Cleaning Vinyl Siding

by Murray Anderson

The vinyl siding that made your house look so good is starting to look a little dull and dingy. Good news, you can restore that shiny new look to your siding all by yourself and it's easy to do. However, there are two schools of thought on how you should go about cleaning your siding, (pressure washer or hose and buckets). Both work well, so we'll talk about your options and you can decide which makes more sense for you.

Why use a pressure washer?
The advantages of using a pressure washer to clean your siding are that it works fast and it does most of the work, while you just direct the spray. The concern some people have with pressure washers is that they can actually force water right underneath the vinyl siding through the seams. Once under the vinyl layer, the water can begin to rot underlying wood structures or foster mold and mildew growth under the siding.

Why use a hose and buckets?
The old fashioned tried and true way to clean your vinyl siding is to simply wash it with a bucket of soapy water and a long handled brush. The advantages of this method are that you're not going to force any water under the siding and it's more environmentally friendly since you're not using electricity or a gas engine. However, you're the one doing all the work. Buckets and brushes are obviously more labor intensive, and take longer, but your 'environmental footprint' is much smaller.

Whichever way you choose to clean your siding, you'll need to do some prep work before you start cleaning.

Getting Ready to Clean

• Cover any outside light fixtures or electrical outlets with plastic and secure the edges with tape.
• Give yourself room to work by moving all the patio furniture, your barbecue and any kids’ toys well away from the house.
• You should also cover any shrubs or plants around the house with plastic sheets before you start cleaning. A quick word of warning -- don’t drape plastic sheets over the plants and just leave them for a day. The sheets will create a mini greenhouse underneath that could hurt or burn the plants.
• Check any particularly dark spots on the siding to determine if it's mold, mildew or dirt. Put a drop of household bleach on the dark spot. If it's mold it will turn white, plain old dirt will stay black.
• Get rid of any mildew using a mixture of 5 parts water to 1 part bleach. Oxygen bleach is better than chlorine bleach, since the oxygen won't damage plants or the soil the way chlorine bleach can.

Working with a Pressure Washer

• Fill the tank on the pressure washer with cleaning solution. Commercial vinyl siding cleaner solutions are available at home stores, but a solution of liquid dish soap and water will do an equally fine job of removing dirt from vinyl.
• Attach your garden hose, turn on the water and start up the washer.
• Begin cleaning while holding the nozzle at a 45-degree angle to the wall so it's not pointing directly at the siding. Start at the bottom and work your way vertically up the wall.
• Around windows and doors angle the nozzle away from the openings to prevent water penetration around the edges.
• Go all the way to the top of one section, before you move along to the next section. Start at the bottom of the next section and work your way up to the top. Continue working along the wall in 3 to 5 foot sections.
• Once you've finished washing one wall, go back and rinse it off with clean water - you don't want the cleaning solution to dry before your rinse it off or you'll end up with a patchy looking job.

Working with a hose and bucket
• Make your own cleaning solution using liquid dish soap and water or, alternatively, a mixture of 1/3 cup powdered laundry detergent, 2/3 cup of TSP and one gallon of water.
• Start by spraying the wall with your garden hose and then use a long handled brush to apply your soapy mixture to the walls - make sure you start at the bottom and work your way up. (Hint -- You can get a great long handled brush for cleaning your siding at a Recreational Vehicle dealership).
• Work on one section of the wall at a time and once you've finished a section rinse it off (again starting at the bottom and rinsing up to the top).

Vinyl siding is virtually maintenance free, but like anything exposed to the elements, over the years it will get dirty and need some cleaning. Both methods we've talked about will restore your siding to its original shiny new appearance. You'll have to decide which way works better for you.

Does your siding need repair? Check out this article

Murray Anderson is an experienced freelance writer. His work has covered a wide range of topics, but he specializes in home maintenance and how-to's. He has more than 500 articles published on the web, as well as print magazines and newspapers in both the United States and Canada.