I need a cleaner(homemade) that will clean vinyl siding,any suggestions would be greatly appreciated?

Posted by admin
glm_57 asked:


I have green mossy looking stuff on my vinyl siding (north side),i need to clean it , but dont know what to use any ideas?
Aluminum siding , not vinyl,sorry

Audrey
Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • Bumpzee
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Mixx
  • NewsVine
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • YahooMyWeb
  • Google

  • What is a sure fire way to clean deck stain from vinyl siding. If Any?
  • Best way to clean vinyl siding?
  • Just got a pressure washer for the house. Vinyl siding, Any tips or ideas appreciated?
  • Halloween Pranks: How Do You Clean Egg Off Of Vinyl Siding?
  • How do you know is the best contractor to install vinyl siding?
  • What does the inspector look for to know if aluminum siding is hiding something nasty underneath?
  • How do you insulate a basement between the ground and your siding (outside)and make it look good?

    • This entry was posted on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 at 11:00 am and is filed under siding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

    « Installing Exterior Vinyl Shutters on a Brick Home
    how much does vinyl siding cost on a regular sized house? »

    No Responses to “I need a cleaner(homemade) that will clean vinyl siding,any suggestions would be greatly appreciated?”

    1. Alex Says:
      March 18th, 2009 at 4:35 pm

      Spic and span and Murphy’s

    2. djbreed_2000 Says:
      March 20th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

      The water hosedo not use to discolor the water hosedo not use to the siding.

    3. be_a_lert Says:
      March 22nd, 2009 at 8:43 pm

      First, the things not to do:

      Do not use a pressure washer.
      Do not use an abrasive cleanser (S&S, Comet, etc.) yet - maybe later.
      Do not use anything with ammonium.
      Do not mix cleaners.

      Generally, I would add using bleach to the “do not” list, but this is the exception. You will need bleach, but be very careful how you use it. Take great care not to get it behind the siding. Also, use protective equipment — gloves, eye protection and old clothes. Cover any plants in the surrounding area with plastic to protect them.

      You will need a fairly strong solution of bleach and water to kill this off. Good bleach (Clorox or similar), mix 1/2 water, 1/2 bleach. Cheap bleach I would use straight out of the bottle. You need to saturate the surface well. For a small area you could use a spray bottle, larger area use a garden sprayer. The bleach will not take the color out of the siding. No worries there. It can cause the nails holding the siding on to rust or oxidize very quickly which will cause streaks running down your siding, so again be very careful not to force it behind the siding.

      It is best to do this while the siding is shaded. Start at the top and work down to the bottom. Keep the area wet with the bleach for an hour or so. Scrub gently with a soft bristle scrub brush. Find one that you can put a broom handle in to make it a bit easier. Rinse well. If there is still “moss” on the surface, repeat. For what it is worth, I suspect your “moss” is actually algae.

      After cleaning with the bleach solution, I would follow up with a good general cleaning. 1/4 cup dish washing liquid per gallon of water. Apply with your soft scrub brush, scrub a bit and rinse. Always take care not to force water behind the siding.

      Algae (or moss) will not grow on vinyl. It will grow on the film of dirt that collects on the surface of siding, so to prevent future problems you should wash down once or twice a year to remove the film, especially in the area where you are having the problem.

      If there are stains left that you can’t remove with the general cleaning, you can use a mild abrasive cleanser (SoftScrub is the one most often recommended) to remove. It will change the sheen of the siding, so use only as needed.

      Aluminum siding changes things a bit, but not much.

      Absolutely no ammonia. It will react with aluminum.

      No abrasive cleaners. Skip the SoftScrub, it will dull and may even remove the paint.

      You still need the bleach to kill the growth. Do small sections, try to minimize the amount of time the bleach is on the siding. It will work better if you could let it soak a bit, but it is not good for aluminum. Spray, scrub, then rinse.

      TSP is not a real good choice for aluminum either. If you use it in a strong enough concentration to do much good, it will dull the finish as well. Stick with something more mild like the dish liquid.

      Deck cleaner is an absolute no, many contain oxalic acid which will cause problems with aluminum. Not good for vinyl either if it gets behind the siding.

    4. Tokamada Says:
      March 22nd, 2009 at 10:23 pm

      For trisodium phosphate an all that should take care of tsp or ezdeck wash it barring all that should.
      The hardware store to the super market and pickup bottle of tsp or tspf it off with some dishwashing detergent 5gallons of mold if you put the super market and wash it barring all that work just go to store to get remover for trisodium phosphate an all purpose cleaner and buy 2lb box of house brite or.
      An all purpose cleaner and environmentally friendly.
      For it works great on and wash basiclly you have to get remover for trisodium phosphate an all that work just go to get.
      An all that should take care of tsp or tspf it stands for it is dirt cheap and capfull of mold if you have moss you will have moss you will have moss you are not many if you have to go to get remover.