Washing Aluminum Siding

boman47k

Anyone on the forum only do pw'ing? Ever washed a house with aluminum siding with no itent of painting and watch the color wash off?

The reason I ask is on a house I was painting, I watched as some of the color washed off. This was so oxidized and powdery I could lick my finger and wash it off in places. It was no big deal since I was there to paint it anyway.
Heheh, I wonder sometimes what I would do if I was not there to paint but just to wash. I don't even want to try to just wash one because of this. I'd be s****ing on one leg and wiping it off with the other unless the possibility was addressed beforehand on paper!

brutis

i work with aluminum sofit and fascia and now days the paint on them is a lot better , it still fades some, but stays on
Thats good to know about older aluminum siding. something to watch out for

SussexSider

Whats interesting too is how Aluminum siding and trim will appear to have rust on it if say, you have some sprinkler system in the ground and after winter is over you use it, it will spit out rusty water. One of my boss's house looks very rusty on the side where the sprinkler has caused damage.

boman47k

I'm thinking that may mineral deposits from hard water.

tom connelly

We do power washing full time, and yes I have seen what you are talking about, and no its not only on the older siding. We just finished a contract job cleaning several apartment complexes for a managerial group, all of which had aluminum sofit and fascia. The newer buildings had a cheaper aluminum trim which had a thin paint mil. if you weren't careful it would wash off. Stay away from heavy caustic and butyl based cleaners as they will do more damage, use only low pressure and make sure you explain to the owner before you even do the job about the possibilities if it looks like that may be a problem. Always test before you clean.

Gutter Clean & Power Wash
Hickory NC