Cloth Awnings

[GymRat 14]

First off, I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to post all of this knowledge on these boards. I am getting ready to wash my first house ( Which is my own). I have ordered the Xjet (m-5) and planning on using it Tomorrow. I will try a homeade concoction that will include regular 6% bleach, car wash, and some cascade dishwashing detergant. I will try to apply this soluton, so the sodium Hypochlorite reaches the house at approx. 1%. My question is, will prewetting my cloth awnings keep this solution from harming the awnings, and also will this solution do ok on my vinyl siding?

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

John :)

PS. I live in the Richmond, Va. Area, and of course with all the rain we have had this year, we have a lot of algae.

[RyanH 14]

Hello John and welcome.

Your solution sounds like it will work fine on your siding. Depending upon the severity of algae accumulation, however, you may need to hit it a few times to get it completely.

On the issue of prewetting your awnings, this effectively just reduces the concentration of the bleach in your solution. What color are your awnings? If they are a dark color, you may get some fading if your concentration is too strong. Try this: prewet your awnings (as you suggested), apply your solution to the surface of the awnings, and rinse from *inside* the awnings, blasting the chems away from the material (since the cloth is porous). Don't allow too long of a dwell time....you may need to repeat this step several times. Something like greased lightning and a scrub brush will be safe and useful, as well. Perhaps I'm being overly cautious, but that's not a bad thing me thinks.

Does your car wash have wax in it? If so, I wonder what that will do to the cloth if it's not completely rinsed out? Perhaps someone here has input on if that's even a relevant concern or not.

Good luck. Do you have any way of taking and posting before / after pics?

Ryan H.

[GymRat 14]

Thanks Ryan, I like the idea of hitting the awnings from the underside. I do have a digital camera, and I will try to take the time to take some pics. I recieved my M-5 in the mail today and gave it a try this afternoon practicing on the garage. I sure like the way it throws the solution on fast, and the adjustable nozzle is great.

If anyone likes sending pictures via email or posting them on websites and want to keep them small, try a FREE program called Picture Tray www.picturetray.com

This is a small program (600k) that allows you to resize pictures 1/4, 1/2 or special size and drag the smaller pictures into your email without harming your original picture files. I have two children in college and use it all the time, and it also works on aol instant messanger.

Thanks again, John

[CLASSICPW 14]

I just started using car wash with wax and it's been working great for windows and rinsing been much easier than using Dawn dish detergent, but it doesn't foam as well as the dawn so on some of the moldy spots I had to hit it 2 to 3 times with detergents. What's the best foaming car wash with wax? As for awnings, I've never had a problem with bleaching. The sunsetter brands actually bead up so any water and chems seem to roll right off.

[RyanH 14]

I checked some of the stuff when I clean cars.....Marguiers (I think that's proper spelling) has a fantastic foaming ability...1/4 cup in 5 gallons water through the Xjet and I can coat my cars in a solid layer of foam. Turtle wax also works very well.