Vinyl siding is a kind of exterior siding that is made using plastic materials. This is currently used in various houses and commercial places. You may need to clean your vinyl siding due to multiple reasons.
A power wash is a common way to clean various things in a house or building. You may ask if you can power wash vinyl siding or not. Let us answer your question and provide you with some insight regarding the matter.
Power washing vinyl siding:
You can power wash vinyl siding if you maintain specific criteria while operating. A power wash can clean your vinyl siding in moments and properly like any other way. But the main thing to keep in mind is that the power washer’s water pressure must be minimum to keep the vinyl siding safe.
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Power washing is a common way to wash anything in your house or commercial place. This method is one of the most effective ways to clean your house with minimal effort.
To power wash, you will need specific tools and equipment to do that are sold in the hardware store.
Vinyl siding can be cleaned using power wash. Vinyl siding can become dirty due to bad weather or challenging conditions outside. Whatever the reason is, power washing can be one of the ways to clean the vinyl siding of your wonderful house or commercial place.
It is safe to power wash vinyl siding, but it might be bad if you do not follow certain rules. Vinyl sidings are very sensitive to high pressure water. If you use high pressure water to clean vinyl siding, it may cause damage to it.
That is why you will have to use a lower pressure while power washing vinyl siding. After that, you can gradually increase the pressure of the water to a certain level according to your requirement.
You may want to know the ways to use a power washer on vinyl siding. There are many ways that you can follow. But let us discuss the most simple and essential steps to use a power washer on vinyl siding.
Select the correct cleaning agent:
Selecting the appropriate cleaning agent for your vinyl siding is important. There are various vinyl siding cleaners available in the market.
Choose whichever suits your vinyl siding. But whatever cleaning agent you choose, you must keep in mind that you can not use an organic cleaning agent at all. It causes harm to the vinyl siding.
Set a low pressure on your power washer:
The optimal pressure for cleaning any vinyl siding is 1300 – 1600 PSI. Start your power washer at 1300 PSI and check if it suits your vinyl siding and cleaning purpose.
If it does not suit your cleaning purpose, then gradually increase the pressure of your power washer according to your requirement.
Incrementally increase the pressure:
Even after finding the right pressure, it is better to increase the pressure of the power washer incrementally while you do the power wash. This will help in cleaning the vinyl siding more effectively.
Make sections of the siding:
It would be best if you make sections in the siding when you are cleaning. This will help in cleaning the siding correctly and increase the effectiveness of the power washing too.
Use a smooth sweeping motion to clean only:
When spraying the water from your power washer, make sure that you are spraying it in a sweeping motion. It is not recommended to spray the water in circles or swirls. If you do that, it will leave noticeable dirt streaks on the vinyl siding.
Hold the nozzle at a certain angle:
Use the nozzle of the power washer at a 90 degree angle or at any certain angle. If you do not maintain a certain angle, it may affect the cleaning process and leave dirt behind on the vinyl.
Power washing painted vinyl siding, is it safe?
Power washing painted vinyl siding is safe if you maintain some safety measures. Power washing is the most effective and most straightforward way to clean vinyl siding. It can clean any dirt or molds that are on the vinyl siding in moments. It is easy to do.
Power washing vinyl siding is safe too. But you need to keep in mind that there are some measures that you need to keep in mind while power washing vinyl siding.
You will need to use the power washer at low pressure. You would have to use the nozzle at a distance and at a low spray angle as well.
Power washer or pressure washer, what should you use to clean vinyl siding?
You should use a pressure washer instead of a power washer if you want to clean vinyl siding. Power washers and pressure washers are thought to be the same washer equipment. But they have significant differences between them.
Power washers are used for commercial uses and pressure washers are used mostly for house use. The water heating mechanism is the most important difference between the power washer and pressure washer in terms of cleaning vinyl siding.
The heated water can damage vinyl siding. It can cause damage to painted vinyl siding.
A power washer usually heats the water while washing anything, whereas a pressure washer does not heat the water. This makes the pressure washer suitable for cleaning vinyl siding.
Another important fact is the PSI of both the washers. Power washers usually operate at a high PSI. This is not optimal for cleaning vinyl siding.
But pressure washers can operate at various low PSI compared to power washers. The lower the pressure on the washer, the better it is for the vinyl siding.
A pressure washer can be found in various hardware stores at an affordable price. But power washers are not that available and they can be expensive.
How much PSI to pressure wash vinyl siding?
1300 – 1600 PSI is ideal to pressure wash vinyl siding. It is said that the lower the PSI is while pressure washing, the better it is for the vinyl siding. Vinyl sidings are sensitive to high pressure water. It may also damage the siding or cause problems with the frame.
It is said that the 1300 – 1600 PSI is the appropriate range for cleaning vinyl siding. You will have to start from 1300 PSI and check if it is cleaning your vinyl siding properly or not.
If it is not cleaning correctly, you will need to increase the pressure and find the proper pressure for your cleaning.
Vinyl siding can withstand around 2500 – 3000 PSI. However, it is said that they can withstand a lot of pressure from the power washer, but certain factors make this vulnerable to high PSI. These factors are paint, type of vinyl and many more.
What are the best ways to clean vinyl siding on your house?
There are various ways to clean vinyl siding on your house. Among all the available ways to do it, let us point out the best ways to clean vinyl siding on your house and elaborate on the ways for you.
Use a soft cloth and vinyl siding cleaner:
This is the most recommended way to clean vinyl siding. You may use a soft cloth to clean your beautiful vinyl siding. While cleaning, you will have to use vinyl siding cleaner to clean away the mold and dirt from the vinyl siding.
There are several vinyl siding cleaners available in the market. Whatever you choose, do not choose any organic cleaners.
It is harmful to vinyl siding. Although this is recommended, it will take a lot of time to clean and is not suitable for cleaning the whole exterior of your house.
Use a long handle brush with soft-bristle and vinyl siding cleaner:
This is another recommended way to clean vinyl siding. You may use a soft-bristle brush and clean the vinyl siding of your house by using the long handle of the brush.
While using the brush, you will also have to use a cleaner. This can clean the mold and mildew away better with less effort.
Use a pressure washer:
You may also use a pressure washer to clean the exterior of your house. A pressure washer can make it easy for you to clean the vinyl siding of your house. It takes almost no effort to clean.
You will just insert the cleaning agent in the pressure washer, add water and spray the water on the wall at low pressure in a particular manner. This is the simplest way to clean your vinyl siding.
Final thoughts
You can power wash the vinyl siding of your house or building. You will just have to use a vinyl siding cleaning agent with water. While spraying the water using the pressure washer, you need to keep in mind that the pressure has to be low so that the vinyl siding does not get damaged.