after shots!

Damn, now I'm half tempted to do my wood fence.

[SeattleCharger]

  After posting the old pics of work, I did a cedar deck job in the last week or so.  Have some pics.  Power washed it then stained it with a water clean up oil product.   Here are some pics of the job that show how originally dirty it was from old stain and trees overhead and black pollution stuff that darkens cement/driveways/decks, etc. to the finished stained wood.   

   These first pics are the deck halfway power washed when I returned on the second day of cleaning it.

[SeattleCharger]

   This shows the contrast of part of it stained/oiled and part bare untreated wood.