Should I do this? (alum. siding)

[ACSTravis 14]

Hello all,

Mainly all we do is flatwork, wood restoration, etc. We've never done a housewash, other than me just washing my house. I got a call the other day from a guy with a tan aluminum siding house. I haven't gone and looked at it yet, but from the horror stories I have read here, I don't think that I should. Mistakingly, I told him on the phone that "Yeah, we do that" and that was a dumb thing to do. We are also going to do his deck, and I don't want to lose the job, so what should I do? Should I attempt to wash the aluminum siding on this guy's house and if I do that, what are some things to avoid to not mess up this house, or should I just tell him that we can't do it.

Thanks,

[PressurePros 248]

Use the lowest amount of bleach you can get away with and stay away from using a caustic to remove oxidation unless you plan on washing every inch of the house via close cleaning (ie ladders etc). The thing you are going to be looking for is the level of mold and level of oxidation. If you have a ton of mold on a house, its been neglected and the chance of you streaking the sidding are fairly high.

On these types of houses we use a two step process of an acid clean followed by a low caustic housewash mix. I charge double for this procedure. We also follow by using a wax/polymer to give a tiny bit of luster back to the siding. The last one we did with this method was 2800 square feet and the housewash was billed at $980.

[Tom DeFrancesco 23]

The only thing I would like to add is check right below the soffits and or eves. It is very common to see dark dirt below it and from the ground looks easy to clean. Most of the time it is the aluminum that is actually pitted and cannot be cleaned. When I have to do an estimate on houses with aluminum siding and see that, I get the ladder and check it first and let the HO know what the outcome will be.

[jandjsales 14]

I washed one today, with good success, but i washed one last year and it was so badly oxidized, low pressure water was taking the coating off. the owner told me to give it everything i had since he was going to paint it anyway, when i finished all it needed was a delorean in the driveway to match the house.

Jeff

[Tom DeFrancesco 23]

That's good Jeff. very funny.