Cleaning Vinyl Siding

[crokett™]

I need a cleaning product I can spray on and rinse off that will get rid of mold/mildew, etc.  Preferably with no scrubbing. The West/South facing sides of the house are ok.  The North/East sides is where the problem is.  I have a small electric pressure washer but it doesn't seem to do much except get things wet.

[Eurekan]

I have a few suggestions for you. Your first question about cleaning product is Purple Power at Walmart. Use your soap sprayer from the bottom up! Very important or you will get runs that will be visible when you finish. Let it sit a bit then rinse from bottom up  then down. Do not let it dry.

Also I recommend Wet and Forget cleaner. This is a mold and mildew cleaner that you spray on and leave. It kills and retards mold and mildew and allows a natural cleaning action from weather over the course of several weeks. Most complaints are "why don't I see a change?" because the user fails to read the instructions. Wet and Forget.  Some folks do go ahead and try to clean the siding after a couple of weeks and report good quicker results.

This stuff really works well on roofing shingles algae too. No damage to gutters and hardware unlike chlorine bleach based cleaners.

[Turner52]

I too am a fan of wet and forget. Works great everywhere I have used it. Just be patient. Bought mine at an Ace hardware

[fixtureman]

I have had good luck with trisodium and bleach

[Woodenfish]

TSP and bleach are the components of 30 Second Cleaner. You can buy that at most Ace, Menards and others. Very good product.

[MstrCarpenter]

I use TSP with a little dish soap applied with a car wash brush with a 10' or longer handle attached. The "bucket" is a mixing bin so it's easy to hit from 10' away. Wet the wall, give it a couple of soapy brush passes and rinse. Don't let the soap dry or you'll have to brush a little harder to get it off.

[tomsteve]

i kinda chuckle when people want to clean things and not scub.
makes me wonder how they shower. wet and forget? spray on rinse off??

[TheCabinetmaker]

I had problems with mildew on my shop siding and roof. Wet and Forget took care of it. It does take about 4 weeks to work. By the way, they also make a cleaner for your shower. Spray once a week on the door and walls and no more scrubbing.

[crokett™]

i kinda chuckle when people want to clean things and not scub.
makes me wonder how they shower. wet and forget? spray on rinse off??

 I want to work smarter and not harder.   You keep on working harder.   There are some things that need to be scrubbed.  Mold and Mildew aren't one of them.

[crokett™]

Also I recommend Wet and Forget cleaner. 

Thanks, I ordered a bottle.  Back in the day our old house had a full basement, unfinished.  One of my first projects after move in was to clean the mold off the floor joists.  I did it by scrubbing with a combination of borax and bleach, then went back and sprayed borax as a preventative.   I wish I'd known about this stuff then.