Dear Home Ec 101,
My husband has finally agreed to have our house and granny annex professionally pressure-washed. There’s quite a bit of pale green mildew on the vinyl siding.
Is good ole’ bleach and water the best cleaning solution? Should soap be added? If so, what kind (dish? dishwasher? laundry? hand?)?
Any other tips with regard to pressure washing?
Signed,
Green in Greeley
Ivy says:
Fear not, Home Ec 101 is your one stop pressure washing information station! Okay, not really, I just wanted to write that. 
What you’re going to want to do is a pre-wash of your house before you get to the pressure washing. Using bleach in the pressure washer could be bad for the plants that surround your house, so use a scrub brush or sponge on a stick and a solution of 10 parts water to 1 part bleach. Rinse that off carefully and then you’ll be ready for the pressure washing.
I usually use a commercial pressure washer solution in the pressure washer, just whatever you can buy at Lowe’s. I’ve not found any certain brand that I find better than others, to be honest. Follow the manufacturer’s directions and wash from the bottom up to apply the detergent, then rinse from the top down. Make sure you’re not using too much pressure- too much can damage your siding. Spray carefully around- not on- doors, windows, and electrical stuff.
Have fun pressure washing, I think it’s kinda fun to watch your siding come clean!
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This recipe of cleaners was given to us by friends. We always use it. It is not green or chemical free but you spray it on and rinse off all the gunk. It works like a dream!! The ingredients make several batches of cleaner.
1/3 cup Tide (Liquid)
2/3 cup Spic and Span (Liquid) (found it with the bathroom and floor cleaning stuff at wal-mart)
1 qt Bleach
3 qt Water
We just combined this into a sprayer and was ready to go! Good luck!
We used Simple Green in our pressure washer when cleaning the porch and brick. I would assume it’d be fine on siding too, and no harm to plants. It hasn’t hurt our washer, either.
Power washing is awesome! We just used water and it was like having a brand new house, drive and walk. We also did our brick retaining wall and shed.
We should have power washed when we first moved in. That and painting interior trim with semi-gloss (SO clean-able! – is that a word?) go an awful long way to brightening a home. Makes the in-between project periods okay.