Hey guys, looking around for a while now and haven’t been able to find the exact answer that I’m seeking. I have a customer with a large house, that wants to maintain the natural aged silver cedar look, but once the green algae and mold removed from around parts of the house, especially in the shade and on the north side.
I don’t wanna restore it, I don’t wanna brighten it, he just wants it cleaned, like spot cleaning. Any recommendations? Anything that would clean and kill the green, but not brighten, spot or change the appearance of the Cedar?
As the professional, it is your job to guide the customer on how to maintain their property. Obviously, this person has no interest in maintaining their property since they want to allow the cedar to continue to weather away and rot. These are not the type of customers you should be targeting. I’d walk away.
Thanks DT, agree with you! These particular Customers just bought this home, and were inquiring what options were available.
The home has been neglected, and to their credit they are in the process of moving in and have a punch list of maintenance items to get done. I cleaned the windows and scheduled the roof cleaning as well as the stone patio and walkways. I made no promises, just told them I would look into their options.
Nope…plates say Oregon, much of which is upside-down and inside-out anyway…usually it’s just the politicians, but the problem appears to have metastasized.
If they want to preserve that siding, the silver look is going to go away. If they are unwilling to accept that then there is nothing you can do for them. If they’re understanding and want to move forward then they could really make that a beautiful home. Even Sodium Percarbonate, which is considered a very mild wood cleaner, is going to loosen the dead cell wood (the silver) and when you go to rinse it it’s going to come off. There’s really no “spot cleaning” on cedar, or most woods for that matter.
Pass on it this time, but leave them a quote to do the cleaning the right way if you feel comfortable with it. Even if they pass on the cleaning now they may come back to you next year.
IDK, we managed to “spot clean” a fence while we were clening a lady’s deck. There were clean spots all over it.
That was the primary option I gave her…“just wait a couple months and that mildew will over take the clean spots too, and you won’t even see them”… offered to wash that section of her fence to resolve it, or give her a good deal on a package to wash the whole fence…she opted to just let the mildew have it
Sheesh, like the peanut gallery here. Wet wood, spray with about a 3-4% mix, let dwell about 10 min and rinse with garden hose. Don’t want to strip off dead wood. Let dry and see what you have. Not going to be perfect and may be just a little lighter for a couple of months, but will kill the mildew. Tell customer just a temp fix until they’re ready to clean entire house and until they do and re-stain, always going to be some discoloration. But do a small area and let sit for a week or 2. You’ll get brownie points for trying to work with them and not going to look any worse for sure.
Cabot’s has several stains similar, think called Driftwood grey
Here’s a link to my YouTube channel where I am testing Rick’s method right now. Spoiler alert: results are pretty inconclusive. Watch the videos and decide for yourself. Keep in mind, it’s December and my SH is fresh. Picked it up today. It’s about 65° here today.
Hell to the naw! Way too steep. No clue on pitch but it’s up there. Would’ve been done an hour ago but I’m fighting the wind. Just rolling up hoses now.
