indoor/outdoor carpet

[CCPC 26]

I have a house to wash next week and they want their back porch, which has indoor outdoor carpeting, cleaned. My question is, anyone have some suggestions to what I could use to remove mildew off of the walls of this screen porch without damaging the carpet beneath. I've cleaned a lot of backporchs, but this would be the first with indoor/outdoor carpeting. My regular house wash mix consists of Chlorine and Emuslifer Plus, so I'm obviously a little concerned about bleaching their carpets if I was to use my regular housewash mix. My main concern is to remove the mildew safely and effeciently.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Good question.

I had the same scenario with indoor/outdoor carpet, but it was not fiberous. More like astro turf. Bleach did not harm it in the least.

Rod~

[Henry B. 4]

Just make sure you do a test patch somewhere first. How is the carpet installed glue, tack strips or staples since that can make a difference in what chemicals you use on it. I also wouldn't hit the carpet too hot or hard with pressure or you may find out when it starts coming loose or bunching up.

[Aplus 525]

I did a job similar to what you describe. It was an add-on, aluminum framed, three season porch, with screened, and single paned windows. It had the green, plastic-like fake carpet stuff.

I found that no chemical were required to get the green surface mildew off. It came right off with about 900 psi, and the carpeting survived just fine, although it got pretty wet and squishy.

The homeowner wasn't concerned about the water, as a couple days with the windows open would dry it out completely anyway.

I think most indoor/outdoor carpet is glued, and is designed to get wet.

I attached a picture, which although only shows a small side of the structure, shows enough to see what kind of structure it was. Actually I was there to clean the patio blocks, and the customer then decided to include the inside of the porch.

[Cleveland Mobile 14]

I never understand why you guys use bleach on a house

Andy

[squirtgun 122]

I never understand why you guys use bleach on a house

Andy

What do you use Andy???

Down south chlorine or bleach are a huge help in the fight against mold and mildew.When mixed with the right surfactants it will leave a house exterior spotless.

[Cleveland Mobile 14]

I mix all my own chemicals....believe it or not i carry 2..and acid and an alkaline. The alkaline is used for house washing and even deck stripping at full stength. I wash trucks, houses, decks, and flat work with the same soap at different dillutions. The acid is used to brighten aluminum or to 2 step. I have found that a high enough ph will kill mold ....at least in ohio. I've heard about the mold down south but i've never experienced it first hand. I just feel bleach is pretty scary to use with plants and possible streaking. Someday I would love to come down there and see how you use it. I'd be happy to bring some of my cleaners for you to try.

By the way....the secret ingredient in all the gutter cleaners is butyl alcahol....i add this to my soap so I dont have to use a seperate cleaner for that either

Andy

[Pams Pressure & Clean 64]

Andy,

Two stepping a house seems a bit of extra work..at least for us.

Similar I'm sure to many others, we apply a house wash mix with good surfactants (Rowlett sells a very good one called Citraclean) and a bit of sodium hypochlorite.

Apply, dwell, rinse.. gets all the yuck off and leaves everything nice and shiny. No streaking at all as long as you mix at realistic levels of product.

Granted we do not have near the amount of aluminum siding here as is found up north..mostly vinyl, brick, or wood for us.

As for a fear of sodium hypochlorite, I would argue that compared to some of the other products you are using, it is either unfounded, or at least in the same realm. Certainly no worse.

I'm not saying you are doing it wrong..just differently from the way we do it.. You gotta go with what works for you...

You should drive down to one of the two roundtables in Ga.

Scott is hosting one in Albany Ga. on Feb 5th and I am hosting one in Atlanta on Jan 29th. You would be welcome at either.

[CCPC 26]

I mix all my own chemicals....believe it or not i carry 2..and acid and an alkaline. The alkaline is used for house washing and even deck stripping at full stength. I wash trucks, houses, decks, and flat work with the same soap at different dillutions. The acid is used to brighten aluminum or to 2 step. I have found that a high enough ph will kill mold ....at least in ohio. I've heard about the mold down south but i've never experienced it first hand. I just feel bleach is pretty scary to use with plants and possible streaking. Someday I would love to come down there and see how you use it. I'd be happy to bring some of my cleaners for you to try.

What kind of chemical at a high alkaline?

Scott is right, down here sodium hypochlorite is a must in some form or another. If I tried to use just a high alkaline soap of some kind I would be there for ever and still never achieve the kind of results I can with Chlorine.

I need to start taking some pictures of the kind of mildew buildup I encounter. I,ve had mildew on houses that was so bad in certain spots that I had to apply full strength chlorine as many as three times to remove it.

Anyway, back to the screened porch.

I'm not trying to clean the carpet, I'm trying to clean the walls of the porch without damagin the carpet. The carpet is not the plastic green turf lookin stuff its more like a low nap beigh colored carpet.

Gary mentioned an oxegenated bleach, does anybody else think that may work? Can Oxgenated bleachs stain carpet? Can Oxgenated bleachs remove mildew on sideing?

Or does anyone have another suggestion of a chem that would clean the mildew and not bleach out the carpet.

I will be doing this job tommorow morning so I need to come up with some kind of plan today.

Thanks for all of the input.

[Aplus 525]

You may not need chems at all. Depends on how much mold there is. I enclosed a pix to get an idea of the type surface I was talking about. Mold may not adhere as well to certain coated surfaces.

The bonus is that if you need no chems, you have less to worry about regarding the carpet.

[newlook 265]

Not knowing what the back porch walls consist of ~ meaning are they brick, stucco, vinyl and etc., this is a tough call. Vinyl...try to whip them down with water and a little bit of bleach.

good luck