vinyl oxidation

[jnoden 15]

I am noticing more and more vinyl houses with oxidized siding. I have found that the best way to remove it is with a steady fan of about 1000psi slowly along each siding piece. If you use a zero degree to rinse high areas you will see marks on the siding when it dries (casued from not fully removing all oxidation). I drove past a house that I did a couple weeks ago and noticed marks on the front of the house. the customer has not contacted me but I will be contacting him in the next week to come out and re- wash the front of his house for free. For now on when I arrive for an estimate and I run my finger along the siding and see chalk/oxidation, I will adjust the cost of my estimate to include that. Does anyone else have this problem in their area? It takes at least 25% longer to wash (usually need to break out the corres wand) so I feel that a 15% increase would be in order and I think this can be easily justified to the customer. Homes look real nice when you can take away that faded washed out look by removing all oxidation. I couldnt find many posts about this but it seems like a big deal.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Flood has a product for doing this and more called 'RESTORA'.

I would not recommend using pressure that high on siding especially vinyl and aluminum. The design will not allow the water that is forced behind the siding to escape without cascading behind it and wicking up into the sub-structure which can cause mold problems that will not become evident for a long time after you have left and can be expensive to remediate.

I have used a 2 step cleaning process on aluminum involving and acid pre-wet followed by an alkaline detergent wash and then rinsed. Brushing helps well with this.

On vinyl, Sodium Hydroxide works well to remove oxidation but brushing is required in most cases. A wax application helps to slow the future onset of this problem or you could your Flood's products to get yourself a sweet $$$$ ticket on restoring siding.

Oxidation Removal is ale carte in our services. Mostly our clients just want the mildew and algae removed.

Rod!~

[Jesse 15]

An old school cedar guy (20 years of cleaning and sealing cedar homes) said that he uses Seal-Crete from Sherman Williams for viny, aluminum, and paint oxidation.

I did not believe it - but Sherman Williams backed up his claims that it looks nice.

[RCBill 14]

I used the Restora product recently. It did a nice job. I plan to offer "Restora" shutter something as an add-on. Flood is training people to go after this market as a niche.

Bill

[PressurePros 249]

We all need to find niches to stay ahead of the competetion.

Jim on your next housewash with oxidation (where customer isn't willing to pay for the type of service you describe or two stepping) try just using a car wash (a good one like Meguire's with wax) and tone your sodium hypochlorite down to about 2% hitting house.. not other cleaners. Let me know what happens.

[jnoden 15]

I hear what you are saying Rod and I appreciate the sound advice. Im not sure If I could get the price that it would entail to brush the entire house. I have read past post by you and a few other pros about water damage that can occur. I was thinking that I would be ok since I use a corress wand with a fan tip to wash parrallel with the siding. It is pretty fast work and does a great job at removing oxidation and It seems to me that less water enters the weep holes than would If I were to use a zero degree and spray upward to clean the top of the house. Also I was thinking that a high flow of water at less pressure and less of a fan would cause more water intrusion than the opposite which would include more air and less water intrusion. This might be a neat experiment; Using a 2 litre bottle and put a small hole in the cap, screw it on, spray it with a steady stream from a garden hose then try with your pressure washer. Im thinking that even with a jet stream from both that there would be more water in it from less pressure. I could be very wrong here though.

[PressurePros 249]

I don't know Jim, I think its about force. A certain amount of force will be neccessary to break a seal. You would be absolutely corect that the flow will do more damage if it take a miniscule force to break a seal. As houses are exposed to very high flow via driving rain and most withstand that level of beating without taking on water, it would stand to reason that high flow will still rule over higher pressure when it comes to minimizing risk of intrusion.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

I use a soap tip on the end of my extension wand. Unless you are dropping the pressure considerably the pressure could be high enough to cause the condition I previously posted. Just something to consider.

Rod!~

[COOPER 14]

I have always had trouble getting the oxidation off also until the other day. I was called to wash a house that had blue vinyl siding. The lady told me that they were having the siding painted (I don't think it is a good idea to paint the siding, but I am not a painter.), so all the oxidation had to be removed. I wasn't worried about discoloring the siding so I mixed up some of our Orange Nitro and Lazer degreaser 1 to 1 and then diluted this mixture 1 to 1 with water. I prewetted all the plants and any sufaces that I didn't want to mess up with strong chems. I sprayed this on a side of the house and the oxidation just rolled off. I rinsed just as if it was a regular housewash and the siding dried and looked as good as new.

My normal housewash mix is one quart Nitro or Lazer (both seem to perform just as well) to 3.5 gal. of 12% and the rest water. I downstream this with a 20% General Pump downstreamer.