how would you clean a cedar shake house?
Easy, I wouldn’t
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Do a search on the forum, it’s fairly involved.
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Yep, I can list several ways to not clean it…
I definitely wouldn’t light it up…
There is a guy on youtube who calls himself the wizard of wood. His process is to wet the wood so that the chem doesn’t soak in as deep, use sodium percarbonate or if it is really bad, house wash mix, and finish with a brightener (oxalic or citric acid). Lots of rinsing and a bit of bushing or pressure. If you are not comfortable, just turn it down. The risk outweighs the reward in that case.
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Have a pic of the cedar shake your inquiring about? We clean cedar shake all the time here in Oregon.
I hate cleaning cedar. 0/10 dont recommend. Labor intensive, harsh chems involved. Multiply your vinyl housewash price by 6 at a minimum. You will still feel as if you undercharged. Run far, far away…
The Wizard is not a big fan of SH for wood so I’m having trouble believing he’d advocate for it on cedar shake. And if it’s really bad, a house wash mix wouldn’t touch it anyways.
It’s in manyof his videos. He is against misuse of SH - spray it on and wash it off. Check out his 4 step process. He talks about pre-wetting, rinsing, neutralizing, etc when using any of the alkaline oxidizers.
His name is everett abrams, he is located in South Jersey. He used to post on this forum years ago.
I’ve been to his training, and I have talked to him and his employees on the phone. SH can damage lingin. Wood has parts, it isn’t one solid mass, it was a growing thing at one time.
Sodium percarbonate is preferred due it causing less furing.
Videos are good, but they won’t ever tell you the why.
According to the federal lab, it makes no difference if you chemically apply and pulp the wood or mechanically remove it. It is the same thing either way, as you are removing the top layer of the wood.
videos always make striping look like magic, do this, do this, and viola! Bam completely clear wood. It doesn’t always work like that. I know, my dad is a TV repairman he has an awesome set of tools (movie reference).
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It sounds like you’re giving advice on something you’re not familiar with.
It’s spelled lignin.
You must have been thinking of ligma.
We’re talking about cleaning cedar shake not just wood in general. There’s a whole thread just on cleaning wood. Cedar shake is different.
And I never said he was against it. I said he’s not a big fan of it. If you’ve watched any of his videos, you’d know that.
Sheesh, even in the video you linked he tells you exactly when he uses SH. Did you even watch that far?
My whole point is don’t give out advice on something you’re not familiar with–that’s what the fb forums are for–because someone might actually read it and follow it.
Hi, I’ve been cleaning cedar homes here on Cape Cod and around New England since 2010. Each year, more than 90% of my income is from cleaning cedar. My input to your question:
It depends upon the type of cedar (red, yellow, white…); the age and condition (mildew, deep algae, sun-cooked?); what you’re trying to clean it for (just look good, prep for stain, etc); whether they are shingles or shakes; whether they are stained, sealed, or natural… and, of course, the customer’s budget.
People think I’m being evasive when they call out of the blue and ask “how do I clean cedar?”, as if there’s one magic solution. There just isn’t. The folks who try to clean all cedar with the same one method are the folks who inadvertently keep my own business so busy.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve shown up to a job thinking I’d go about it with X method, only to start and realize, “Nope!” Then on to plan Y (and sometimes Z, etc). For these reasons, I always carry:
Sodium percarbonate
sodium hydroxide
sodium metasilicate
oxalic acid
30% acetic acid (“vinegar”)
sodium hypochlorite
Simple Green
And yes, in my experience, sometimes having a hot water machine makes a huge difference. Everyone says it doesn’t but I’m just sharing my $0.02.
The learning curve is long and steep, but cedar siding is being replaced locally for something like $1300 per SQUARE. In my experience where I am, if you learn to clean cedar well you can make far more money than cleaning things like vinyl, hardiboard, concrete, etc. Find somebody local to mentor you and just be prepared for a long journey
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No relation. I’m a huge fan of SH.
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will get
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Nice job!
What chem did you use in the vid?
And do you normally have to use ladders?
