Can I Use Bleach on Vinyl Siding?

LESLIE: Next up, we have Paul in Missouri who has a cleaning question.

Paul, what’s dirty?

PAUL: Well, it’s the siding. (Leslie chuckles) It’s not only dirty but it looks like it’s got a little bit of a real light coating of mold or something on it.

TOM: Wow.

PAUL: And I wondered if I use a household bleach and at what mixture – I didn’t want to ruin the siding or bleach the siding out.

LESLIE: What’s the siding made of?

PAUL: Vinyl.

LESLIE: It’s vinyl siding.

TOM: Yeah, I don’t think you can hurt it.

LESLIE: Yeah.

TOM: You know, some painters that I know that do a lot of pressure washing, swear with 100-percent bleach; works really well. Yeah, they use …

LESLIE: But the only thing is, you need to be cautious of the plants that are around it and yourself.

TOM: Yeah, good point. Yeah, good point. You know, I don’t think that you would be – it would be a bad thing for you to mix bleach where it was 25-percent bleach or 50-percent bleach, Paul. And you want to put it on there and you want to kind of let it sit on that siding a bit so that it does a good job of killing that mildew, killing that moss.

LESLIE: Yeah, and I tend to sort of mix the bleach-water content in a bucket on the side and then use almost like a deck brush and like really sort of scrub it onto the areas and then let it sit and then I go back on with my power washer and just rinse it off. And that tends to sort of activate the bleach even more and then, you know, help – the pressure helps get rid of it.

TOM: And Paul, just be careful with the pressure washer. Since it’s vinyl siding, don’t use any pressure in the pressure washer because …

LESLIE: Yeah, don’t use too much.

TOM: … you’ll blast a hole right in the siding. That siding’s pretty soft. And you really don’t need that much. I mean it’ll help you reach up high on the house but just be mindful of not using too much pressure so you don’t cause any holes. Try it on one side of the house and you’ll kind of get the feel for it.

PAUL: OK, I appreciate that.

TOM: Alright, Paul. Thanks for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.