Aluminum Siding

R

RonFHC

New member
Hello

I have a 2 story aluminum siding building. The siding is gray with white trim and lots of windows. We don't get much aluminum siding out in California. What chem mix do you recommend? I also have to do the windows on this one.

Is a 5 gallon bucket with 1 gl bleach, 1 cup liquid tide, squirt liquid cascade (for windows), and the rest water okay?

Thanks ahead of time for your input.

Take care
 
Ron,
That's a good house wash recipe, mine is similar. I use 1 gallon of pool chlorine instead of bleach, because many of the houses or mobile homes I wash have mold or mildew on them. The sodium hypochlorite is roughly 12% in chlorine vs. 6% in bleach. I prefer the stronger solution.

Thus.....in a 5 gallon pail,

2 gallons bleach or 1 gallon pool chlorine
cup of tide
two squirts of cascade
the rest water

If you plan to use the xjet to apply the mix, add another gallon of bleach.

On single story jobs, I apply my chems directly out of the pail with my 12v cart sprayer.

For 2 story and higher buildings I use my xjet to apply chems which further dilutes the mix, so I bump up the mixture rates to account for it.

I have also found that a liquid wax application helps to brighten siding that has become dull. After aluminum siding starts to chalk, it tends to dull out when being washed. The wax encourages some shine, and is a great up-sell.

Sometimes on real old houses, you can't wash aluminum at all without the coloring rinsing right off, so you have to be careful of that too.
 
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Tony,
What is the cost difference between the pool chlorine and bleach?
I just found an Industrial Strength Detergent Mfr. in town. Bought 5 gallons of sodium hypochlorite at (label states !2% min.) 15-17% for $2.5 per gallon. I am not sure if that is real good or not, but seems to work out cheaper than Clorox and at this strength works well with x jet.
 
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I also mix in some other powdered detergent like Delco's R-109.........usually about a cup or so of that in the mix.
 
Thanks for the replies. I am going to Xjet this mix onto the 2nd floor. I like the add in of the wax, I'll give it a try. I will also take a look at the chlorine to see what the price break will be out here.

Take care. Happy washing!
 
Marv,
I'm not sure that pool chlorine is cheaper then bleach. I prefer the chlorine because I only have to carry around half as much liquid. My trailer is already packed full, so any space saving is important to me. Plus, being a stronger mixture, it still packs a wallop even after being diluted thru the xjet.

Also, since the summer is winding down, it may be a better time to purchase chlorine.
 
all this talk about SH

You are cleaning PAINT. [painted aluminum]
Would you put bleach in your bucket to wash your car? I dont understand the use of bleach[SH] IN THE MIX UNLESS IT'S MOLDY? On the other hand. I cant see it doing much harm.
I would wash it like a big truck and be very carefull about any soap drying on glass.
Putting a wax and some cascade in the rinse water[yes upstream] could'nt hurt either.
If it were me i would use something to cut air pollution and car exsaust.[depending on what it was i were trying to remove-as far as type of dirt] so limonlene and r109 for me.
Also TIDE is specificaly made NOT to foam up.
Foam is what allows the cleaner to STICK to the vertical's. So i would use a FOAMER or 1 cup of DAWN to that mix.
R109 and Dawn in a foamer to apply. Then the x-jet to rinse. If not happy add the limonlene but be very,very carefull not to let it dry on the glass.
 
One thing I would do with the aluminum siding is use the close range nozzle on the X-Jet. This will fan out the chemicals. Without it if you are too close you risk putting lines on the siding, something you don't want. Use around 1,000 psi to clean. Tony is right on older siding the paint is easy to come off.
 
I was curious about the bleach also. I haven't seen much mold on aluminum siding, does this occur much? It seems like more on vinyl.
Would cleaning alum siding be much like gutters? It seems that the chem and princibles would be simular. I have pretty much decided to use Sun Brite's ALL BRITE (a Butyl degreaser with sodium metasilatate) for that type job. Just had good results on 16 yr old white alum gutters. After doing a test spot, I had to dilute more to avoid removing paint. Bleach did not really touch it.
 
Add a cup of Zep car wax from Wal Mart - Really makes a difference in final appearance.
 
Hello

The aluminum siding is dark grey and textured. Will the wax create any visible film that might cause a problem? As for the bleach, there is white wood window trip and decorative stripping. They do have mildew/moss on them that will benefit from the bleach.

Haven't tried the All Brite yet. Will put it on the list of chems to try.

Thank you very much for the help on this project.

Happy washing
 
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