How concerned should I be about SH spotting stained porch ceilings? I have a project coming up on a 2 year old house, white Harddie siding with dark stained beed board ceilings, and stained cedar shutters. Should I -1 Mask off all stained surfaces? 2 Pre-wet stained surfaces before applying SH to walls ? Thanks in advance
Oh mercy be careful. Last year I did a beautiful white house with wrap around porch and the ceiling was this wood with stained/laquered finish. The homeowner said don’t worry about it as he was restaining it but a simple housewash spotted it pretty badly.
Best to not wash it and let it be someone else’s problem
I wouldn’t let bleach touch them. I’ve bleached them in the past with no problems but I stopped doing it because I know eventually I’ll get one with an old worn out polyurethane and it will spot. I try not to even wet them. I’ve seen color run down the wall from just water.
This lady asked if I cleaned her ceiling because she said there is black stuff on the wood. I said no. I won’t even rinse it unless you tell me too. I told her it could warp the boards or make it look spotty. She totally understood.
Walk away……
I had a very nice lake house with a white ceiling like this it did have mildew on it and I didnt clean it during the normal wash because I knew it wouldnt end well but she insisted that I clean it either way because she hated the way it looked without being cleaned. So I sprayed it with house wash mix and as soon as I went to rinse, white was raining down from the ceiling so I spent the next 30 minutes brushing the ceiling to try and help it even out. Luckily she was happy with it but I know that if it was anybody else it wouldnt have been. I’ll never risk it again
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Someone posted this on Nextdoor in my area a while back. Someone did a house wash and their beautiful, stained front door looked like this after. The worst part, whoever “cleaned” it wasn’t helping to fix it! Stay far away from stained wood with bleach.
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We wash these all the time, messed one up a few year ago and had to re-finish it. After that we don’t get close to them with SH or any other solution. We still rinse off the areas with water and explain to homeowner/set their expectations before starting - if they’re not ok with it we walk away.
The stained door should have a coat or multiple coats of poly to protect it from the elements. Which would protect it from the SH. I always pre-wet stained and painted doors and try to avoid sh on them.
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You would think so but sun damage really bleaches the heck out of any door I’ve seen.
Stained doors are what they make plastic and tape for. Takes about 5-10min but worth it to avoid the problems. Homeowners appreciate it and are willing to pay a little more for it.
@Racer Something about covering doors makes me feel un easy… I do it, But I hate it!
I once covered a wood stained front door, am there I am blasting away just to remove the plastic and find out the plastic was leaking… I was lucky no damage was done… But I hate not knowing what’s going on behind the plastic
Hey folks thanks for confirming what I knew I should do. I have a roll of Tyvek we use for plant protection when doing roofs, should I use it or plastic when covering surfaces?
I would use Tyvek, plastic can build up heat on the vegetation, so…we usually don’t cover, just keep rinsing the area you’re spaying with your ground person.
