Cleaning Mildew From Vinyl Siding?

[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?