I need a cleaner(homemade) that will clean vinyl siding,any suggestions would be greatly appreciated?
Question: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?
Answers:
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.
**** and span and Murphy's
water with a small amount of clorox or purex in it will clean and get rid of mold,mildew etc...I would put it in a pressure spray bottle connected to the water hose...do not use to much clorox,don't want to discolor the siding.
As far as homemade products there are not many, if you are heart set on making your own concoction go to the super market and buy a 2lb box of TSP or TSP-F it stands for Tri-sodium phosphate an all purpose cleaner and degreaser. It is really inexpensive. Mix this with some dishwashing detergent, 5gallons of water and a capfull of bleach. That should take care of mold. If you have moss you will have to go to a store to get a remover for it.
Barring all that work, just go to the hardware store and pickup a bottle of House Brite, or Ez-deck wash, basiclly you put the stuff on and wash it off with water in 15minutes, it works GREAT on everything (wood, vinyl siding, masonry, etc, and it is dirt cheap and environmentally friendly.
More Related Questions & Answers...