best cleaning agent for vinyl with no algae/mould.

J

jaysonrover

New member
Hi,
I have a pretty decent sized townhouse complex to clean later this week and although I have now a fair amount of experience cleaning vinyl sided residential homes,this 4 story complex has me maybe doubting myself a little,lol. I don't want any issues!
I always have down-streamed to clean vinyl siding , in a 5 gallon bucket used a 6% grocery store bleach,usually I start it at a 50/50 mix with h2o and raise from there if need be,and some simple cherry. (12.5% is quite expensive up here as we have limited outdoor pools so I only use 12.5% for my roof/demoss cleaning work and my 6% store bought has worked well anyways for vinyl siding cleaning.)
This has worked well as vinyl siding homes up here in British Columbia most often have some degree of mould,that is why the homeowner calls to have it cleaned.
I have never really had any chalking issues with the residential homes (yet) but I want to be dead sure I don't have any issues with my biggest vinyl cleaning now.i will be using 2 other guys to rinse after I apply the solution and let it dwell for a few mins,and I will move along and they slowly follow.
I notice 1 side of the building actually has no mould and just has a slightly dirty environmental film on it...so would I just use some simple cherry,my usual downstream pressure tek nozzles and water?
I realized after that I have never actually "not" used bleach cleaning siding.So is this an instance on the one wall that I can use the above simple solution?
Lastly,I have used gain liquid soap in my roof wash all the time and it works well,especially on steep roofs.
I have never added it yet to my vinyl siding solution except since I started a while ago in the beginning for a bit.Does it in fact make more work to rinse the suds off but also it helps the solution clean and cling though so better to use or not?
Reading posts on this and other cleaning forums I see some say they use it and others say no for vinyl siding cleaning.Can anyone clarify 100% or is this basically a personal experience thing?
I ask these questions as I always want to tweak my solutions to make the work turn out as best as possible...sorry if my questions seem elementary but I was always told "there are no stupid questions...just the ones you don't ask". : )
Thanks for any responses I get ahead of time...
Jay
 
jaysonrover said:
Hi,
I have a pretty decent sized townhouse complex to clean later this week and although I have now a fair amount of experience cleaning vinyl sided residential homes,this 4 story complex has me maybe doubting myself a little,lol. I don't want any issues!
I always have down-streamed to clean vinyl siding , in a 5 gallon bucket used a 6% grocery store bleach,usually I start it at a 50/50 mix with h2o and raise from there if need be,and some simple cherry. (12.5% is quite expensive up here as we have limited outdoor pools so I only use 12.5% for my roof/demoss cleaning work and my 6% store bought has worked well anyways for vinyl siding cleaning.)
This has worked well as vinyl siding homes up here in British Columbia most often have some degree of mould,that is why the homeowner calls to have it cleaned.
I have never really had any chalking issues with the residential homes (yet) but I want to be dead sure I don't have any issues with my biggest vinyl cleaning now.i will be using 2 other guys to rinse after I apply the solution and let it dwell for a few mins,and I will move along and they slowly follow.
I notice 1 side of the building actually has no mould and just has a slightly dirty environmental film on it...so would I just use some simple cherry,my usual downstream pressure tek nozzles and water?
I realized after that I have never actually "not" used bleach cleaning siding.So is this an instance on the one wall that I can use the above simple solution?
Lastly,I have used gain liquid soap in my roof wash all the time and it works well,especially on steep roofs.
I have never added it yet to my vinyl siding solution except since I started a while ago in the beginning for a bit.Does it in fact make more work to rinse the suds off but also it helps the solution clean and cling though so better to use or not?
Reading posts on this and other cleaning forums I see some say they use it and others say no for vinyl siding cleaning.Can anyone clarify 100% or is this basically a personal experience thing?
I ask these questions as I always want to tweak my solutions to make the work turn out as best as possible...sorry if my questions seem elementary but I was always told "there are no stupid questions...just the ones you don't ask". : )
Thanks for any responses I get ahead of time...
Jay
Click to expand...
If you are using simple cherry in your house mix then you don't need the gain.
 
Red is correct,..just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there. Just make sure about 1% SH is hitting the siding and you should be good. Like you stated, you have lots of experience with washing and DS'ing,...so why change the method now. Business as usual.

* Bleach can be more useful than just for killing mold,..sometimes bug crap will leave stains behind even after cleaning,..the bleach in the mix will fade those out also.

Jeff
 
I would try the Roof Snot, I switched from the simple cherry to the Roof Snot as it seemed like the simple cherry weakened the mix and the mix was useless within a week if I did not use it all up on that job. The Roof Snot keeps the mix good for weeks no problem, never had that good luck with the simple cherry. The simple cherry is a good soap if the mix is used up quickly, like that job or that day.

Something else about the Roof Snot is that it is great for roof washing and house washing, you can add what you need so it will stick up there longer if needed by just adding a little bit more.

I have gone behind other contractors when jobs were starting to show mold, mildew and algae just weeks or a month or two after the job was done because they did not use the right mix or left out the SH to save a few bucks. Customers don't like having to have a job done twice when it should have been done right the first time, always take care of your customers.
 
Try Terra Wash. We developed it for softwashing buildings that have no mildew or mold on them, just soil and silt, bugs etc.

AC
 
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