I power wash my house every other year and have tried many cleaners and even just the power washer itself. This includes products like Jomax, Krud Kutter, etc. and none have really done anything to remove mildew or much dirt without a scrub or powerful water blast. Also when we moved into our home the owners left the extension ladder which looked older than the home itself. It's a 24' extension that I have not dared go above 10' on. It's rickety, flimsy, has bent rails, and I should have known better. This prevented me from really getting to where I needed to for a good clean and even parts of the roof I could walk up to. The confidence was just not there and rightly so.
So this year I invested in a new 28' extension ladder from Werner. It is taller which allows me to easily reach the 21' gutters on the back of the house with easy and is infinitely more secure and stable than what I was using. It has renewed my confidence and faith in going up to do jobs around the home.
Now onto the cleaning, I decided to try something different and just go back to basics instead of fancy colorful cleaners. Just washing with water does work but it does nothing to really remove, kill, or prevent any of the stuff from coming back so soon. I picked up two jugs of Clorox Outdoor Bleach and an Ortho Dial N' Spray. This thing was able to reach most of my home without having to scale the ladded which made cleaning easier. I simply loaded up the bleach, set it to 4 or 6oz per gallon depending on the crud level and hosed down the siding. Initially it was already making some of the grime slide off but I let it sit for 15 minutes before washing. To my amazement it simply rinsed off like soap on a car, I barely had to use any high pressure from the washer to get it clean and man was it clean. I was simply taken back when I was done at how white my home looked and how it almost had a shine to it. So if your in the market for a how-to just get yourself the outdoor bleach and a hose end sprayer and you will love the results.
Gutter Bonus
I did my gutters this year, and not the insides as they have screens but the outside. They were black from runoff and years of staining and nothing was able to clean them. I found my solution with a spray bottle and Royal Purple. Spray it on, lightly brush, and wash away the marks. Truly incredible results as you can see below, I used it straight and not diluted. Don't mind the siding, it was pre-wash when I did the gutters.
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Good catch! I made sure to hose down the rose bushes and shrubs up front. Thankfully I haven't done a ton of landscaping around the sides and back yet, my hand were pretty dry by the end of the day but I don't think I will have to tackle it again for awhile as the bleach should keep things at bay.
