How To Clean Vinyl Siding Without Pressure Washer

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Cleaning your siding helps your dwelling house look keen and can extend the life of your siding. If you just moved or have lost your power washer, you may want to clean your siding without a power washer. Cleaning your siding by hand or with an outdoor cleaning wand has the added benefit of greater precision and is better for many types of siding. If you have wood siding, for case, yous should avert using a power washer and instead make clean your siding past hand or with a cleaning wand attached to your garden hose.^[1] Depending on the status of your siding, you lot tin cull between a wide range of cleaning solutions ranging from vinegar to dark-green cleaning products.^[2] When you see the outside of your home expect sparkly and new, y'all will see that cleaning your siding without a ability washer is worth the extra effort.

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Lay a tarp over your landscaping features. If you have landscaping features around the side of the house that need to be protected during the cleaning process, y'all can lay a tarp over them.^[three]
ii

Close the windows to your house. In order to avoid getting whatever soapy water into bedrooms or other parts of the house, you should make certain all of the windows are closed.^[4]

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3

Comprehend electrical outlets and lights with plastic. You don't want to get electrical components moisture while washing the house, since h2o and electricity can be a unsafe combination. If there are any electric components on the side of your firm, they should exist covered in plastic for the duration of the cleaning process.^[v]
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Walk effectually the house to remove any obstacles. Since you lot will likely be using a ladder and focusing on the side of the firm, y'all desire to brand sure at that place are no objects in your way. Remove whatever debris, logs, or other items from the side of your house and then you accept access to all of the siding.
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Trim trees and bushes that are shut to your siding. Trimming these trees will not merely remove an obstruction to your cleaning efforts. It will prevent dirt and pollen from accumulating on your siding.
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Check the siding manufacturers' cleaning guidelines. ^[6] There many types of siding such as vinyl siding, insulated vinyl siding, fiber cement siding, and wood siding. Depending on the type of siding you own and the item product, yous may need to follow very specific maintenance and cleaning guidelines.
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Figure out the cleaning guidelines for your type of siding. You should follow the general cleaning and maintenance guidelines for your detail type of siding:
- Wash vinyl siding annually with soap and water. You lot should avoid pressure level washing vinyl siding.^[vii]
- Launder insulated siding annually with soap and h2o. You should avoid pressure washing insulated siding.^[8]
- Fibre cement siding should be cleaned annually to prevent dirt and mildew from accumulating. It needs to be repainted every fifteen to twenty years.^[9]
- Launder engineered wood siding once a year with a balmy detergent. You tin use a calorie-free sandpaper to remove really tough stains on engineered wood siding.^[10]
- Clean wood siding once a year with soapy water and a soft bristled brush.^[eleven]
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Exercise a test clean on a modest part of your siding. ^[12] Prior to cleaning the whole outside of your house, you should check to brand sure the cleaning solution that you are using will not damage your siding. Choose a small, one foot square area of siding on your house and make clean information technology thoroughly with the cleaning solution you plan to use for the whole firm. Return to the area the next twenty-four hour period and check to see if the solution worked and if it had whatsoever adverse impact on your siding, such as peeling up the paint or damaging the forest.

