I'm hoping I have this posted in the correct spot since it's aluminum siding. Anyway, got a call from a coworker of my girlfriend's to see if their house can be softwashed. Over the phone she said that it was aluminum siding on an old farm house which had me thinking that I probably will want to stray away from it but I figured it would be worth a look. When I got there, it does look like the siding may be better off being replaced with some paint peeling in different spots, but I thought that if I could offer up a cleaning for the time being it would make for another happy customer until they can get it resided in the long run.
My question is for those of you that have a lot more experience then I do in cleaning different types of siding. I have only cleaned vinyl siding thus far and am not sure if a softwash will do any good for the homeowner here. The little black spots are all over the house and I am not sure if they would come off without scrubbing significantly and, in turn, taking a lot of paint with it. I scratched at them and they do come off but I havent run across them before. The other picture I have is one of the 3 spots where the paint is peeling and I'm concerned that even a softwash with a rinse will peel a lot more paint off.
So, from a professional stand point and experience, would this be a job that would be worth taking on?
You can clean it no problem, but they will need to still paint it looks like from first pic. Make sure you rinse a lot because metal will rust if you don't rinse your mix off. If you scrub you need to purchase a truck detailing brush or a very soft brush and it will not harm the surface.
Tim Teed said
Aug 26, 2016
paint will probably peel. If it was a paying customer I would pass. You could do it for free as a learning experience. Needs new siding. There even looks like too many dings to be worth repainting
Josh Agadoni said
Aug 27, 2016
Hayden, I think your hunch is correct. I agree with Tim's thoughts. Probably not worth it for a paying customer. Also, those spots are from climbing vines that once covered the house, and they will take too much time and force to remove and will take the paint with them in most cases. We encounter those "vine anchors" out here at times, and when we remove them from the stucco or painted wood trim those surfaces have to be resurfaced or repainted.
Chad Eneix said
Aug 29, 2016
Josh is right, those are the little "suckers" that are left behind when people let vines grow all over their house. Even pressure washing will often not get them off without damage, and it looks like there is peeling paint already. It could be done, but that siding would take more labor to save than it is going to cost to replace it. In the future, don't shy away from aluminum siding. SoftWashing is great for it.
Also, if you encounter any surface with peeling paint, let them know that your system will remove as little paint as possible as opposed to other methods, and that it is the best method for paint prep, as it kills the algae, mold, and mildew 100%. The 100% kill ratio ensures that the paint will not fail due to stuff growing under it.
Hayden Simonis said
Aug 30, 2016
Thanks for your help with this guys. I spoke with the customer on the phone and she is as on the fence as I am with it. Both her and her husband are in agreement that it will need to be resided in the future but they were hoping that they could postpone it for a while.
I did a painted wood house today with a 1.5% mix and was worried that the cracked paint that had started peeling in some areas would come off really easy. So long as I didn't use the jet function on my spray nozzle to rinse, it came very clean and ended with a very happy customer looking to book the roof cleaning.
Would hitting the aluminum with a softwash mix take those little suckers off? I might try it for cost of materials and call it a sweet deal for them being a friend so I can get some experience with aluminum. Would a 1.5% mix do the trick if those suckers will come off with a bit of a dwell?
Josh Agadoni said
Aug 31, 2016
I haven't tried it on aluminum siding, but on other surfaces I've done those suckers don't come off without considerable abrasive action. No amount of mix or dwell time seems to make a difference in my experience.
Chad Eneix said
Aug 31, 2016
No amount of chemical will take them off.
Brandon Vaughn said
Aug 31, 2016
Yeah you need to use a light pressure washer rinse to get them off. The peeling paint will come off before the vine suckers will.
Hayden Simonis said
Aug 31, 2016
Great. Well I've learned a great deal here and I will pass that information on to the homeowner. Doesn't make much sense for me to waste time and chemical while not getting anywhere without the paint peeling. Thank you Brandon, Chad and John.
Hey Guys,
I'm hoping I have this posted in the correct spot since it's aluminum siding. Anyway, got a call from a coworker of my girlfriend's to see if their house can be softwashed. Over the phone she said that it was aluminum siding on an old farm house which had me thinking that I probably will want to stray away from it but I figured it would be worth a look. When I got there, it does look like the siding may be better off being replaced with some paint peeling in different spots, but I thought that if I could offer up a cleaning for the time being it would make for another happy customer until they can get it resided in the long run.
My question is for those of you that have a lot more experience then I do in cleaning different types of siding. I have only cleaned vinyl siding thus far and am not sure if a softwash will do any good for the homeowner here. The little black spots are all over the house and I am not sure if they would come off without scrubbing significantly and, in turn, taking a lot of paint with it. I scratched at them and they do come off but I havent run across them before. The other picture I have is one of the 3 spots where the paint is peeling and I'm concerned that even a softwash with a rinse will peel a lot more paint off.
So, from a professional stand point and experience, would this be a job that would be worth taking on?
Thanks,
Hayden
Also, if you encounter any surface with peeling paint, let them know that your system will remove as little paint as possible as opposed to other methods, and that it is the best method for paint prep, as it kills the algae, mold, and mildew 100%. The 100% kill ratio ensures that the paint will not fail due to stuff growing under it.
I did a painted wood house today with a 1.5% mix and was worried that the cracked paint that had started peeling in some areas would come off really easy. So long as I didn't use the jet function on my spray nozzle to rinse, it came very clean and ended with a very happy customer looking to book the roof cleaning.
Would hitting the aluminum with a softwash mix take those little suckers off? I might try it for cost of materials and call it a sweet deal for them being a friend so I can get some experience with aluminum. Would a 1.5% mix do the trick if those suckers will come off with a bit of a dwell?
Yeah you need to use a light pressure washer rinse to get them off. The peeling paint will come off before the vine suckers will.