White Aluminum Siding

[tropical wave 22]

Hello To All,

Ive got a white aluminum sided house to wash, its been owned for about 15 years with no maintenance ever being done....quite oxidized, very dirty. All the posts Ive read have been to "walk away", "cant be done"....I agree, its a tough one......I know (from the past), that the dark blue and green aluminum were horrible to clean, lots of streaking etc etc....but is there a way to get this house "halfway decent" ?? Its in the family, not a paying customer, so halfway is OK for this one.....LOL

The house is being appraised for refinancing and is filthy.....can it be done with citriclean/10% chlorine/cold water and LOW pressure through the X-Jet or a 40 degree tip without it coming out worse? Or is it a "walk away"?

Thanx in Advance, Mike H

[Firedkm 14]

Mike,

Here in NJ we have a lot of aluminum sided homes. If I turned down every single one I would go broke. Yes most can be done and can be done so it looks good. If the house is really oxidized I rinse with a 4010 or sometimes an 8010 tip. As long as you take your time you should be fine. I would do a test area first to make sure it can be done without going to bare metal.

I do apply my house wash (citracleen) with the x-jet. You still have to be careful with this. If you hit the side with the straight stream too hard you will leaves marks.

When you do rinse keep your distance the same through out the whole process so the area will look even.

Good luck

[Aplus 525]

The only way to know, is to go ahead and give the house a mild wash. Test it on an area in the back.

If it takes the finish right off, then the house would need to be painted.

On heavily oxidized aluminum there are no safe bets.

Before doing anything, I explain the situation to the customer. If they decide to do nothing, and not wash, the house still looks like crap. If you wash it, the house may end up shiny bare metal in many places.

It's a lose - lose situation.

Once the customer understands the situation, they can make a better decision which direction they want to go. And they usually know deep down that the house REALLY does need painting, and face up to it.

I make sure to cover all the bases in advance and not set false expectations regarding the outcome of the house wash.

By doing that, you've turned it into a win for you and your pocketbook...:)

[tropical wave 22]

Dale and Tony, Thanks for the replies......Ill do a test area or 2 and see how it goes, I think I'll try the 2nd level with just the X-Jet fanned a little as to not stripe it with pressure and the low level I'll 40 degree it with low pressure.....Im afraid to Gutter Shock the gutters in fear the chem will remove what paint is left on the siding as it runs down the house....Think I should tone down the wash mix? Currently use 1/2 to 1 gallon Citriclean, 1 gallon 10% and the rest water in 5 gallon bucket.....

again, Thanks ALOT..................Mike H

[Firedkm 14]

Mike,

If you have an extension wand, you may want to use that. Some homes I have had to pull it out and do the whole house like this.

As far as the gutters. How bad are they? You may have to brush them instead of applying it with the x-jet( if thats what you do). Brushing the gutters will give you better control of where gutter shock is. It just takes alot of time to do.

I would leave the house wash mix just as you have it. I never have toned it down to do any of my washes. If the paint is going to come off it will. Changing the house wash mix I think will not do anything for you in this matter.

[Cleveland Mobile 14]

I've been washing aluminum for 23 years. I've always 2 stepped them with an acid and alkaline. I meter the acid and the alkaline and use the weakest solution i can get away with. Sometimes you have to hit an area 2 or 3 times instead of just once with a stronger solution. Once I establish a pattern on a side of the house i proceed to the rest.

Andy

[tropical wave 22]

Thanx Dale and Andy,

tried the aluminum house today..did a test area in back, but upon closer look the siding is really showing through the white paint and it is pitted...for the heck of it I gave it a shot under a porch with the regular house wash mix...Nothing changed, didnt remove paint, didnt clean it, looked the same.....changed tips twice, 1000 psi up to 2000 psi...NOTHING......got close and it started to remove some paint and thats when I gave up.....is your dwell time the same with aluminum as with vinyl ?

The front of the house is light colored brick...hit that with the house wash mix too...removed the loose dirt, (I could see it running off) but other than that, no real change....front gutter looked great just from the house wash.....

in front off the house there is a stone wall which is capped with a cement slab, it was black with mildew and lots of mold around the morter....Since I had about 3 gallons of house wash already mixed, I dumped it into my pump up and sprayed the stone and cement top...(thinking the pool chlorine would eat away at it).....came out really nice..

around here there a lot of brick houses (A LOT), would my house mix be good enough or is there a better way? second, there are cement window ledges on all these homes as well as cement steps, would you think straight chlorine with a splash of cleaner or degreaser in a pump up is the way to go??

Again, thanx for replying...(wow, this is a pretty long post, ooops) Mike H

[locutus 14]

I cleaned 20 year old aluminum siding (white) with some hose-end cleaner that I purchased from HD. I did not use my pressure washer on this one because I did not know what to expect. Using the cleaner I got from HD and a telescopic brush, this house turned out absolutely beautiful. It even restored the shine.