How to keep your home looking great year after year.

by Staff- All-About-Siding
(Tampa, FL)

Yearly maintenance is essential to keep vinyl siding looking new and fresh, or make old vinyl siding look better. A nice clean house just looks nicer. It also adds value to your home which protects your investment and makes the neighbors jealous. All good things, right?

A simple yearly bath will do wonders for your home. Like you and your car, your house needs a bath once in a while. Say once a year. Hook up the hose, have the kids come out to help and make a family day out of it.
Washing the grim off your siding will make the siding more vibrant, adding a great deal of curb appeal to your home. A mini-facelift…
The basic idea is to just wash the dirt, grit and grim off your siding. Just like washing your car, RV or Boat. Everything that sits outside gets dirty and needs to be cleaned sometimes.
Just like washing your car you will need a bucket or water, a little dish-washing soap or Tide and make some soapy water, then wet a small area of your siding with the garden hose. Wash as much of the loose dirt and grit off with the water hose.

Use a soft bristle brush to gently scrub down the siding. Do small areas at a time to prevent the soapy water from drying out and leaving spots. Wash a 10' x 10' area, rinse off and start another area. Work yourself around the house. Rinse often, soapy water will leave spots if it dry's on the siding.
When washing and rinsing vinyl siding it is very important to keep the water spray from the garden hose from getting behind the vinyl siding. Remember that vinyl siding is not nailed onto the house but rather 'hung' onto the house so water and moisture can evaporate. So it is not water tight.

When spraying with the garden hose spry downward only. Avoid spraying water up and under the vinyl siding panels.
If you are using regular household cleaning products always read the labels and be sure to use as directed. Look for warning on back of packages about color fading, etc.

There are some really good vinyl siding washes you can get at Home Depot and Walmart. These products are specially made for use on vinyl and will usually result in a better overall job with less streaking and spotting.

Before you begin to clean, pick up all objects leaning on or around the foundation like bicycles, grills, wood, toys, wheelbarrows, etc. Make it easy for you to walk around as you clean.
Trim bushes and limbs so that there is nothing touching the vinyl siding. Put a piece of electrician tape over any electrical outlets to prevent getting water into one of the sockets. Make sure all window and doors are closed.
A ladder is very handy and so is a long handled telescoping pole with a soft bristled brush attached. You can find them online and they are certainly an item you want to keep around year to year.

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