I bought my first pressure washer, and decided to try it out on my house entry way. I did the pavement with the second to highest pressure nozzle using only water, which cleaned it great, and decided to give the vinyl siding in the entry way a spray off too. It looked nice when I finished, but the next morning most of what I cleaned was oxidized.
I have just discovered on this forum that either I caused this by washing the siding with too high of pressure, or the oxidization was likely there when I washed, and I simply exposed it by cleaning. The good news is, we’re only talking about a 10 foot long area of siding plus a metal gutter that has also oxidized, so even if I have to fix this by hand it won’t be too bad.
What’s the best approach to removing the oxidization? I wiped some of it with a dry rag which helped some, but is there any way to do a little better job of restoring it? I guess I should have done some research before jumping into trying my pressure washer out. At least I didn’t do my whole house! I don’t expect I’ll do any further siding cleaning myself, but would like to get this area fixed up as best as I can.
Good thing you didn’t destroy someone else’s house with high pressure. I love going to give an estimate and seeing high pressure swirls and squiggle marks. They never want to pay to have their mistakes or the mistakes of a cheap contractor fixed so I usually walk away. One woman recently said she had those lines and squiggles on all 4 sides of her home…and wondered if it would I fix it?..nope. Too much work.
If you want to wash a house correctly you have a lot of research and reading to do.
Yes, there’s at least 2 or 3 good threads on it. It likely comes down to scrubbing the entire house although there are a couple of methods/chemicals that may fix it short of that. Good luck.
Guys are such keyboard tough guys in here.
One smart a$$ after another!
“You know the type
Loud as a motorbike
But wouldn’t bust a grape in a fruit fight!”~JayZ
Snowflakes!
These guys were all born pressure washers from the womb don’t you know!
That said you will need to scrub that whole side with a brush soap and water to blend it in.
Other options will prob do you more harm until you do ALOT of Reading.
I mean hours of reading before I’d even fire that washer back up again!
If that was a customers house you would really be in a pickle!
Thanks Laidback, and all for the replies! I will get out a brush and some soap and water and just clean it by hand. The posted photos are not of my house. Mine is nowhere near that streaked and bad, so if I can at least blend the oxidization with a brush and soap/water mixture, it will probably be okay. I’m not at home to take a photo, but my case is more one of a bit patchy looking. The siding is over 20 years old and is otherwise holding up fine. And again, this is just an entry way wall that’s probably 10’ x 8’, so a pretty small area.
Are you guys really replacing siding for oxidization? Seems a bit extreme, but I guess you all have done this more than I have. I bought the washer for cleaning stains off my concrete and to blast some old paint off my deck so I can replace a rotting board and repaint everything. I really have no plans to do any more of the house. I just had it out of the box and was seeing what it can do, which apparently can be more than I bargained for.
@Innocentbystander I’ve had great success with Vinyl Renu. I haven’t tired the Gutter Grenade yet, but have heard it’s worked well for people. Have you had a different experience?
Vinyl renu is good stuff, especially for shutters. However, it’s not something you spray on, scrub and rinse. Degreaser shouldn’t be used on vinyl.
I should clarify I was only referring to the first step (oxidation removal) of vinyl renu. There is a second step with vinyl renu that is “painted” on.
I don’t expect I’ll do any further siding cleaning myself, but would like to get this area fixed up as best as I can.
