Aluminum Questions - Certified SoftWash Roof Cleaning

Hayden Simonis · Freshmen Member

Aluminum Questions

Chris Mozick · Junior Member

You can clean it no problem, but they will need to still paint it looks like from first pic. Make sure you rinse a lot because metal will rust if you don't rinse your mix off. If you scrub you need to purchase a truck detailing brush or a very soft brush and it will not harm the surface.

Tim Teed · SoftWash Systems 5-Star Professional

paint will probably peel. If it was a paying customer I would pass. You could do it for free as a learning experience. Needs new siding. There even looks like too many dings to be worth repainting

Josh Agadoni · SoftWash Systems Authorized Professional

Hayden, I think your hunch is correct. I agree with Tim's thoughts. Probably not worth it for a paying customer. Also, those spots are from climbing vines that once covered the house, and they will take too much time and force to remove and will take the paint with them in most cases. We encounter those "vine anchors" out here at times, and when we remove them from the stucco or painted wood trim those surfaces have to be resurfaced or repainted.

Chad Eneix · SoftWash Systems Authorized Professional

Josh is right, those are the little "suckers" that are left behind when people let vines grow all over their house. Even pressure washing will often not get them off without damage, and it looks like there is peeling paint already. It could be done, but that siding would take more labor to save than it is going to cost to replace it. In the future, don't shy away from aluminum siding. SoftWashing is great for it.

Also, if you encounter any surface with peeling paint, let them know that your system will remove as little paint as possible as opposed to other methods, and that it is the best method for paint prep, as it kills the algae, mold, and mildew 100%. The 100% kill ratio ensures that the paint will not fail due to stuff growing under it.

Hayden Simonis · Freshmen Member

Thanks for your help with this guys. I spoke with the customer on the phone and she is as on the fence as I am with it. Both her and her husband are in agreement that it will need to be resided in the future but they were hoping that they could postpone it for a while.

I did a painted wood house today with a 1.5% mix and was worried that the cracked paint that had started peeling in some areas would come off really easy. So long as I didn't use the jet function on my spray nozzle to rinse, it came very clean and ended with a very happy customer looking to book the roof cleaning.

Would hitting the aluminum with a softwash mix take those little suckers off? I might try it for cost of materials and call it a sweet deal for them being a friend so I can get some experience with aluminum. Would a 1.5% mix do the trick if those suckers will come off with a bit of a dwell?

Josh Agadoni · SoftWash Systems Authorized Professional

I haven't tried it on aluminum siding, but on other surfaces I've done those suckers don't come off without considerable abrasive action. No amount of mix or dwell time seems to make a difference in my experience.

Chad Eneix · SoftWash Systems Authorized Professional

No amount of chemical will take them off.

Brandon Vaughn · SoftWash Systems Pro Staff

Yeah you need to use a light pressure washer rinse to get them off. The peeling paint will come off before the vine suckers will.

Hayden Simonis · Freshmen Member

Great. Well I've learned a great deal here and I will pass that information on to the homeowner. Doesn't make much sense for me to waste time and chemical while not getting anywhere without the paint peeling. Thank you Brandon, Chad and John.