How to Keep Your Home Siding Clean During Summer

Is your home siding looking a little dim or dusty, especially during the warmer months? If so, you are probably in need of a cleaning. Here’s what you should know.

Siding and summer dirt

Summer tends to bring extra dirt to your siding for several reasons. There is usually less rainfall in the summer months, which means fewer chances for the rain to wash away accumulating dust. Speaking of dust, the dryer conditions can also make dust more common, and easier for the wind to kick into the air and plaster all over the sides of your house. Summer also brings very high pollen counts in some areas, which means whole sections of your siding can become layered in pollen. These are all good reasons to take some time during summer to wash off your siding.

Siding cleaners and materials

How you wash your home siding should depend on what type of siding you have. This is one area where vinyl siding really shines — the smooth vinyl surface tends to respond very well to light, periodic washings with a healthy spray of water and little more. However, even the thick dust of summer may stain vinyl and require deeper cleanings if you notice stains that won’t go away.

For fiber cement or wood siding, you’ll need to take a different approach. Take a look at siding cleaners at your local department store if you feel like tackling the project yourself. You will also need the right scrub brush, bucket, hose and other obvious tools. Stay away from pressure washers that can do more harm than good on sensitive siding — some power washers can clean siding, but only when on the correct settings and used the right way. You can also contact the professionals to get an estimate for an expert scrub using the right cleaners and tools to avoid damage.

Cleaning tips

When cleaning up the layers of dust over your home siding, there are few simple checks to make sure you are doing a good job. Don’t forget to:

• Scrub from the bottom up, rinse from the top down. Cleaning in this pattern will help avoid unsightly dust streaks on your siding and keep the spray from affecting your windows as much.
• Wash and rinse in sections. Choose relatively small sections to clean at a time, around several feet horizontally and 10 feet vertically. You will want to do your best to rinse before your cleaner dries against the siding.
• Double-check your cleaner. You don’t want to use a cleaner that will accidentally poison the soil and plants around your house. Watch out for harmful ingredients, or ask a professional for help in your siding project.
• Look for problems. Cleaning your siding is an excellent opportunity to look for cracks, peeling, warping and other problems that need to be fixed.

If everything goes well, you will end up with clean, like-new siding that looks great and is pollen free. For any further siding or roofing questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at Findlay Roofing today!

Photo Source: Flickr