The Homeowners Exterior Maintenance Guide

In this chapter we will tell you all the tricks of the trade of cleaning.  It is a long chapter but it is worth reading especially if you own your own home.  We will teach you how to remove dirt, mildew, soot from barbeques and fireplaces, oil burners, traffic from the road, tree spraying over spray, bleeding and run off from cheap caulking and sidings and overfull gutters.  If the gutters are overflowing, it can account for dirt and can make oils from asphalt roof shingles stain and bleed when it gets hot out especially if you have new roof shingles and asphalt roll roofing.

We will teach you the proper way to handle all types of sidings from vinyl to aluminum, all woods including cedar shakes and planks, asbestos shingles, painted surfaces, stucco, brick, cement, precast panels, drivet surfaces, graffiti and paint removal and sandblasting too.  Also fences, decks, gazebos and patios.

In the twenty years we were in business we did it all, and in the beginning we had our share of problems.  It seems that every house is different.  There are many types of sidings.  For example, there are at least a half dozen different types of aluminum siding.  They look the same but the finishes are different, especially as they are from the outside elements and the ultraviolet rays from the sun. Some finishes are softer and more delicate than others but basically the cleaning procedure is the same.  There are different types of stains.  Aluminum doesn''t rust but it will pit. Sidings are not like car finishes which is baked enamel.  You can''t damage a car finish with just water pressure. But sidings are much softer and delicate.  We used the proper soaps, detergents, degreasers and restoration cleaners depending on the situation.

A lot of new companies that did pressure washing used just water which cleans off surface dirt but won''t make the outside of the house beautiful.  The reason they only used water is they weren''t sure what to use and were scared for good reason. Some soaps recommended for house washing do remove a lot of dirt. These soaps are injected through a chemical injector on the machine but you have to know the right amount of soap and how to apply it.  If applied wrong, especially on a sunny day, you can streak and spot the siding permanently and ruin a siding with just soap. And even if it is not ruined, these house washing soaps do not get out everything.

You need to brush certain stains with a soft bristle brush on a fifteen foot telescopic pole.  So, beware to the homeowner, don''t just let anyone wash your decks, patio, siding, etc-- whether a company, you or your neighbor, get good references.  I will show you twenty years of my experience in exterior house washing and building cleaning so that you will never regret hiring the company that you did or be mad at yourself for renting a machine and jumping right into something you know nothing about.  If you think anyone can wash your siding, and make it look like new, think again.  Don''t attempt it unless you are going to paint the surface or refinish the siding with special metal paints made for siding.