Saturday, July 12, 2014

Housewashing

Over the last five years since I rebuilt the exterior of the house the white cedar shingles have turned a bit mildewy. So after a failed attempt with Mould-Armor brand deck wash, yesterday I bought 7 gallons of Olympic brand deck cleaner solution and went to it. Just spray it on with a garden sprayer, let it be for about ten minutes and rinse off with the garden hose. The results are excellent.
Shingles look nice and blonde again and I was able to get rid of the black dingy streaks on the walls.
Just for a contrast this is what it looked like this January
You can see the gray mildew on the shingles, and by last year even the fence which is only a couple years old had started looking grungy
50 $ and 6 hours of work with this stuff
looks almost new

Even the patio fence looks new again

9 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. At some point I will get motivated and finish shingling the gable ends. I want to put new windows upstairs but the codes enforcement officer said that if I replace them I have to put in egress windows and they would be twice as big as the existing ones and won't fit in the space. So I am not sure just how I am going to get around that problem.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. That stuff worked so well I just went out and got another 2.5 gallon jug of it while it was on sale at Lowes and will try and clean up the black streaks on the fascia boards and rakes. I figure its easier than repainting them. Garage also has some mold growing on the vinyl siding so I'll hit that next.

      Delete
  3. Realmente ha quedado como nueva. DeberĂ­oas venderle las fotos y tu comentario al fabricante del producto,para propaganda. Y cuando la gente vaya a ver tu casa, lec cobras entrada.

    ReplyDelete
  4. what a job! i am going to get it and hit some stuff here too! thanks so much for showing this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suppose I'll get a discount if Olympic sees this? ha ha .. After my first failed try with the Mould-Armor, the Bright green bottle they are all pushing lately, I bought a one gallon jug of the Olympic stuff and was fully prepared to be disappointed. But I was amazed to see things turning blonde again within a few seconds of applying it. Hose down with water or cover with poly any tender plants if you expect they can get sprayed on by accident with this stuff. I failed to do so and burned my sunflowers shoots a little bit.

      Delete
  5. Looks good! We got the same results with HCL from a pool company on the mildewed roof shingles, lightly brushed with a broom & then hosed off. Did no harm to the grass or plants which kind of surprised me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MV, I wonder how that holds up over time. I have heard you don't want to use straight chlorine on mold as it basically makes it spore.

      Delete