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i
Get your cleaning equipment together. Y'all volition need a 5-gallon bucket, a garden hose, a good castor, a wash cloth, a couple tarps, some tape, possibly a ladder and other tools. You will certainly demand a bucket to hold the cleaning solution, a hose to rinse off the siding, and a good brush for scrubbing. Make sure you take everything you lot need before cleaning.
- Adhere a long handled brush to a pole to get at the high areas. You lot tin can employ duck-tape to attach the brush to the pole.
- Employ a wire brush to clean tough mildew and stains on fiber cement siding.
- Exercise caution when cleaning woods siding. In particular, you should avoid using too much water force per unit area since it tin can get into the joints and you could trigger woods rot.^[13] Since you lot are not using a power washer this should not be a trouble, just you want to exercise circumspection fifty-fifty if using a garden hose or a hose attachment.
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Use an outdoor cleaning wand fastened to your garden hose. Outdoor cleaning wands accept a brush fastened to a long pole that connects to your garden hose. They are a groovy alternative to a power washer and offer more than cleaning precision.^[xiv]
- Make certain you lot have a long garden hose. If you are using a cleaning wand attached to your garden hose, brand sure you accept a garden hose that volition allow y'all to achieve around the entire exterior of your house.
- If you lot have a ii or more story house, you will as well likely need a ladder to get at the high parts of your siding. Call back to follow the safety guidelines on the ladder and take someone spot yous while you lot are on it.
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Put on your safety equipment. You lot should wear some protective eyewear and some gloves while cleaning your siding to protect your eyes from debris and keep your easily clean.^[15]
- If you conceptualize dealing with mold, you should too wearable a mask. Find an appropriate respirator mask that has filters to block the mold from entering your lungs. Likewise, you may want to wear a disposable pilus comprehend to forbid the mold from getting on your hair and skin. If atmospheric condition are very bad, you may even need a total body suit designed for mold protection.^[16]
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Mix your cleaning solution. Using your garden hose, add h2o to your five-gallon (eighteen.9 L) bucket and then add appropriate cleaning products. Depending on your particular siding and cleaning goals, you may choose a vinegar solution, a bleach solution, oxygen bleach solution, or dark-green cleaning solution. Review possible cleaning solutions below:
- Utilize a vinegar cleaning solution.^[17] Mix 30% white vinegar with seventy% water for an all-purpose cleaner that will get rid of light mold and mildew stains on your siding.
- Use a bleach cleaning solution. Mix a third of a cup (78 Milliliters) of powdered laundry detergent, two thirds of a cup (157 Milliliters) of powdered household cleaner, and ane quart (946 Milliliters) of laundry bleach in one gallon (iii.78 L) of water.
- You can also use a bleach solution to clean mold from vinyl siding. Add together 1 quart (946 Milliliters) of household bleach to a gallon (iii.78 Fifty) of water, and then add a third of a loving cup (78 Milliliters) of laundry detergent and two thirds of a cup (157 Milliliters) of trisodium phosphate cleaner.^[18]
- Avoid dissentious your landscaping by using oxygen bleach. Mix i cup (236 Milliliters) of oxygen bleach into a gallon (iii.78 L) of water. The oxygen bleach will not harm your landscaping.
- Apply a dark-green cleaning product. Utilize an environmentally friendly cleaner that is not-toxic and biodegradable then that you can avoid dissentious soil in your blossom and vegetable beds or on your lawn.^[xix]
- If the siding is just moderately dingy, you could just use a bucket of soapy water. Add a couple squirts of dish detergent to your v-gallon (18.9 L) saucepan of water.
- Use regular household cleaners to go at tough stains on the siding.
- Add together a diluted mildew cleaner to your solution for protection against mold.^[twenty]
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1

Inspect your siding to detect areas that demand more attending. Accept a walk effectually the house and look for parts of the siding that are especially dirty or moldy. Allocate more time for scrubbing these parts of your siding.
ii

Scrub off dirt with a cloth and a bristle castor. ^[21] Start by applying the cleaning solution to the affected area with the wet cloth. Then, you can scrub the surface area with a bristle brush or wire brush until information technology looks make clean.
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Scrub hard to accomplish areas with an outdoor cleaning wand. If you need to scrub areas that are very high up, y'all tin utilise an outdoor cleaning wand extension to your garden hose.
- If you don't own a cleaning wand, you can attach a scrub castor to a broom stick or hockey stick. Attach the brush to the broom stick with a curl of duck-tape.
- If you don't ain a cleaning wand, you can too use a ladder. Follow the safety recommendations for your ladder and always accept someone spotting you.
- Avert using a ladder with a hose or hose attachments, since this tin be very unsafe.^[22]
iv
Make clean tough stains with a wire brush. If you lot have areas of your siding that are specially muddy or wait moldy, you can utilise a wire castor.
- Employ a wire brush to clean tough mildew and stains on cobweb cement siding.
- Wear a mask while scrubbing away mold.
v

Rinse your siding with a hose or a saucepan of h2o. After you accept scrubbed off the dirt, grease, oil, and mold, yous will want to remove the soap from the siding. You could spray down the freshly cleaned area with a garden hose or you could use a fresh sponge and a saucepan of clean water.

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Exercise I commencement at the top or bottom of the wall?

Start at the acme of the wall. Movement quickly in order to avoid permanent drip marks running down the wall. Use a fresh, white cotton towel to dry as you go.